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sillydoll said:I can see where people hanker after a different, more solitudinous experience, but I will keep walking the Camino Frances until I can't put one foot in front of the other!
After walking most of this route 5 times, I have made good friends with a Pension owner in Pamplona, with Maria Medel at the Felisa table outside Logroño, with Maria Antonia in Estella and with many others all along the route. I am always excited to spend a few hours or even a day with them.
I adore the different landscapes and look forward to revisitng special places that hold precious memories. I want to hug that same tree again, attend mass in the same church, sing at supper in the same albergue, marvel at the same stunning views. To me it is the most magical, spiritual, traditional Jacobean route of all and it keeps calling me back - and it is like a homecoming for me.
When I read Linda Davidson's book I realise just how little I know about the Camino Frances, and how many places I still have to discover. I just hope I have the health, energy and financial wherewithal to continue walking this route for many years to come.
If you walk a second camino expecting to recreate the first one, you set yourself up for disappointment. You can read about that repeatedly in the Forum. I go each time expecting a new camino, and I am never disappointed. I see the old, and reminisce, but rarely stay in a place I have stayed before. I think you can always find something new.You have to see what you missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in springtime what you saw in summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see the crops growing, the fruit ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before.
sillydoll said:Jose Saramago who wrote In “Journey to Portugal”:
'The journey is never over. Only travellers come to an end. The end of one journey is simply the start of another. You have to see what you missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in springtime what you saw in summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see the crops growing, the fruit ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before. You have to go back to the footsteps already taken, to go over them again or add fresh ones alongside them. You have to start the journey anew. Always. The traveler sets out once more."
Although I have yet to do the same Camino twice (am relatively new to all this: Camino Francés 2010 and Via de la Plata 2011), the Camino bug has taken hold of me and yes, at this point I would rather be on the Camino than any other place! To such an extent that I have decided to return this summer to be a hospitalera as I am physically unable to walk it this year.for those of you who have done the same route multiple times, have you found that the interest in returning to the camino replaces your interest in visiting other countries or do you also still travel to other areas for first time adventures as well?
I have done extensive travelling both as a student (studied in Spain and France) and in my adult years when I lived and worked in Paris, Geneva and Luxembourg. In the past 20 years living in The Netherlands I have travelled often to Spain and France in addition to trips to Africa and Asia but the Camino is different. It pulls you in and doesn't let go (or rather I won't let it go :wink: )!.does the camino encourage other travel to other countries or draw you back time and time again?
I really love this and it something that I say about being in Galicia. The walks are never the same. One week these flowers command my attention, the next it is those. (Foxgloves right now...how appropriate). If only we could approach life in the same way...sillydoll said:'The journey is never over. Only travellers come to an end. The end of one journey is simply the start of another. You have to see what you missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in springtime what you saw in summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see the crops growing, the fruit ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before. You have to go back to the footsteps already taken, to go over them again or add fresh ones alongside them. You have to start the journey anew. Always. The traveler sets out once more."
Wow! How well written. I love your thoughts. A year after celebrating my 75th birthday on the Camino, I am headed back in 9 days, for another completely different experience---doing exactly the same thing. Some would say, "Why?" I say, "Why not?" If it feels good, why stop? Buen Camino.I agree with Sil.
I have walked the Camino Frances 7 times since 2004 from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Santiago and on to Finisterre; my reasons are many. Now I know the path very well and have many Camino friends along that way such as certain clergy, hospitaleros, restaurant owners, barmen, etc. Memories of their gracious past kindnesses - smiles, hugs, water, conversation, and help - keep calling me back. Even the landscape has become reassuring over the years. Certain trees, curves and vistas "belong to me". Although the terrain may have been the same the actual realities of each Camino have greatly varied. Each began with both anticipation and trepidation as I wondered how it all would go, but each pilgrimage developed its own rich mix of old friends and new, realities of weather, stamina and health and, of course, philosophical musings and sincere thanksgiving.
My reasons include giving thanks for each day lived and for my life which enables such a journey. Walking alone day after day I ponder varied aspects of the thousand-year history of this beloved route as well as recall several quotations which help define my personal creed. "But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity..." "I will walk in liberty for I seek thy precepts." Psalm 26:11 and 119:45 "No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path." Buddha
Why another Camino?
One answer is "le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît pas/ the heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing." Pascal, Les Pensées
For those who ask why I do this at my age? My answer is why not?
"what then? shall we sit idly down and say the night has come; it is no longer day? The night hath not yet come;...For age is opportunity no less than youth itself, though in another dress, and as the evening twilight fades away the sky is filled with stars, invisible by day." Longfellow, Morituri Salutamus
Long may I be able to do so, but as age and time eventually take their toll hopefully my personal memories will endure. Physically I may not be there, but sentimentally as long as I live I will always wear my shell. And whenever my life may end it is reassuring to hope that this beloved route will continue throughout the centuries to come.
Margaret
Yes, some posts stand the test of time. Many words of support and encouragement. And where are you, now, Heloise? It did take me a minute to check the date of your original post!Wow! How well written. I love your thoughts. A year after celebrating my 75th birthday on the Camino, I am headed back in 9 days, for another completely different experience---doing exactly the same thing. Some would say, "Why?" I say, "Why not?" If it feels good, why stop? Buen Camino.
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