So, did you see the movie "The way"? About a father who's son wanted to walk the Camino but died. And the dad decided to walk it instead.
Well, very touching movie. A movie about people who are looking for something. Everyone starts his/her way with a different reason.
Partly because of this movie and my fascination for sports and hiking, I decided to try this. I started on short notice without any training. So I started from Leon (Spain).
Most people start from Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port. If you start from SJPD, you walk around 800 km, Leon is 322 km.
So starting from Leon meant that I was doing the Sint-Jacob route (Camino Francaise). The most famous one. But You have other routes starting from Spain, Italy, Portugal and even in Belgium you can start. Well, basically, you can start from everywhere!
So, June 7th in 2018, the start of my big adventure that summer. I did already lots of solo-travels, but this felt different.
I had no idea what to expect.
The first 2 days, I mostly was on my own. Didn't met so much people so far. But from day 3 on, I started to meet so much amazing people.
Around that time, I've met Fee (Germany), Sara (Frace), Patrick & Kyle (USA), Cynthia (USA), Garry (Asutralia) and Arturo (Venezuela).
Never knew these people would be a part of my big adventure and change.
You know, even when you start this adventure with sportive reasons, you still go trough things. You think, you feel, you live...
Lots of things happen.
So I started to walk the same distances as those great people. Some of them started from SJPD, so they already knew a lot of people by this time. And that's how my network of people also expanded.
In the morning everyone left, like you leave the house for going to school and work and at night we all came back together.
that's the best part, you create a family and family habbits. Sometimes you walk together, sometimes you walk alone. You have good days and you have bad days.
Physically, I was a little stiff, but all good. I felt pretty surprised that my body could keep up that good. I walked around 25 km a day. AT the end of my almost 2 weeks, I did had bladers and sour feet. But it was all worth it.
There was this one day, it was fathersday. I still can remember Kyle and his dad having a time together that day. It made me very emotional. Seeing those 2 bonding together and knowing I would never have something like that with my mom or dad. That's when some reality hits you. When we where walking the last kilometres apart, I did a lot of thinking. It's crazy how a mind can change your mood without really realising. That day, I took some more me time, just to find inner peace again.
But there where also lots of goods emotional moments.
June 14th, there was a part I hiked on myself. Looking around at the mountains, Feeling and experiencing nature. I don't know what happend, but I felt so so so happy. I felt calm, happy, relaxed and had so much inner peace.
Because I was alone and not able to talk to someone about it, I called my sister at that moment. She got to experience this feeling trough the phone.
The most emotional part, where we al were crying, was when we arrived at Santiago. The day before I arrived, Fee, Kyle and Patrick already did the last part. they were crazy enough to do over 40 km a day. Some of us decided to do it in 2 days. I promised to arrive at the Kathedral around 9, right on time for breakfast. So I left the Albergue at 4 at night. Just to make sure I was on time. Althought finding the way in the dark was not so easy, so I did longer then it used to take me, but I made it.
Arriving in Santiago while the bells were ringing, I called my mom to share that moment with her. Tears rolled over my cheeks.
Standing in the middle of the square, waiting for Patrick and Kyle. Hoping they were there. And suddenly, I had a connection with a HotSpot for internet. Kyle was around. Thank you technology to lead me to the ones I wanted to share this moment with.
Lots of tears followed with hugs.
This journey changed me.
I've met so many people who still are locked in my heart.
I've met myself a few times.
I had the time to think about things I never thought about.
The days after, I felt empty and lonely. Nothing could fill that up. As I travelled for 1 more week in Spain by myself, I couldn't enjoy it that much. Something was missing.
I always said I wanted to walk it again. But so far, I couldn't. The memories still to fresh, the feeling still inside. One day, I will walk again on the way to Santiago De Compostella.