Camino Frances - take 2

[KerrieG]

In September 2016 I set out alone (couldn't convince any of my nearest and dearest to come with me) from St Jean Pied de Porte with 7 weeks to reach Santiago. But by day 3 I had it in my head that "I want to go home". By day 6 I had arranged my flight home, caught a train from Pamplona to Barcelona and I was off!
To this day I still cannot say what happened, what was I thinking; I was managing physically, I wasn't lonely, I enjoyed the walking, the food, the people.
When I got home I was bitterly disappointed in myself; I had spent a good 18 months preparing for this trip, and all for nothing! For a long time I didn't even want to think about what had happened let alone talk about it.
Then, toward the end of 2017 I found myself starting to think about the Camino again. I started talking about it to those closest to me. Next thing, a couple of months ago, my sister said that she would like to walk the Camino! I could not have been more pleased.
So, with lots of planning and preparations ahead of us, we are tentatively looking at October, 2019.

 

[Deleted member 67185]

My thoughts and prayers are with you as you plan for your return to Camino, Kerrie. I look forward to hearing how your plans develop and how the pilgrimage with your sister goes.

Ultreya!!!

 

[Bradypus]

I hope that the second time around you are happier in your Camino journey. I see that you are still not clear about where your unease came from on that first Camino. The thought that struck me on reading your post was to ask if that first time you were travelling away from the Camino or towards home - two very different things. I sometimes wonder if there are many people who have committed themselves to walking a Camino only to find it is not what they expected or hoped for but carry on regardless even when they would really prefer to draw a line under the experience and return home. In a forum like this we usually hear more from those who have enjoyed the experience and often return to it time and again. It is good to hear a different perspective from time to time.

 

[Aidan21]

Remember that we can regret the things we do not do much more than the things we do. If you try again and it is not for you, then so be it. But if you never try again that feeling of disappointment may linger or even fester. Try again, give it your best shot and live at peace with the result no matter what it may be. I wish you well.

 

[tjb1013]

I had several moments in those same stages where I was certain that if one more "thing" happened (the specific "thing" changed - blister, bed bug sighting, etc.), I was done. I'm fairly convinced that had the "thing" of the day happened, I would have gone home.

Some luck involved that I didn't find out. But I remember being sure that I would have stopped.

I wish you that same luck I had in this Camino.

I also remember thinking that while I had put off the trip when I couldn't get the time to do the entire route from SJPP to Santiago, that was a bad decision - doing it in shorter stretches would have been great, too.