Pre-Camino Blues: is it best the first time?

[Satírico]

I know the topic of post-camino blues has been covered, but what I'm interested in right now is whether your second camino was in any way a disappointment?

My first camino was in September 2014. I can't wait to get back on the road, having had to cancel last year's walk due to family problems, but at the same time I wonder at myself because I did plenty of grumbling along the way. Sleepless nights, flies, belly aches, wonky knee, not to mention the occasional, the infrequent annoying fellow pilgrim. On the other hand, I loved the walking, the regional diversity, the mountains and the vineyards, the tiny churches and massive cathedrals, the arrows and the shells, the good fellowship and unforeseen kindnesses...

I think I just answered my own doubts...but has anyone with multiple caminos to their name experienced any disappointment when they rejoined the path?

Cheers,

Philip (hopeful for a springtime camino 2016)

 

[Deleted member 3000]

what I'm interested in right now is whether your second camino was in any way a disappointment?

It will be if you are expecting a repeat of the first one.

 

[mspath]

Each additional journey was never the same as the earlier ones but all have been special. Personally I never can stop dreaming of yet another!

Do ponder what others have wriťten in these earlier Forum posts re expectation/disappointment and multiple caminos.

Carpe diem and Buen camino!

 

[nidarosa]

Falcon and mspath are spot on (as always). If you expect it to be the same, it will be disppointing. The weather will be bad where it was good, you'll get tired where you were full of energy, your favourite bar is closed, there are other people who are not like the ones you knew. I walked the CF from St Jean in 2012 and have since repeated the Astorga-Santiago stretch no less than three times - all of them different. The first time I went back I wanted to make a point of making it different: stop at places I walked past, stay at different albergues, tweak my packing list and even consider having my main meal earlier in the day instead of the menu peregrino. However the Camino didn't go to plan, as I met someone on the first night and walked with her all the way to Santiago, so we made those decisions together. Change happened naturally and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. When I walked it again with my husband it was different again.
Bottom line: It will never be the same, but it has - for me - been just as rewarding every time. Just go with an open mind and a light pack and enjoy the walk!

 

[Satírico]

Each additional journey was never the same as the earlier ones but all have been special. Personally I never can stop dreaming of yet another!

Do ponder what others have wriťten in these earlier Forum posts re expectation/disappointment and multiple caminos.

Carpe diem and Buen camino!

Thank you very much for this. Your posts are always a pleasure to read.

 

[Satírico]

Falcon and mspath are spot on (as always). If you expect it to be the same, it will be disppointing. The weather will be bad where it was good, you'll get tired where you were full of energy, your favourite bar is closed, there are other people who are not like the ones you knew. I walked the CF from St Jean in 2012 and have since repeated the Astorga-Santiago stretch no less than three times - all of them different. The first time I went back I wanted to make a point of making it different: stop at places I walked past, stay at different albergues, tweak my packing list and even consider having my main meal earlier in the day instead of the menu peregrino. However the Camino didn't go to plan, as I met someone on the first night and walked with her all the way to Santiago, so we made those decisions together. Change happened naturally and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. When I walked it again with my husband it was different again.
Bottom line: It will never be the same, but it has - for me - been just as rewarding every time. Just go with an open mind and a light pack and enjoy the walk!

That's great. It's reassuring to know it's not a matter of diminishing returns.

 

[Devon Mike]

My first Camino was in 2014, when I walked from SJPP to Santiago, Finisterre and finished in Muxia. It was truly and uniquely amazing and I went back last year with a lighter pack, more time and did the same route again staying in different places, and ended with walking back to Santiago. It was also wonderful meeting a whole new group of kindred spirits.

Now at the age of 68, it is my intention to do it every year for as long as I can. Such a great way to recharge my spiritual batteries.

 

[Satírico]

My first Camino was in 2014, when I walked from SJPP to Santiago, Finisterre and finished in Muxia. It was truly and uniquely amazing and I went back last year with a lighter pack, more time and did the same route again staying in different places, and ended with walking back to Santiago. It was also wonderful meeting a whole new group of kindred spirits.

Now at the age of 68, it is my intention to do it every year for as long as I can. Such a great way to recharge my spiritual batteries.

That's really inspiring, Mike. Hope I meet you on life's path.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Yup, if you expect the same thing, especially if those things can change, such as the weather, people you met. Now, if what you have discovered is that you like long distance walking, alone or not, in rain or heat, with snorers is a basic albergue or in modern or historical ones, then you will become a Camino addict. How I ever went back after having walked in May of 2013 remains a mystery because until then I had always had beautiful warm sunny days. Must be that I love it because it's the best way I know to empty my head, relax, and get away from the rat race, and that happens rain or shine, meeting people or not.

