Stranger than fiction...

[BShea]

Or freaky deaky experiences on the Camino… Please share yours! Here’s mine:

In September 2013, a friend of mine and I walked a portion of the Chemin du Puy in France. Our second night, we slept in Monistrol, sharing a room with three other people. One of the men sat with us at dinner and walked with us for a while the next morning. We laughed together about how he had broken through the slats of his bed and his snoring duet with another man in the room. He expressed frustration because he had just bought an expensive mouth piece that was supposed to eliminate his snoring. Suddenly, he realized that he had forgotten his poles so he turned around. We never saw him again.

Fast forward to May 2016… On my 11th day of walking, I met a group of three Frenchmen with whom I walked on and off until St. Jean, sharing many a room with them. At breakfast on the morning of the 5th day of walking together, one of the men was being teased once again about his snoring. This time, he expressed his frustration because he was wearing an expensive mouth piece. Wait… what? I asked him if he had walked in 2013, to which he replied YES! He remembered my friend and me and we spent the next hour reminiscing about conversations we had. What is the chance of that????

 

[mspath]

One stormy night late January 2009 in Trinidad de Arre at the Marist fathers' albergue I was writing in the common room a blog post on happenstance, chance encounter and camino serendipity.

At the very moment that I defined the word 'serendipity' another pilgrim knocked at the door. Happily speaking Italian he was welcomed by two Spanish pilgrims. The Italian entered the common room, turned to say 'buona sera' to me and then enthusiastically shouted 'Margaret'! Imagine my delight upon realizing that he was Mario whom I had last seen during breakfast at Burguete the year before in 2008!! Another fortuitous chance encounter indeed.

We and a French pilgrim, Polo, had met on the little train going to St Jean Pied de Port and together walked up the Valcarlos route to Roncesvalles. As Mario and I nostalgically recollected those 'good old times' we tentatively promised to meet again "next year on the camino". ...Although our paths have never re-crossed, one never knows !

Margaret Meredith

 

[SabsP]

On my Camino Frances 2011 I met a group of seven men from Verona. I called them my Italian posse. I met them in Portomarin and for the next two days we bumped into each other. We had lenghty discussions about the way pasta should be cooked to perfection . They also " rescued " me from some French man who was too clingy to my liking. And they bursted out in beautiful arias from Italian operas.

Roll on 2013. Who did I meet at the Parroquial in Granon? Yes the Italian posse again...all seven of them.
I have this great picture where I and some other women were cooking the dinner and the seven guys were sitting at the table. They were joking that seeing there was no pasta to be cooked they would not get into the kitchen. They did do the washing up though...

 

[Travelchick]

On my Camino Frances 2011 I met a group of seven men from Verona. I called them my Italian posse. I met them in Portomarin and for the next two days we bumped into each other. We had lenghty discussions about the way pasta should be cooked to perfection . They also " rescued " me from some French man who was too clingy to my liking. And they bursted out in beautiful arias from Italian operas.

Roll on 2013. Who did I meet at the Parroquial in Granon? Yes the Italian posse again...all seven of them.
I have this great picture where I and some other women were cooking the dinner and the seven guys were sitting at the table. They were joking that seeing there was no pasta to be cooked they would not get into the kitchen. They did do the washing up though...

Great story. And what an awesome coincidence. My Camino starts in 40 days in sjpdp. Maybe I'll get that lucky and have my own possee

 

[robertt]

I had dinner one freezing night in Ruitelán with Rafael Nadal, and I saw him again for carnaval at Samos. We attended a big churrasco by the river.
(Okay, okay...My Nadal moves a lot slower than the other one...but he's mine!)

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

I still chuckle at the memory....

Part way through my Camino Francés last year I had to check my email account to respond to a legal matter. A quick scan through and there was an email from an outdoor store that I do quite a bit of business with asking subscribers to respond.

I did.

A few days later, when I had to check on emails again, I discovered that I'd won a copy of The Way DVD!

What were the chances of that?

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Great story. And what an awesome coincidence. My Camino starts in 40 days in sjpdp. Maybe I'll get that lucky and have my own possee

My wife always say that coincidence not exist. It had to happen she says.
Wish you well, Peter.

 

[Magwood]

One of my happiest memories from my latest Camino was meeting in front of the cathedral in Santiago with some lovely pilgrims who I hadn't seen for several weeks.

As I was waiting for the last couple to turn up, I felt a presence behind me and turned round to see my camino friend Peter with whom I walked the first week of my first Camino back in 2013. Such a coincidence and such a delight.

