Our Second Camino - The Journey Continues

29 August 2021

After waiting 3 long years, we are now returning to complete another Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Our anticipation is coming to life in just a few days as we return this time to complete the entire 500-mile journey (we completed 220 miles in 2018 and prayed we would be able to return one day to complete the entire route). We start in France at the medieval city of Saint Jean Pied de Port, and we'll have about 5 weeks to reach the city of Santiago de Compostela. 

During our journey we will carry scallop shells on our backpacks (same as last time) that indicate we are on this pilgrimage trek. We will be on the pilgrimage route with thousands of other pilgrims from around the world. In recent years over 300,000 pilgrims finished a portion of the pilgrimage, so we are never alone on this journey.

Our last 2 months of training has been intense, especially given the summer heat here in Albuquerque. We are averaging 45 miles of walking per week, and our feet are doing well through all the miles. As part of our final training, we hiked the La Luz trail to the tram house of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque (10,300 ft elevation). We also hiked the Pino Trail to the crest (about 9,000 ft elevation), and we are feeling more confident in our ability to tackle crossing the Pyrenees Mountains on the French/Spanish border.

Training hike in the Sandia Mountains to 10,300 ft. elevation.

Completing our hikes into the Sandia Mountains confirmed that our 45-miles per week of training walks has prepared us for our upcoming 500-mile pilgrimage trek. Last week we did two back-to-back 15-mile walks with our fully loaded packs (and survived), so I think we are ready for this adventure

This is a map of the French route of the Camino de Santiago, which runs over the Pyrenees Mountains from France and crosses Spain to end in Santiago de Compostela. We plan to walk 200 miles to Burgos, bike 100 miles to León, then walk the remaining 200 miles to Santiago.

This 500-mile pilgrimage route starts in France and runs across Spain.

Sandy and I learned a lot on our first Camino in 2018. We were anxious and nervous, like most first-time pilgrims. We tried to keep the weight in our backpacks down, but on the day we flew to Spain, each of our packs ended up weighing 20 pounds (somehow a bunch of 'might need' items magically climbed aboard). This time we have reduced the weight in our packs to no more than 12 pound each (not including the water), so the packs should be pleasantly lighter.

One thing that is different for this Camino is that we have had to book all up our hotels in advance. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has closed down a number of the pilgrim 'albergues' (dormitories), so the overflow of pilgrims have booked places that now puts hotels in shorter supply.

Like our last Camino, scallop shell markers throughout the cities and countryside will guide us and keep us on the right course.

The waymarkers show the scallop shell, a symbol that many people claim represents the various pilgrimage routes that all lead to Santiago de Compostela, the supposed burial spot of St. James the Apostle.

So why are we doing another Camino de Santiago pilgrimage? Perhaps, in part, we hope to again enjoy a profoundly spiritual experience like we had on our last pilgrimage.

The Camino calls, so again we march forward on "the way" and pray for a journey as joyous as last time.