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What do you miss the most?

Kyle Hocking

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Completed: Camino Frances - Spring'16
Preparing: Camino Frances - Fall ‘23
I'm quickly coming up to my two-year Camino anniversary and I'm finding myself in serious withdrawal. Definitely missing the carefree lifestyle of the Way. My planned voyage in 2023 can't come soon enough!

Any other pilgrims out there raring to get back on the road? What do you miss the most?
 
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The simplicity of Camino life is what I like. My suspicion is that your actual life should be lived more like a Camino life. Modern life is so complicated and stressful, a Camino walk is a respite from all of that.
Why I have gone on a walk the every year since 2014 and will walk the Primitivo this September.
 
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What I miss the most from any of my Caminos are the places and the local people who live in them, and whether kind or cruel or indifferent, the people who live in and work in or visit or pass through these other places, including of course the other pilgrims, are always the keenest gift.

I am perhaps spoiled somewhat, as I live in one of the most beautiful of the locations right on top of the Way between Rome and Compostela, so that not only is my basic local fitness hike a short walk along the Camino itself, but I also not infrequently meet pilgrims to either Rome or Santiago in the course of my ordinary routines.

But I do not have the daily simplicity of the walking, nor the freshness of never quite knowing where I'll sleep, nor what I'll eat, nor of the fresh unknown beyond a stranger horizon. The starkness in the purpose there. The more healthy living. These I certainly miss.
 
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I miss having done something that most people just talk about...my next Camino...Camino del Norte from Biarritz to Santiago starting August 2018...I feel like I have to prove to myself that I can do it again.
 
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I miss it all
Every last bit of it
The planning
The walking
The frequent stops at the cafés
The arriving at the destination and the relaxation afterwards
The menu de perigeno ..oh yes indeed
Most especially though ...that first step in the morning as the sun is rising ...it's just magical
This new BBC programme has definitely unhinged me a bit as I just want to take off...now
However we'll have to wait till June now ...and then head off to the San Salvidor
 
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  1. Not having to constantly think about work! (Business owner)
  2. Actually experiencing Life, as it is meant to be.
 
Thanks for asking.

What I miss is the sense of living in the moment, here and now. On the Camino I wake up, I walk. If I am hungry, I eat. If I am thisty I drink. At the end of the day when I am tired, I stop, I eat and I rest. I take each day by itself, living in the moment and not worrying about what was or what will be.
 
Being off the grid, not living by the clock, meeting new people and how wonderful everyone is to each other along the way. I once read on here that the way people treat each other on the Camino is God’s wish for how people should always treat each other. And I believe it.
 
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Beautifully said
 

yeah, I think your Camino wasn't long enough -- all that you say is perfectly true, but there's a moment where you get outside of the peculiarity of the Camino to realise that these virtues are vital to a simple daily life, rather than being some sort of escape from it.
 
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I completed the Frances in 2016 on my own, I miss it all, so much so am going again in July, this time with my partner, and once again taking six weeks so that we can enjoy it. Even that will go too fast!
 
The simplicity of life on the Camino, the shared goal and most of all the comradery.
I walked from SJPdP to Muxia in Sept 2016. It did not take much to get me to walk again in 2017, just an interested friend asking if I’d do it again.
 
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Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
There is way too much I miss, all of the aforementioned plus probably 10 more.
The camaraderie, the laughs along the way, at the end of the day and yes, even the cold beer over dinner.........
 
#1 The excitement leading up to the journey. Flying there, taking the
train, getting your first stamp.
#2 Being out in the wide open spaces just me and nature and God.
Sooooo peaceful.
#3 Café con Letche
#4 A nice sweet orange to eat while walking
#5 Hot shower at the end of the walk
#6 Downing cold kefir after the long hot day
#6 The special few pilgrims I connected with
#7
 
Drifting from horizon to horizon like a cloud. Climbing off the path into the woods to take a leak and find my pilgrim's staff lying on the ground in front of me. Spanish bartenders - they're brilliant, taking multitasking to a completely new level. Walking through fields, villages, woodlands, urban industrial areas, mountains, and plains. Speaking Spanish every day. Cafe con leche in the morning. African bananas. Deep conversations with people from everywhere. Dinner with South Korean students who just smile, nod, and say Yes Yes. Peering over fences and through hedges into people's lives. Communal meals in the Alberque. The simple joy of walking in, through, and penetrated by beauty.
 
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The first steps in the morning. The first stop for cafe con leche. The incredible views of color in nature. The tired legs from great exercise. The beer at the end of the walk. The shower (different in each albergue). The conversation with other peregrinos. Slipping into my sleeping bag after the pilgrim’s meal. Starting all over again the next morning. Glorious!
 
I walked the Camino Frances in September 2017. I miss: the beautiful people and countryside of Spain; hearing conversations in many different languages; chatting and laughing with fellow pilgrims; being one with my hiking boots.... The list goes on!
 

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I miss the great feeling I had from feeling so fit and strong.
The other pilgrims I befriended.
Spain; the villages, the countryside.
Eating what I liked and not putting on weight
That first stop in the morning for breakfast.
The shower when I finished walking for the day
The long relaxed lunch/dinner in the afternoon
The wine
The languages, the chatter
Feeling blissfully tired at night, but waking up ready to go
The huge sky above
The mist in the Galecian valleys
The animals sharing The Way, cows, dogs, sheep, horses, cats
Exploring in the evening, learning about the places we visited
Everything about being a pilgrim
 
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1. Snoring
2. Fresh air. I never travel without a nose plug espically at 2 am
3 . Some people seem to be alegeric to soap and water
4 plastic bags but away for more hardship soon
 
Kyle Hocking said:
I could. But I'm planning on doing a full Camino once a decade. First went in my 20s in 2016. I'll be in my 30s in 2023.

Then, there will be one in my 40s, 50s, 60s etc.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the thread...Its hard to put into words the simplicity and peace I miss from the Camino as I pilgrim through the responsibilities of my daily life....I was wondering if you are still planning to go this year?
 
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