 

[Symplicjan]

2014, October 19 - When I walked in France I met a french puppeteer, who gave me shelter for 2 night and helped me fix my backpack and tent.
2015, October 19 -I met this puppeteer in Poland on Theatre Festival.
2016, October, maybe 19 - I will walk on Via Gebennensis and we'll meet again near Chavanay

 

[Al the optimist]

In 2013 I was in the albergue at Negreria and felt that a woman at the other end of the room staring at me. She had her back to the light so I could not distinguish her features at first. When she came over I realised it was a German lady who had been at the same albergue with me the year before! That time she had walked the Via de Plata and was upset that because of her blisters she could not walk the last two days to Finisterre and was now back to complete her walk. Kismet!

 

[jsalt]

On the Portuguese camino in 2012 I was walking with 2 friends from home. They were well ahead of me when I saw they had stopped and were chatting to another pilgrim. As I got closer I heard them talking in Afrikaans. Ah, they’ve met another South African, I thought. The stranger turned around as I approached. “Jill!” she declared. “Elsa!” I cried. We had last seen each other about 8 years earlier when she had left South Africa to live in Germany.

 

[robertt]

My first pilg walks were on the Via Francigena. I was taking the bus out of Siena so I could walk back along the VF. Had a copy of the Divine Comedy I'd been reading for a bit just to get in the mood and was up to the part of the Inferno where the giants are standing with half their bodies above the rim of the infernal abyss like the turrets of Monteriggioni, the famous walled town on a hill between Siena and Florence. I happened to look up from my book, gazed out the window to my right, and saw....yep!

 

[wonzi]

On my first Camino in 2013 with a granddaughter, we met many people that would cross our paths during our journey. Sadly, two ladies, one from Peru and the other from Australia, were not at the Cathedral when we finished but we were lucky to meet up with most of our Camino family. We had spent a couple of days in the plaza hoping we would see Susi and Suzy come down the steps before we headed to Finisterre and Muxia. No such luck.

Fast forward to 2015 and I am now on my 2nd Camino with a friend. This time we are starting in Le Puy and headed to Santiago de Compostela. Day 17 we arrived in Cahors and checked in to Gite Papillon Vert where our host took us upstairs and was introducing my friend to our room mates. As he introduced her, I am trailing behind and I heard him say "and, behind her is Wanda". All of a sudden I heard someone say, "Wanda?, Wanda?" To say I was surprised is an understatement but there as I came around the corner was Susi from Peru!

Now, to go just a little further you can guess that we had to chat and catch up on things and she told me that the past October she had traveled to Boston, MA to do some research. She told me she had gone to this little town that I probably had never heard of - Pepperell - the town I was born in and lived for many years. And, she also told me she went to the beautiful library in town where she met a lovely lady, Jeanne, who assisted her in some of her research. This lady, Jeanne, probably ran the first day care center in our town and raised my kids. Coincidence? We now have plans to meet again and she will visit and stay with me on her next visit to the USA!

 

[BShea]

Great stories! I think the message is that this big world isn’t so big after all! As I walk, I often break into song with refrains such as “Climb every mountain” or “What goes up must come down.” I think the refrain of this thread is, “It’s a small world after all”!

@mspath: Love the word “serendipity”
@SabineP: How can you beat pasta cooking lessons and being sung to in Italian?!
@Travelchick: Your posse is awaits!
@robertt: Did he pack a racket, too? Also, even better than watching the movie in your mind as you read – real life!
@Wokabaut_Meri: So, could you download it and watch The Way on The Way?
@peter Franciscus: That’s exactly what others have told me – these reunions were meant to be!
@Magwood: Wow! That’s amazing! I can imagine the look on your face when you saw him.
@Symplicjan: It’s as though your two worlds always collide on the same day!
@Al the optimist: “Kismet”. Perfect!
@jsalt: No way! What a cool place to find each other again after so many years! Did you even know that each other liked long distance walking?
@wonzi: O.K., you got me beat… two foreigners from different countries, reuniting in a different country from the one where you originally met. That’s jaw dropping!

I love reading these!!! They warm my heart. ❤

 

[alexwalker]

All right, I'll tell you a strange story:

In 2014, on the 2nd day (first day only to Orrison, 2nd to Roncesvalles), I came upon a lost notebook up in the Pyrenees. It had a few names written in it; it was a sort of documentary of the planning, walk etc. Very personal, although I couldn't understand too much: Portuguese.

In Roncesvalles, in the albergue, I asked around for Portuguises/Brazilians, and found the owner: A Brazilian priest, part of a flock of severeal, walking in their faith for the first time on the Camino. The priest was extremely happy, and in return, he tied a yellow band around my left wrist (+ signed a cross on my chest). On the band was printed a Brazilian prayer (I did not understand the full meaning of the Portuguise words...). He told me that the wristband & prayer was for me to have a safe journey & life, and it would stay on until not needed for me anymore. I was told to not remove it, but let it stay on until it left me by itself.