 

[Devon Mike]

That's really inspiring, Mike. Hope I meet you on life's path.

Thanks Philip. What will be will be.....

 

[Annette london]

I know the topic of post-camino blues has been covered, but what I'm interested in right now is whether your second camino was in any way a disappointment?

My first camino was in September 2014. I can't wait to get back on the road, having had to cancel last year's walk due to family problems, but at the same time I wonder at myself because I did plenty of grumbling along the way. Sleepless nights, flies, belly aches, wonky knee, not to mention the occasional, the infrequent annoying fellow pilgrim. On the other hand, I loved the walking, the regional diversity, the mountains and the vineyards, the tiny churches and massive cathedrals, the arrows and the shells, the good fellowship and unforeseen kindnesses...

I think I just answered my own doubts...but has anyone with multiple caminos to their name experienced any disappointment when they rejoined the path?

Cheers,

Philip (hopeful for a springtime camino 2016)

Since 2005 we have walked a few caminos. Starting each one we just felt excitement.we never really had "expectations " for any of them other than to enjoy whatever came our way. Of course some we liked more than others regarding the scenery, terrain etc etc. With every Camino however we met the most wonderful, kind, funny people, many of whom we are still in touch with. Last year, on the spur of the moment we decided to take off again on the CF and I can honestly say it was the best journey ever. Although we had walked the same way before, this time it seemed new and different and wonderful. It's hard to explain really. Again we met some great people. Just walk your way Philip without any expectations as to whether you will or will not enjoy it. Sometimes imho I think we can think too much about things --- -to the detriment of enjoying them. Best wishes Annette

 

[Urban Trekker]

I know the topic of post-camino blues has been covered, but what I'm interested in right now is whether your second camino was in any way a disappointment?

My first camino was in September 2014. I can't wait to get back on the road, having had to cancel last year's walk due to family problems, but at the same time I wonder at myself because I did plenty of grumbling along the way. Sleepless nights, flies, belly aches, wonky knee, not to mention the occasional, the infrequent annoying fellow pilgrim. On the other hand, I loved the walking, the regional diversity, the mountains and the vineyards, the tiny churches and massive cathedrals, the arrows and the shells, the good fellowship and unforeseen kindnesses...

I think I just answered my own doubts...but has anyone with multiple caminos to their name experienced any disappointment when they rejoined the path?

Cheers,

Philip (hopeful for a springtime camino 2016)

Ive done the English from Ferrol and the Portuguese from Porto and will leave home 11 April to walk the entire French route. For me every camino has been different. If one thing was consistent it was the amazing people you meet on the camino, even the annoying ones. Buen Camino

Happy Trails

 

[DeadFred]

I know the topic of post-camino blues has been covered, but what I'm interested in right now is whether your second camino was in any way a disappointment?

Happy you asked Philip , I'm a one timer getting ready for re-entry May 17th in Los Arcos . Like you I started in Sept 2014 . I've tossed the doubt around in my mind for a while and cerebrally weighing the Plus's against the Minus's and have come to the conclusion that I need to stop doing that and Carp the Diem . So that's what I am doing . Bring on the Baguettes ,Hamon , The Cafe' leche the endless gravely paths and the torturous hills. If it rains ... I'll sing in it . In other words , don't over think. Enjoy .[/QUOTE]

 

[Robo]

It will be if you are expecting a repeat of the first one.

Yours and others posts are really helpful.

After my first Camino, I said I would not do it again. Because it exceeded all my expectations, and a second one couldn't possibly be as good. A bit like watching a Movie2 that is a flop

But I am going again, this time with my wife, to walk a 'shortie' from Sarria. It's really for her to get a taste of the Camino.

I was worrying that it would be very different and not as rewarding. Given the section of Camino we are walking, plus having to consider another person

But on reading these posts I realise now I need to embrace the difference. Not try to relive my first Camino, but to 'create' a new Camino experience that will be 'ours'

Some good points about accommodation too. There are some towns/Hotels I might use again, because they were really good, but I'll certainly stay in some new places. Our distances will be very different anyway. Pat is more of a 'stroller' than a 'strider' and will also want to stop at every toilet along the way, not being a pee behind the bushes type of gal But maybe she will learn

This will be a slow ramble smelling the roses........

 

[Satírico]

Thanks for the positive replies. I have every reason to be hopeful. I guess the only sour note is the probable increase in costs, year on year, but it'll always be good value.

