• Get your Camino Frances Guidebook here.
  • For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
  • ⚠️ Emergency contact in Spain - Dial 112 and AlertCops app. More on this here.

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

Moments of Silence on the Camino? a romantic notion only !!!

lillypond

Member
Sillydoll wrote _ (in thread : Walking the Camino over the age of 60 yrs. )

*********Sometimes the camino calls, but while you are walking it, it is just a long, hard, slog! It is often difficult to have profound thoughts whilst watching where you put your feet. If you don't concentrate, you could go tumbling down a river boulder path or tramp in a great, big pile of steaming cow dung!
At night when the pilgrims around you are snoring, coughing, mumbling in their sleep you wonder what the hell you are doing there and when the romantic notions of pilgrimage will hit you.
**********

So does this quote on Silence have any validity to those who have walked :)

>> To approach this silence, it is necessary to journey to the desert.(along the Camino :) )
You do not go to the desert to find identity, but to lose it, to lose your personality, to be anonymous. You make yourself void. You become silence. You become more silent than the silence around you. And then something extraordinary happens: you hear silence speak >>

lillypond.
 
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
lillypond said:
So does this quote on Silence have any validity to those who have walked :)

>> To approach this silence, it is necessary to journey to the desert.(along the Camino :) )
You do not go to the desert to find identity, but to lose it, to lose your personality, to be anonymous. You make yourself void. You become silence. You become more silent than the silence around you. And then something extraordinary happens: you hear silence speak >>

lillypond.

I have not walked yet, so cannot tell you if it is valid for those who have walked.

However I practice yoga daily and I meditate and this is exactly what happens(with both yoga and meditation) when you let go of ego you allow room to find silence and peace.

I also go into a "meditative state" when walking...not quite the same as runner's high, but a more serene quiet state where "I" disappear and only nature's sounds and smells permiate my conciousness, then wallah...complete silence...sans ego, sans smell, sans sounds. Somehow I don't lose my way...or maybe better said "I" lose my way and a greater power carries me on.

I will walk the Camino in September and I hope I find these kinds of moments. The moments between the miles.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
[quote="HermanitaI
runner's then wallah...complete silence...sans ego, sans smell, sans sounds. Somehow I don't lose my way...or maybe better said "I" lose my way and a greater power carries me on.[/quote]

Hello :)

I am also hoping to hear the 'silence' whilst walking in September. I am also prepared for the coughing, snoring and general iritations and discord of pilgrim's in general :) I too do yoga (beginner's ! ) and meditate (beginner's !! )

Your above quote reminded me :

God's poet is silence! His song is unspoken,
And yet so profound, so loud, and so far,
It fills you, it thrills you with measures unbroken,
And as soft, and as fair, and as far as a star.
~Joaquin Miller

lillypond.
 
I had quite a lot of silence in my early weeks of walking from Le Puy, beginning in mid-April last year. The Le Puy route is much quieter than the Camino Frances. It still has plenty of people on it, but you seldom seem to actually see too many of them, until you stop for lunch, and then again in the evenings. Or if you are a relatively slow walker like me, you do get to greet people as they pass by.

In my early weeks I was walking 'alone' and was one of the few English speakers along the route. (But after three weeks of sharing gites with mainly French speakers, it was amazing how much my French improved!!)

During my early weeks of walking I had many moments of 'silence' along the way, and they were precious moments. Sometimes I just rejoiced in the landscape I was walking through, in the small or large details. Sometimes I thought about my life back home, and all the people that I knew. Sometimes that meant I treasured them all the more, and sometimes I came face to face with some guilt over how I had neglected them. Quite often, irreligious as I often pretend to be, I spoke to God/Jesus along the way, often having conversations about how hard I found it to 'believe'. And other times, I just walked, and was at peace, without thinking much of anything. The rhythm of walking had its own being.

I'm pleased I had that time of quiet.

It was quite an adjustment for me in many ways to arrive in Spain, where it seemed much harder to find that quiet. I won't forget the sight of the early morning 'rush hour' of pilgrims as we left Pamplona! From books I had read, I was somehow expecting the Meseta to be a place of some silence, but I was surprised to find that for me, it wasn't. You seldom seemed to be out of sight of others, and villages actually mostly seemed a lot closer together than they were in parts of rural France. Though to be fair, maybe I had already had my 'thinking time' in France, and my walking was all about rhythm here.

The biggest shock to me in terms of 'lack of quiet' was the day I left Sarria, especially the last kilometres into Portomarin. Suddenly the path seemed to have been invaded. There were those that had loud mobile phone conversations as they walked; there was one person who carried a huge ghetto blaster, blasting his version of music loudly through the forest. I found all the noise and busy-ness almost too much. That evening I seriously considered just getting a bus to Santiago to finish, and not to worry about getting a Compostela. But by morning, I felt calmer again...and am glad I never missed out on walking through so much lovely Galician countryside!

I have to add though, that though I was glad I had the times of quiet that I had, I also enjoyed the company of others. In Spain especially, I walked quite often with a couple from Quebec, and we walked all of the last 100km together. I was glad to finally stand in front of the cathedral in Santiago with them, having arrived together.
 
The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
Hi lillypond
Thanks for the great poem!! I love it. I copied it into a little book that I sometimes carry.

Glad you will be walking in September. Maybe we will meet up on the Camino.

I will send you a PM

KiwiNomad
Thanks for sharing your experience of silence and other moments on your Camino..

Rita
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery

Most read last week in this forum

My name is Henrik and I will be coming down to SJPdP from Sweden on March 26 and start walking on March 27. I don't really have any experience and I'm not the best at planning and I'm a little...
When I hiked the Frances Route this happened. I was hiking in the afternoon just east of Arzua. I was reserved a bed at an albergue in Arzua, so I had already hiked all the way from San Xulien...
I'd like some recommendations about where to find the most current and up to date information about albergues that are actually open. I'm currently walking the camino Frances, and I can't even...
I am finalizing my packing list for Frances, and do not want to over pack. (I am 71) I will be starting at SJPdP on April 25th to Roncesvalles and forward. I was hoping on some advise as to...
Today is March 21, 1024 If you’re starting El Francés around this time, be warned that quite a few stretches between Rabanal del Camino and Molinaseca are in pretty bad shape. Lots of mud, and...
First marker starting from Albergue Monasterio de la Magdalena in Sarria (113.460 km) Start: 2023.9.29 07:22 Arrival: 2023.9.30 13:18 walking time : 26 hours 47 minutes rest time : 3 hours 8...

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top