It was just a piece of thin fabric, and I was surprised that it actually stayed on for more than a year. My girlfriend asked several times if I shouldn't just tear it off (I guess she thought it was a bit too hippie-like for this old guy), but somehow I trusted the priest and kept it on.

Well, more than one year after, one day, I booked my plane for my next Camino, and then we drove to my cottage for the weekend. That afternoon, as we were sitting on the porch sipping a glass of red, she suddenly said: "Where's your yellow wristband?"

It was gone. I swear that this is all true.

 

[zoopeter]

All right, I'll tell you a strange story:

In 2014, on the 2nd day (first day only to Orrison, 2nd to Roncesvalles), I came upon a lost notebook up in the Pyrenees. It had a few names written in it; it was a sort of documentary of the planning, walk etc. Very personal, although I couldn't understand too much: Portuguese.

In Roncesvalles, in the albergue, I asked around for Portuguises/Brazilians, and found the owner: A Brazilian priest, part of a flock of severeal, walking in their faith for the first time on the Camino. The priest was extremely happy, and in return, he tied a yellow band around my left wrist (+ signed a cross on my chest). On the band was printed a Brazilian prayer (I did not understand the full meaning of the Portuguise words...). He told me that the wristband & prayer was for me to have a safe journey & life, and it would stay on until not needed for me anymore. I was told to not remove it, but let it stay on until it left me by itself.

It was just a piece of thin fabric, and I was surprised that it actually stayed on for more than a year. My girlfriend asked several times if I shouldn't just tear it off (I guess she thought it was a bit too hippie-like for this old guy), but somehow I trusted the priest and kept it on.

Well, more than one year after, one day, I booked my plane for my next Camino, and then we drove to my cottage for the weekend. That afternoon, as we were sitting on the porch sipping a glass of red, she suddenly said: "Where's your yellow wristband?"

It was gone. I swear that this is all true.

 

[zoopeter]

I had a strange experience on my Camino in 2012, I think it was the third day. and after a couple of days of difficult walking
especially over col de Napoleon which had alot of snow, I was quite exhausted.
whilst going through some muddy woods near Larrasoona, I stopped and was really at an end and wished I was not there.
As I leant on my walking poles head down at a standstill, I saw in the mud a shinny object,I picked it up it was the medal of St James. I got a new burst of energy.

 

[williamlittig]

Orrison on the Camino Frances was a wonderful place to start the adventure known as "The Way". A room full of strangers headed into the unknown, each introducing themselves. A year later in Southern Morocco a delightful couple from Italy recognized me and we were introduced again...... Ultreya........ Willy/Utah/USA

 

[jmcarp]

Almost immediately as we started walking out of SJPP, it seems like every time we introduced ourselves to other pilgrims as "Jim and Jeanette from Colorado," the response always seemed to be, "Colorado? Do you know Lee and Linda from Colorado? They're just ahead." "No, sorry, we don't," we'd respond -- Colorado is a fairly big place, and a lot of Coloradans walk the Camino. As the days went by we'd hear, "Oh, do you know Lee and Linda? We just met them a few hours ago." Or, "We met them yesterday." (We're slow walkers.) Eventually we stopped hearing the question as they apparently pulled farther and farther ahead of us.

Fast forward to the end of the Camino; we were in Finisterre, checking out of the hotel and getting ready to catch a bus back to Santiago and thence to Madrid for our flight home. There was a man, obviously also an American, just ahead of me talking to the hotel owner. When he finished, I said "Hi, where you from?" "Colorado," he replied. Me: "Colorado? I'm from Colorado, too. I'm Jim...nice to meet you." He looked at me kinda funny and said, "You're not Jim as in Jim and Jeanette, are you? I'm Lee." My jaw dropped and I said, "Are you Lee, as in Lee and Linda?" It turns out that due to our various layovers and rest days, we had eventually passed them, and they started getting the same question about us when they introduced themselves, "Oh, you're from Colorado...do you know Jim and Jeanette?" In six weeks of walking the same trail we never crossed paths, but here we were, finally meeting at the end of the world.

 

[Icacos]

Aaah, these stories are wonderful! Thank you all.

 

[PEI_Heather]

In 2012 I flew from Prince Edward Island to London, then after a few days in England, to Biarritz. I got to Bayonne and waited for the train. I chatted with a young man from Brazil named Bruno. We sat with each other on the train and walked to the Pilgrims' Office in SJPP, together with three women we had met on the train. It was later in the day and none of us had places to stay for the night. Bruno was sent to one albergue and the four of us women, plus another young woman who was at the office, to another alberque. Off we went...

