Hi Ltfit,
Yes I am indeed from NL and came across this forum while preparing to walk the Portugese camino in April. I walked from Porto to Santiago from the 1st till 10th of April and then the French camino from St Jean to Santiago from the 21ste of April till the 24th of may before spending a week in Finisterre on the Galician coast. I'm now hoping to make it a hattrick of caminos this year by completing the La Plata and maybe following some spanish lessons on the way in Salamanca if the budget allows. I wont be writting during the trip but can post my thoughts at the end. I'm also considering writing a book at the end of the third one with my experiences of all three if i make the last one.
Its certainly been a learning experience along the way and I've found it to be very addictive and therefore decided to try and do one last one this year before I start looking for work again in November/December (I gave up my job last year to do these walks among other things)
What has the caminos given and taught me so far?
Equipment and preparation:
1) Keep packweight down to minimum (i had 8,5 kilos) -10% of my body weight
2) Look after your feet!! (good socks and shoes are a must and preventitive taping and plastering also helps reduce the risk of blisters before they can occur)
3) Take hiking poles. I didnt use them that often but when i started getting trouble with my ankle (tendonitis) and knee they eased the burden. On long trips a wise choice whatever you may think of them. I had started with a wooden staff but that leads to an unbalanced walking style and movement and therefore overtaxed my other leg.
The advice and willingness to help on this site had been invaluable and is an extension of the type of people you meet on the road.
What did it do for me on a spiritual and human level:
1) Brought me back to the basics in life. You learn to appreciate food, warmth, a roof over your head, a bed, shower, camerarderie, friendship etc
2) Its timeless....you often dont know which day of the week it is.
3) Its simple daily pattern of getting up and walking every day is quite therapeutic....back to the basics.
4) You meet great people!
5) De stressing
6) It slows you down.....A days walking is a relatively slow process in todays 100 mile per hour rat race and therefore we experience and live those moments much more consciously and slowly. On the 2nd camino i was away just over a month but afterwards it felt like i had been away 6 months due to all the experiences, good/bad weather, pain and happiness etc.....time slows down and is more consciously spent.......that can only be a good thing in todays materialistic and fast world.
What i didnt like (for amusement):
1) The words "bon camino" are used a lot in a positive sense but the cyclists who arrive in Pelatons as if they are doing the tour de france also use it as they sometimes literally drive you of the path....so i have mixed feelings when i hear those words.
2) Shower timers in the albergues.....sometimes you pressed them (the round button ones) and after 2 seconds the water dried up again
so you end up pressing the button the whole time....
3) Bad signposting. Somebody has put fairly new official blue distance marking signs for some stretches of the french camino but the kilometre distances they give are totally wrong.....no homework done there!
4) Getting to an albergue and finding that a bus load of day pilgrims has taken all the beds when you've just walked 40kms with your rucksack the old fashioned way.
5) Pilgrim meals...........the same 3 course menu for 30 days...but just better or worse
6) A squeak in one of my boots when it rained.......
7) Champion snorers and other noxious noises in the night.
I could go on ...