West Coaster
Zoomer
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances May-June 2015
Three Signs to Santiago
Three years ago I knew nothing about the Camino de Santiago. Three signs over the next couple of years, set me off on my greatest adventure.
Sign One
I was an early Saturday morning and I had just dropped into a local coffee shop for a cappuccino. On my way home I decided to take the scenic route along the beach front. I noticed a garage sale sign propped up besides somebodies drive way. So I stopped to have a look. There were 3 large tables set out with all sorts of nick-knacks. On the table right in front of me was a video in a thin metal case. The video was sitting alone and the cover showed a man with a backpack on, standing over some hill top monument. The title “The Way” had me thinking this could be some religious video until I read the back cover and critic’s reviews. If this has something to do with backpacking adventure, it’s worth a spending a few dollars on. I thought I would set my maximum price to $5 and asked the owners how much he wanted for it. He said $2 and I had the money out of my pocket before he said another word. He asked me if I’ve ever seen the movie and I replied no. He said it was well worth it. For some reason I felt like I had just traded the cow for some magic beans.
That Sunday night I watched The Way, and was greatly impressed. Well told story of people overcoming internal demons with friendship molded by the common hardships they endured. I immediately turned to my son and asked him if he would like to walk the Camino with me. That’s impossible; he’s in university 24x7 and cannot get away for a week let alone a month. The Way was put on the shelf for a long time.
Sign Two
About six months later I attended a church bazar. They had all sorts of new donated items for sale by silent auction. On top of a display table was a single pair of hiking boots – Hi-Tec suede boots size 10.5. That’s strange the only pair of boots there and they’re exactly my size. I checked over a few other items and found nothing I was interested in, so I bid $60 on the boots. It was no surprise that I won the boots and as I was driving home with them when a thought came to me that somebody wants me walking. If this is a spiritual sign then it must be pointing to the Camino.
From that day on I started doing some serious research on the Camino. I started downsizing my backpacking equipment to suit the European style of hiking. From all I read, the Camino was unlike anything I’ve done before. It’s not a technical adventure of equipment, food and environment, it’s a spiritual challenge.
I put aside some vacation time for the next year to allow me 6 weeks off during the fall of 2015. My long distance walk training will start in March next year. My bookings for flights and accommodations would start in March once my vacation request was approved. I booked Spanish lessons at the community college for the winter and spring terms. I was completely pumped waiting for everything to fall into place when I had an accident. I was out running at night with a group of people in December when I tripped and broke my ankle.
Hobbling around the house completely put an end to my Camino fantasy. I had an air cast on for four weeks and after that I started physiotherapy. My ankle’s range of motion was very limited and I could not do any running and walking for ten minutes caused it to swell up. I really put a lot of effort into my physio exercises, in the gym every day working my ankle at every angle. Many weeks I thought I had it licked and was able to get out and walk and move about with no pain. Then other weeks my ankle would swell up and put a stop to me.
Sign Three
It was late March and my Spanish lessons well under way and my vacation for the fall was all approved. All I had to do now was pull my credit card out of my wallet and book the flight. I had started doing some training walks, about 8 km three times a week. My ankle fought back a few times and I would get up out of bed with it all sore and swollen. At times I was seeing improvement and other times I was not. Nobody could really tell me if it would be OK to take on an 800km walk. At the end of May, I had not yet booked the flight and continued to walk every second day with slight improvements every week. The question, should I go or not, stuck with me.
I work at home most of the time and I only go into the office on very rare occasions. It was one of these rare occasions one morning that I was up walking to the bus stop on my way to the office. A survey crew had come in some time before and painted excavation markings on the paved walkway near my home. I just turned the corner on this walkway and saw a large painted yellow arrow pointing out a manhole cover in front of me.
When I got home from work that day – I booked my flight to France.
Three years ago I knew nothing about the Camino de Santiago. Three signs over the next couple of years, set me off on my greatest adventure.
Sign One
I was an early Saturday morning and I had just dropped into a local coffee shop for a cappuccino. On my way home I decided to take the scenic route along the beach front. I noticed a garage sale sign propped up besides somebodies drive way. So I stopped to have a look. There were 3 large tables set out with all sorts of nick-knacks. On the table right in front of me was a video in a thin metal case. The video was sitting alone and the cover showed a man with a backpack on, standing over some hill top monument. The title “The Way” had me thinking this could be some religious video until I read the back cover and critic’s reviews. If this has something to do with backpacking adventure, it’s worth a spending a few dollars on. I thought I would set my maximum price to $5 and asked the owners how much he wanted for it. He said $2 and I had the money out of my pocket before he said another word. He asked me if I’ve ever seen the movie and I replied no. He said it was well worth it. For some reason I felt like I had just traded the cow for some magic beans.
That Sunday night I watched The Way, and was greatly impressed. Well told story of people overcoming internal demons with friendship molded by the common hardships they endured. I immediately turned to my son and asked him if he would like to walk the Camino with me. That’s impossible; he’s in university 24x7 and cannot get away for a week let alone a month. The Way was put on the shelf for a long time.
Sign Two
About six months later I attended a church bazar. They had all sorts of new donated items for sale by silent auction. On top of a display table was a single pair of hiking boots – Hi-Tec suede boots size 10.5. That’s strange the only pair of boots there and they’re exactly my size. I checked over a few other items and found nothing I was interested in, so I bid $60 on the boots. It was no surprise that I won the boots and as I was driving home with them when a thought came to me that somebody wants me walking. If this is a spiritual sign then it must be pointing to the Camino.
From that day on I started doing some serious research on the Camino. I started downsizing my backpacking equipment to suit the European style of hiking. From all I read, the Camino was unlike anything I’ve done before. It’s not a technical adventure of equipment, food and environment, it’s a spiritual challenge.
I put aside some vacation time for the next year to allow me 6 weeks off during the fall of 2015. My long distance walk training will start in March next year. My bookings for flights and accommodations would start in March once my vacation request was approved. I booked Spanish lessons at the community college for the winter and spring terms. I was completely pumped waiting for everything to fall into place when I had an accident. I was out running at night with a group of people in December when I tripped and broke my ankle.
Hobbling around the house completely put an end to my Camino fantasy. I had an air cast on for four weeks and after that I started physiotherapy. My ankle’s range of motion was very limited and I could not do any running and walking for ten minutes caused it to swell up. I really put a lot of effort into my physio exercises, in the gym every day working my ankle at every angle. Many weeks I thought I had it licked and was able to get out and walk and move about with no pain. Then other weeks my ankle would swell up and put a stop to me.
Sign Three
It was late March and my Spanish lessons well under way and my vacation for the fall was all approved. All I had to do now was pull my credit card out of my wallet and book the flight. I had started doing some training walks, about 8 km three times a week. My ankle fought back a few times and I would get up out of bed with it all sore and swollen. At times I was seeing improvement and other times I was not. Nobody could really tell me if it would be OK to take on an 800km walk. At the end of May, I had not yet booked the flight and continued to walk every second day with slight improvements every week. The question, should I go or not, stuck with me.
I work at home most of the time and I only go into the office on very rare occasions. It was one of these rare occasions one morning that I was up walking to the bus stop on my way to the office. A survey crew had come in some time before and painted excavation markings on the paved walkway near my home. I just turned the corner on this walkway and saw a large painted yellow arrow pointing out a manhole cover in front of me.
When I got home from work that day – I booked my flight to France.