 

[Devon Mike]

Thanks for the positive replies. I have every reason to be hopeful. I guess the only sour note is the probable increase in costs, year on year, but it'll always be good value.

The pound is stronger against the euro than a year or two ago, so from the UK it will be good value....

 

[jpflavin1]

I know the topic of post-camino blues has been covered, but what I'm interested in right now is whether your second camino was in any way a disappointment?

My first camino was in September 2014. I can't wait to get back on the road, having had to cancel last year's walk due to family problems, but at the same time I wonder at myself because I did plenty of grumbling along the way. Sleepless nights, flies, belly aches, wonky knee, not to mention the occasional, the infrequent annoying fellow pilgrim. On the other hand, I loved the walking, the regional diversity, the mountains and the vineyards, the tiny churches and massive cathedrals, the arrows and the shells, the good fellowship and unforeseen kindnesses...

I think I just answered my own doubts...but has anyone with multiple caminos to their name experienced any disappointment when they rejoined the path?

Cheers,

Philip (hopeful for a springtime camino 2016)

Philip:

I have enjoyed each of my Camino's and am looking forward to this years walk, 58 days to go.

Joe

 

[Rebekah Scott]

A somewhat different view: I walked my first whole camino frances in 2001, Roncesvalles to Finesterre, and had the time of my life.
I went back in 2010 and walked it again. I found that "my Camino" had changed beyond all recognition. It was a lonely, tough slog that left me wondering why I'd bothered.

There are so many camino paths to walk. I think for some of us just one big first camino pilgrimage is enough for a lifetime -- later walks can be taken on different paths, for other reasons. Which is what I do now. I get the urge to walk in the spring, so I go up the Madrid Route, or down the Vadiniense, or trace the Olvidado from A to B. They are not Pilgrimages per se, but they are wonderful, fulfilling, delightful hikes with good company (if I am lucky) without the great expectations I tend to bring to a "real camino."

It's true, I actually live on the Camino Frances, and see pilgrims every day -- I am a small part of the camino now, so that probably has to do with my view. But those "medieval pilgrims" held up as our models were almost always once-in-a-lifetimers. They traveled slow, they traveled to Santiago... and once they arrived they had to turn around and walk the whole way home again. They had time to process what had happened, to fully own and identify with their pilgrim self, and the self they were becoming afterward.

Modern pilgrims, on that model, only get half a camino. At Santiago they hop a plane or train and within a day or two they wake up at home, in their own beds. I think that is why people keep coming back and walking -- our way of camino-ing only gave them half the experience!

Still, some of us are fine after one long walk west. Doing that over again? Naah. Maybe we should try walking back eastward? Or maybe we should just bring our new pilgrim self, as much as we can, into our own old life at home, and transform it slowly into something similarly communal and kind.

 

[alansykes]

I think in some ways my first was my least good camino. I didn't know what to expect, I went far too fast (Seville to SdC in 30 days - what was I thinking?), I was shy about staying in albergues with other people, I carried too much weight, I didn't eat enough, I didn't know about the miracle of merino (works against both heat and cold), my Spanish was pretty rudimentary, I didn't do enough homework on the places I was passing through, and so on.

Fortunately, it was still good enough to make me want to go back for more, but on later caminos always making sure I had time to smell the roses, and get to my destination by 3-3.30pm, in time for a good lunch. I now always read up (here and elsewhere) about the way ahead, take Spanish classes, try to overcome my anchorite tendencies and carry at least four different layers of merino (and much less of everything else).

And they get better and better, and the pleasure of planning the next one is almost as great as enjoying the present one. 2016 now looks like Almería to Guadalupe and then either double back onto the vía de la Plata or turn right for Toledo and the Levante.

 

[Satírico]

I think in some ways my first was my least good camino. I didn't know what to expect, I went far too fast (Seville to SdC in 30 days - what was I thinking?), I was shy about staying in albergues with other people, I carried too much weight, I didn't eat enough, I didn't know about the miracle of merino (works against both heat and cold), my Spanish was pretty rudimentary, I didn't do enough homework on the places I was passing through, and so on.

Fortunately, it was still good enough to make me want to go back for more, but on later caminos always making sure I had time to smell the roses, and get to my destination by 3-3.30pm, in time for a good lunch. I now always read up (here and elsewhere) about the way ahead, take Spanish classes, try to overcome my anchorite tendencies and carry at least four different layers of merino (and much less of everything else).

And they get better and better, and the pleasure of planning the next one is almost as great as enjoying the present one. 2016 now looks like Almería to Guadalupe and then either double back onto the vía de la Plata or turn right for Toledo and the Levante.

