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A series of unfortunate events

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 Post by LP If you are reading this, we thank you - it means you are one of the many family and friends interested enough in our trip, our faithful supporters, to pay attention to our photos and ramblings - you are, therefore, much appreciated 💚 Can you bloody believe it?…..we are off on another Camino - I have had a “series of unfortunate events” these past 6 months that have threatened my capacity to take on the rigors of long distance walking, but with the help of several doctors and physical therapists, the encouragement of family and friends, here I am with just a little bit of a limp and (mostly) ready for another Camino adventure :) The photo is of the covers of our guide books - the first section of the trip is the Camino Portuguese, 175 miles from Porto to Santiago de Compostela, the second is a further 75 miles from Santiago to Finisterre via Muxia and the Costa du Morte - what you cannot see in the photo is the sections of the guide books of routes we are not taking, th...
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Solvitur ambulando

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  Photo from 2025. Camino stretching off into the distance   Posted by VQT There’s a Latin expression for the benefits of taking a walk.   Solvitur ambulando  “It is solved by walking”.   This remedy (attributed to Diogenes the Cynic and St Augustine) is one that all true pilgrims know, and in many respects serious walkers (and hikers) are the modern embodiment of medieval pilgrims. So we set off once again to test this maxim.  Either we haven’t solved our problem(s) or we are acquiring new problems?   A few more “by the numbers” 2022 Camino Francais from St Jean Pied de Port 500 miles 2023 Camino Portuguese and Finisterre  250 miles 2024 Camino Norte (part) and Camino Primitivo 300 miles  2025 Camino Francais from Pamplona 460 miles 2026 Camino Portuguese and Muxia and Finisterre 250 miles (estimated) That my friends is a total of 1,760 miles.  Let’s solve some problems by walking…
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Never say never…

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Photo of my Camino refrigerator magnets.     Posted by VQT Last year in one of my final posts I stated, “we have no plans for another Camino”.  We being LP and VQT.   On August 22nd we will fly to Madrid then take another flight to Porto to walk our 5th Camino de Santiago.  Good thing we have the option of changing our minds! This year we will start in Porto and walk mainly the Coastal Path but we will be taking a variant route known as The Spiritual Way for a few days. We’ll arrive in Santiago de Compostela after 13 days of walking.  After taking a rest day in Santiago we will then walk for 6 days to Muxia and Finisterre (known as Lands End or the Edge of the World) on the western coast of Spain.  A 1.5 hour bus ride will take us back to Santiago.  Over the past 4 years we have posted a “by the numbers” look at our walk.  After completing this year’s walk we will have stayed at 148 hotels (some hotels we stay at multiple nights).  And w...
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Another circle closed

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 Posted by VQT While waiting in Madrid to board our flight home we were surprised when Sharon spotted us.  We first met Sharon and her son CJ on September 2nd in a cafe.  They were sitting with Clare.  At first we were puzzled by Sharon and CJ not knowing they were mother and son.  We saw them several times then in the way of the Camino we only heard about them when we saw Clare weeks later.   There are people you meet on the Camino and a connection is made and you feel that you’d be friends back home.  These Camino friendships might be fleeting but they are so strong.   VQT, LP and Sharon.  VQT’s refrigerator magnet collection.  
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Closing the Circle

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 Posted by LP We met Natalie and Graves (not sure I have the correct spelling, sorry for any errors) when we walked the (almost) 5 miles into Santiago early on Tuesday morning, before dawn - our hotel was slightly off the Camino and we were a little disoriented when we saw the headlights of Natalie and Graves - they got us back on track (and showed no signs of judgement in doing so) - we walked together until the big Santiago de Compostela city sign - last night we met them again at our favourite restaurant, The Green Door - so one of the pleasures of the evening was to recognize the lovely “connection” we made on our short walk together and bid a fond farewell  Photo - Natalie and Graves at The Green House restaurant  Photo - Graves, Natalie, LP and VQT
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Last Photos

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 Posted by VQT We have managed to cram all our souvenirs into our packs.  We have snacks for the train to Madrid.  We are ready to start our journey home.  Tonight we stay in Madrid near the airport.  It’s a hotel we’ve stayed at before and we are hopeful a small restaurant we’ve eaten at is still open.   Tina, VQT and LP at dinner last night.  We went back to The Green House.   VQT, Ashok, LP, Harsha and Tina.  Ashok and Harsha are from Calgary.  They surprised us last night by buying our dinner.   Final breakfast- cheesecake of course.  
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Parting thoughts.

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Posted by VQT I read a book - Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter.    In the book he talks about how comfortable our lives are - we live in climate controlled houses, we sit in comfy chairs, we have access to food 24/7 and drive almost everywhere.    Easter believes we should challenge ourselves with a physical goal that we could fail at achieving.    For the past 4 years the Camino has been my challenge. We hear of and have met many people that due to injuries or some other reasons are not able to complete their Camino.    Walking hundreds and hundreds of miles on all types of surfaces in various weather conditions is HARD.    It’s both physically and mentally challenging.   The Camino has changed from when we walked in 2022.  In just 3 years there are more people, more trash on the path and stickers (What’s up with putting stickers everywhere?), e-bikes (IMO these should not be allowed on the Camino - they are too dangerous...
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