The time slows down and stretches on the Camino?

[Light Traveler]

I'm a newbie here so forgive me if anyone has already talked about this. Did anyone else experience the strange sensation when returning home that you had been away for six months? That somehow you had jumped out of normal time for a month, had this amazing experience, then, suddenly transported back to "real life".
The Camino was possibly the best experience of my life and six months later still digesting the experience and trying to incorporate some of the lessons learned.
This June I'm going back . Not sure which route but it will be fantastic I'm sure.

 

[koilife]

Welcome and congratulations.

Yes, time for me seems to pass very differently while on pilgrimage, almost as if I stepped out of the dimension of time and moved roughly parallel to it, but not in it. It hasn't been like that for me on other long-distance hikes, so I think it's more than the hiking.

 

[Togabogie]

Dont worry about being a newbie asking such questions thats what forums are all about!! To be honest a 2 week or 10 day holiday leaves me in a desultory mood on return to my humble abode!!
"Real life" as you put it very well is probably what most of us our escaping and rightly so,
I think the camino just does that on a more deeper , spiritual basis and discombobulates youre mind even more so !! But in a good way!

 

[Light Traveler]

Dont worry about being a newbie asking such questions thats what forums are all about!! To be honest a 2 week or 10 day holiday leaves me in a desultory mood on return to my humble abode!!
"Real life" as you put it very well is probably what most of us our escaping and rightly so,
I think the camino just does that on a more deeper , spiritual basis and discombobulates youre mind even more so !! But in a good way!

Yes. I agree. And somehow Im not quite the same person now. A subtle change in my outlook on life.

 

[Togabogie]

Yes. I agree. And somehow Im not quite the same person now. A subtle change in my outlook on life.

Take the subtle change and go with it!! But dont let it go!! Even when embedded with the "real life" keep youre positive outlook and cling onto it!! Easier said than done though

 

[alexwalker]

Week one: Pain and practical issues. Confusion about how to get around.
Week two: Confidence and knowledge aquired. I can do this.
Week three and on: Entering Zen mode. Time is not an issue anymore. Days floating by. Walk.

 

[koilife]

Time is not an issue anymore. Days floating by.

This reminds me of one of my favorite books. Written for teens, but very clever for adults.

The Lost Track of Time: Britt, Paige: 9780545838290: Amazon.com: Books

The Lost Track of Time [Britt, Paige] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Lost Track of Time

www.amazon.com

 

[formysons]

I'm a newbie here so forgive me if anyone has already talked about this. Did anyone else experience the strange sensation when returning home that you had been away for six months? That somehow you had jumped out of normal time for a month, had this amazing experience, then, suddenly transported back to "real life".
The Camino was possibly the best experience of my life and six months later still digesting the experience and trying to incorporate some of the lessons learned.
This June I'm going back . Not sure which route but it will be fantastic I'm sure.

Well, I can say with all my heart.... I have more confidence and self-worth after my solo week on the Magical Meseta. Have done Frances and Portuguese with friend which was also very good but somehow walking those vistas on my own and twice being the only pilgrim in the albergue, did some great wonderful thing in my soul.

 

[Scubageek]

I'm a newbie here so forgive me if anyone has already talked about this. Did anyone else experience the strange sensation when returning home that you had been away for six months? That somehow you had jumped out of normal time for a month, had this amazing experience, then, suddenly transported back to "real life".
The Camino was possibly the best experience of my life and six months later still digesting the experience and trying to incorporate some of the lessons learned.
This June I'm going back . Not sure which route but it will be fantastic I'm sure.

As I get older (63) I find time is going by way too fast. I am looking forward to time slowing down when I do my first Camino this May.

 

[rob walks]

I had a very strong experience of time slowing down on my first Camino, the Frances in 2018. I remember telling family and friends when I returned home that it was the first time in decades that subjective time slowed down for me - one month felt like 6. I've assumed it is connected with my Camino being the first time in decades I had no responsibilities other than to walk (you have ONE JOB....), and my spiritual search and openness to new experiences. Frankly, its a wonder, and I can't wait to start on my third!