Anchorite tendencies? I'll have to google that one. Thanks for your reply, I might try to emulate your 3:30pm stop time but I doubt I'll manage that.

 

[Satírico]

It's an important lesson, I can tell, taking each camino as a separate experience without the burden of expectations. It does seem that later caminos become more about variations on a theme, new scenery, they get further away from any fantastical hopes for a miracle of some kind, but maybe the gift that keeps on giving is the desire to continue walking long distances, coupled with the peregrino's spirit of gratitude and good fellowship.

 

[Satírico]

A somewhat different view: I walked my first whole camino frances in 2001, Roncesvalles to Finesterre, and had the time of my life.
I went back in 2010 and walked it again. I found that "my Camino" had changed beyond all recognition. It was a lonely, tough slog that left me wondering why I'd bothered.

There are so many camino paths to walk. I think for some of us just one big first camino pilgrimage is enough for a lifetime -- later walks can be taken on different paths, for other reasons. Which is what I do now. I get the urge to walk in the spring, so I go up the Madrid Route, or down the Vadiniense, or trace the Olvidado from A to B. They are not Pilgrimages per se, but they are wonderful, fulfilling, delightful hikes with good company (if I am lucky) without the great expectations I tend to bring to a "real camino."

It's true, I actually live on the Camino Frances, and see pilgrims every day -- I am a small part of the camino now, so that probably has to do with my view. But those "medieval pilgrims" held up as our models were almost always once-in-a-lifetimers. They traveled slow, they traveled to Santiago... and once they arrived they had to turn around and walk the whole way home again. They had time to process what had happened, to fully own and identify with their pilgrim self, and the self they were becoming afterward.

Modern pilgrims, on that model, only get half a camino. At Santiago they hop a plane or train and within a day or two they wake up at home, in their own beds. I think that is why people keep coming back and walking -- our way of camino-ing only gave them half the experience!

Still, some of us are fine after one long walk west. Doing that over again? Naah. Maybe we should try walking back eastward? Or maybe we should just bring our new pilgrim self, as much as we can, into our own old life at home, and transform it slowly into something similarly communal and kind.

Thanks for your testimony. It would be interesting to know what made your first camino so superior to the second one. Was it the people you met?

 

[Al the optimist]

Let's just say it is 91 days to go to the next one.(The ninth) Does that answer your question?

 

[Kanga]

Great post @Rebekah Scott . Great post. Let's raise a glass to 2001.

 

[HeidiL]

We only do shorter stretches, often adding to earlier walks, and I start planning the next one a couple of weeks after we come home - now. But we waited three years between the first time and the second, because we worried a bit that it had all been seen through rose-tinted glasses. (No, it wasn't.)

 

[Al the optimist]

Great post @Rebekah Scott . Great post. Let's raise a glass to 2001.

I so agree. But 2001? I guess you mean 2016.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I so agree. But 2001? I guess you mean 2016.

Yep. 2001 it was., downright Paleozoic it was, too. That's where I met Kanga!

 

[Al the optimist]

Sorry I misread. I read "in 200" not "to 2001". Sorry. In which case I'll raise a glass to 1024 when I had the good fortune to meet you and Pat (and the lovely dogs). Hope you are all keeping well.

 

[Satírico]

Let's just say it is 91 days to go to the next one.(The ninth) Does that answer your question?

Or, let's NOT just say that...9 caminos! And are you always a peregrino on the camino, or never, or just the first time? You carry your credencial del peregrino, but is yours the intention of a pilgrim or are you a tourist on a walking holiday, making use of the cut-price accommodation, amenities meant for those on a religious mission? Let's dig in, Al the optimist: what's your motivation?

 

[Al the optimist]

Philip. Since you ask my reasons are partly religious and partly spiritual. Like many who walk I find a new me every time. I'm lucky that way. I'm also lucky that my mother's health has not so far hindered my journey of discovery and that since retirement I have the opportunities to go.

 

[camino07]

In my case after 8 caminos I always feel like a pilgrim. After 5 Camino Frances I can say they were all totally different. Get that spiritual feeling and discover so much more each time.
Next one in September God willing!

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

I know the topic of post-camino blues has been covered, but what I'm interested in right now is whether your second camino was in any way a disappointment?

My first camino was in September 2014. I can't wait to get back on the road, having had to cancel last year's walk due to family problems, but at the same time I wonder at myself because I did plenty of grumbling along the way. Sleepless nights, flies, belly aches, wonky knee, not to mention the occasional, the infrequent annoying fellow pilgrim. On the other hand, I loved the walking, the regional diversity, the mountains and the vineyards, the tiny churches and massive cathedrals, the arrows and the shells, the good fellowship and unforeseen kindnesses...

