My plans had kind of fallen apart. I was in Spain with 6-months free. What to do? Walking the Camino de Santiago had been a wonderful experience before, so why not do it again! So, after brushing up on my Spanish in Almansa, I set out again on the Camino for a second time.
Prologue
Once you start doing long-distance traveling by foot or by bike, other types of travel just don’t compare. But sometimes you think even more is better. That was me in 2007. I had spent the previous year planning an epic ‘pilgrimage’ connecting the 3 major religious cities in Europe: Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Canterbury (UK), and Rome (Italy). I was to start in Spain and follow the Camino de Santiago through Spain and on into France eventually crossing the English Channel to reach Canterbury. Then I would follow the Via Francia from Canterbury to Rome.
I wasn’t worried about traveling through Spain, or even Italy. For some reason, walking through France was terrifying me because of language. Over half of the trek would be going through France, so this was major. I had taken French in college, twice, and failed miserably. All I remembered how to say was “Ce ne se pa!” – “I don’t understand!”. So, you could see how spending at least two months walking through the French countryside where no one spoke English might give a guy some concern.
The Camino de Santiago Again
To make a long story shorter, at the last minute, I decided to just do the Camino again, starting this time from Pamplona. And that’s what I did. But doing anything for a second time isn’t the same as the first. New people, new sights, and new experiences are always going to come no matter your expectations.
In the end, that summer was even more transformative than I would have imagined and it set me off on a totally new unexpected “path”. But first I needed to walk the Camino.
Coming Soon!
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