 

[sillydoll]

I wrote an article about time on the Camino for a magazine, way back in 2011.
"When you rise in the dark, hit the road before dawn, follow the traverse of the sun from east to west, day after day, you lose all sense of time. You become a part of an animate landscape, in synch with the tempo of the earth. The rest of the world recedes until it plays no part in your life. You walk for hours oblivious of the distance you have covered. Days stretch into long, stimulating periods of time broken up by dawn, stopping for coffee, walking till mid-day, finding lunch, lazy afternoons, early to bed, long night sleeping. The average pilgrim takes between thirty and forty days to walk t el Camino from the Pyrenees to Santiago. One could cover the distance in one day by car, but for you the world has slowed down to a pilgrim pace."
Imagine hiring a car in Pamplona and driving on the A-highway to Santiago. At 100km per hour it would take about 8 hours. So, you have 'done' the camino Frances in 8 hours. If I try to picture that, it is like a high speed, fast-forward film with everything blurred, and sounds a jumbled, chipmunk squeak. They say that speed, distance and time are related to each other because, speed is directly comparable to distance when time is constant. For the walking pilgrim, every day is a 'looooooonnng' day and a week is like a month in normal time and a month is forever."
PS: There is also the time of present and of past - 21st Century and 11th Century. In some places you have feelings of deja vu "I know this church, have I been here before?" You are in different aeons, trudging in the footsteps of pilgrims past. You've said goodbye to the 'self' you knew before and you'll never be the same.

 

[bobbogram]

. The average pilgrim takes between thirty and forty days to walk t el Camino from the Pyrenees to Santiago. One could cover the distance in one day by car, but for you the world has slowed down to a pilgrim pace."
Imagine hiring a car in Pamplona and driving on the A-highway to Santiago. At 100km per hour it would take about 8 hours. So, you have 'done' the camino Frances in 8 hours.
You've said goodbye to the 'self' you knew before and you'll never be the same.

After completing the first half of the Portuguese Camino, Lisbon to Porto, my three week trek was reduced to three hours on the train ride back for my flight home. The routes shared many of the same views but at different speeds and exposures. It’s like a connecting flight at a new airport when you’ve only technically visited that new city or country. You’ve been there without ever having been there.

 

[koilife]

Just now, I came across the following from a text we're using in my pastoral counselling class. I thought it relevant:

In kairos time, we shift from busyness to events of meaning that happen in time. In kairos time, we become sensitive to the right moment for action, or see the wonder of events that are perfectly timed in our lives. With chronos time as the focus, for instance, a meal is only something to get through as fast as we can, an inconvenient necessity in a busy schedule. With kairos time as the focus, a meal is a communal event where we connect with other people, with nature that offers gifts of sustenance and with the Spirit in our midst.

Robert J. Wicks and Thomas E. Rodgerson. Companions in Hope: The Art of Christian Caring. 1998. Paulist Press. Kindle Edition.

 

[Light Traveler]

I wrote an article about time on the Camino for a magazine, way back in 2011.
"When you rise in the dark, hit the road before dawn, follow the traverse of the sun from east to west, day after day, you lose all sense of time. You become a part of an animate landscape, in synch with the tempo of the earth. The rest of the world recedes until it plays no part in your life. You walk for hours oblivious of the distance you have covered. Days stretch into long, stimulating periods of time broken up by dawn, stopping for coffee, walking till mid-day, finding lunch, lazy afternoons, early to bed, long night sleeping. The average pilgrim takes between thirty and forty days to walk t el Camino from the Pyrenees to Santiago. One could cover the distance in one day by car, but for you the world has slowed down to a pilgrim pace."
Imagine hiring a car in Pamplona and driving on the A-highway to Santiago. At 100km per hour it would take about 8 hours. So, you have 'done' the camino Frances in 8 hours. If I try to picture that, it is like a high speed, fast-forward film with everything blurred, and sounds a jumbled, chipmunk squeak. They say that speed, distance and time are related to each other because, speed is directly comparable to distance when time is constant. For the walking pilgrim, every day is a 'looooooonnng' day and a week is like a month in normal time and a month is forever."
PS: There is also the time of present and of past - 21st Century and 11th Century. In some places you have feelings of deja vu "I know this church, have I been here before?" You are in different aeons, trudging in the footsteps of pilgrims past. You've said goodbye to the 'self' you knew before and you'll never be the same.

That's it. Thanks for the great reply.