I think I just answered my own doubts...but has anyone with multiple caminos to their name experienced any disappointment when they rejoined the path?

Cheers,

Philip (hopeful for a springtime camino 2016)

Hi Philip , begin the next Camino with an open mind .
Wish you welland a Buen Camino , Peter.

 

[Pato777]

I know the topic of post-camino blues has been covered, but what I'm interested in right now is whether your second camino was in any way a disappointment?

My first camino was in September 2014. I can't wait to get back on the road, having had to cancel last year's walk due to family problems, but at the same time I wonder at myself because I did plenty of grumbling along the way. Sleepless nights, flies, belly aches, wonky knee, not to mention the occasional, the infrequent annoying fellow pilgrim. On the other hand, I loved the walking, the regional diversity, the mountains and the vineyards, the tiny churches and massive cathedrals, the arrows and the shells, the good fellowship and unforeseen kindnesses...

I think I just answered my own doubts...but has anyone with multiple caminos to their name experienced any disappointment when they rejoined the path?

Cheers,

Philip (hopeful for a springtime camino 2016)

Ok, can understand that, if you have a really positive first journey it does tend to heighten your expectation for the one that follows. My experience is that each one 's different, you can't replicate, each one needs to be taken on it's own merits, there's a lesson(or multiple) to be learned on each one

 

[domigee]

I have only done three caminos to Santiago so I'm a newbie compared to lots of you here. I also started recently because it was only then I was 'free' so I missed out on the years where the path was not so well known...
Never mind.
I LOVED my first two caminos (the camino francés) even though they were very, very different. As others have said before me, go without expectations, every time is a NEW time, even though the route is the same.
If you don't expect anything and just feel the joy of being there, again, you can't lose.

My third Camino I didn't enjoy as much even though it was a different - and fabulous - one (VdlP). My fault entirely. I 'winged' it thinking June would be ok temperature-wise....There happened to be a heatwave then and I couldn't prepare for it, as temperatures in England were 13 deg at the most.... I had also previously walked - to me - THE pilgrimage to Jerusalem so I guess mentally I wasn't there... I also walked with my husband who is taller, fitter, faster

In short, only you can tell. And you know, if it is a disappointment, you learn from that, too.
And you have to do another one

 

[trevorcc]

I know the topic of post-camino blues has been covered, but what I'm interested in right now is whether your second camino was in any way a disappointment?

My first camino was in September 2014. I can't wait to get back on the road, having had to cancel last year's walk due to family problems, but at the same time I wonder at myself because I did plenty of grumbling along the way. Sleepless nights, flies, belly aches, wonky knee, not to mention the occasional, the infrequent annoying fellow pilgrim. On the other hand, I loved the walking, the regional diversity, the mountains and the vineyards, the tiny churches and massive cathedrals, the arrows and the shells, the good fellowship and unforeseen kindnesses...

I think I just answered my own doubts...but has anyone with multiple caminos to their name experienced any disappointment when they rejoined the path?

Cheers,

Philip (hopeful for a springtime camino 2016)

Hi Phil, I walked my first in 2013, and my second a year later two different experiences but one was no less enjoyable or moving than the other. I am back this year to walk the Camino again all be it a different route (Levante) but as I try hard to have no expectations I am sure I will have disappointments.

 

[david g]

I walked my second Camino this past May/June. The best way I can put it is that some of the "mystery" was gone. The flat out tired feeling/euphoria of getting over the Pyrenees had been felt. The quiet, peaceful, ancient feel of the path to Samos had been experienced. Questions had been answered. I knew more or less what to expect. Did that make it a let down? Definitely not. There were new questions that got answered, different paths taken, more wonderful people were met. It stands on its own. The first Camino will always stand out, simply because it was the first. But subsequent ones will also have their special moments. That's probably why I'm in the planning stages of Camino III for this September.

 

[Mark Lee]

Definitely not disappointing, but certainly different and of course as stated by another member, the mystery is gone, but heck that applies to so many things in life. Doesn't make it bad. One thing for sure that I enjoyed on subsequent ones was the walk out of SJPdP the first morning. That's really cool every time.
I tried to stay in different towns and albergues every chance I could, but sometimes it just fell that I stayed in the same towns again on certain points along the Way, and if the albergue I stayed in before had been nice, I stayed in them again.
What's interesting is that on two occasions the hospitalero or hospitalera remembered me from the prior time I stayed there.