Camino calls, and I answer, again
Making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela on foot is a chance to see new landscapes, meet new people
The call of the Camino was just too powerful to ignore. In 2015, I took a leave of absence from the Journal to walk the 500-mile Way of St. James, the Camino de Santiago route that goes from St. Jean Pied-de-Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. The city has been a place of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages because the bones of the apostle St. James the Great are believed to be interred in the crypt of its cathedral.
This month I am retiring after 17½ years at the Journal, and my first course of action will be to return to Europe to relive that unforgettable experience.
Walking the Camino is not like hiking. You are walking toward a destination each day, seeing a changing landscape and meeting people from all over the world. You are outside your comfort zone. All I had before was a 33-liter backpack, but staying in hostels every night, I didn’t need anything more. I’m taking the same pack with me this time.
Although the route that begins in France is the bestknown, thanks to the 2010 Martin Sheen movie “The Way,” there are many other options. This time I chose the Portuguese Camino. My journey will begin on June 18 in the city of Porto — of Port wine fame — on the Douro River in northern Portugal. If I follow a route hugging the coast, it will be 161.5 miles to Santiago. An inland alternative is 149 miles. I probably will walk part of the coastal route and part of the central route. About half of the trip will be in Portugal, half in Spain.
I will be taking pictures and writing about the journey and the people I meet in a blog I created. You can follow my adventures at rosalieinportugal.wordpress.com.