Not to see Bruno again....

The day my Little Camino Brother, Sebastian, and I walked into Santiago, who should I meet but Bruno. Who knew?! We chatted then went our ways, hoping/expecting to see each other soon. We didn't but who knows what the future holds...

So return to the beginning, the beginning of the Camino walk that I did....

I was walking out of Roncesvalles with my new friend Anne (from Ireland). Close to Burguete, we heard a voice behind us, "Pardone, habla Ingles?" We stopped and this tall tall tall young man approached us. Anne said, "Oh yes," and I said as well, "Yup!" I asked him where in Canada he was from. (What gave him away was the fact he was wearing a Hockey Canada cap over his blonde hair.) He was Colin, from British Columbia; I told him I was Heather from PEI. He asked if either if us knew anything about Achilles tendonitis--he had hurt himself in the hike down to Roncesvalles; I told him I was an RMT (Registered Massage Therapist), so lots of experience with AT. We walked (he limped) the short way into Burguete, had some breakfast, then I worked on his knees and calves, then wrapped his wonky tendon/ankle with a tensor bandage. We three started to walk towards Espinal but Colin's gait got slower and slower... He was in a considerable amount of pain. Anne and I arrived in Espinal and waited for him... When he limped in, we both told him he was staying put, even for a couple of days--he needed to stop walking to let his tendon recover. He didn't want to stay--had to continue walking, he said... Fortunately another young fellow--Pepe--arrived and said he was not going anywhere--his back was killing him! We introduced Colin to Pepe and off Anne and I went...

Not to see Colin again....

Outside of Logrono, I met Sebastian, a young German doctor who was trying to decide his future: if he should return home to study a medical specialty or to return to university to study music. We walked for the majority of the Camino together and became very close--why I call him my Little Camino Brother to this day. Earlier on the day he was to leave for home/Germany, we decided to get some breakfast and have one last visit. (There is a cafe in Santiago that has outside its doors a statue of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders--great churros y chocolate available there; we were looking for that place.) We walked for quite a bit...time was moving along, as was our hunger. Eventually, we came to a cafe and I suggested we just go into it and have breakfast....

There was only one other customer there. As we went in, this tall tall tall young man with a touque covering his blonde hair stood up... "Heather???," he asked....
"Yes?" (Not recognizing him--brain still soggy from the rain...)
"It's Colin..."

He had made it. He walked with Pepe for most, if not all of the Camino, and had gotten even to Finisterre--where, I discovered later, after we became Facebook friends, he had scattered the ashes of his father on the shoreline of a beach, to be taken to the sea. He was on his way to Ibiza next, where I found out, he was not a hockey player, as I thought, but a DJ and apparently a pretty well known and good one. (What do I know?!)

(By the way, Sebastian returned to Germany and to medicine after he finished the Camino; he got an internship as an Internalist... However, last year he left the hospital he was working/studying at to study music. He is now in university in Vienna doing just that. Go big or go home, right?!)

 

[Ballari]

While on the Camino in 2014, my friend and I started talking to a lovely young pilgrim in a cafe. As we were all vegetarian we exchanged notes on our research on vegetarian friendly places on the Camino, said goodbye, and continued our walk. Moving forward about 6 weeks, we ran into him again at breakfast in our accommodation in Istanbul! In a city as big as Istanbul, what are the chances?

 

[Telelama]

Thanks so much everyone! I loved reading your stories. I hope you don't mind if I add three of my favorites.

The very first couple we met, they joined us at a table in Viskarret, introduced us to two other great couples. They allowed us to join them. We walked with and shared albergues until Estella. All of them were friends and were on their second Camino. They guided us well those first days. Late on our last night in Madrid, with an early morning flight back to the States, the last people we see are the first couple we met in Viskarret. We joined them at a table in Saint Miguels Market. We had not seen them since Estella.

This last Camino, we met some great guys through a fellow pilgrim that we walked portions of the Portuguese with. The five of them had just walked in from the Via de la Plata. Great guys, had a bunch of fun in Santiago with them. One of them went on to Finisterre. Two days later he sends us a selfie with a woman that we had walked the Frances with last year! We still cannot figure out how they learned they both knew us. The odd twist is that the picture he texted us was from a few weeks earlier. She had abandoned the la Plata b/c of flooding at her home.

We had dinner with two sister from Maine in Rabanal, then we went to vespers together. We had a great time, enjoyed their company. We coincidentally end up sitting next to them at the cafeteria in a museum in Madrid a few weeks later. They have no idea who we are.