Camino Pilgrim

The story of this journey begins three years ago. I had just been back from Camino Portuges and a few days later seriously injured my knee. Walking was difficult for weeks and even a year later it was not easy to start longer walks again.

Last year, when I was cycling across Estonia, the knee was still only half healed. In the last 9 months, I have been visiting a physiotherapist weekly to get my knee back to the level it was before my last Camino. It has really paid off to have someone guide me and speed up my recovery.

The aim for this year was actually to do Camino Norte and switch to Camino Primitivo halfway through, ending up with Camino Finisterre. Norte is the coastal route in Northern Spain that goes through beaches and mountains for 900km. Primitivo is the original Camino route that goes from the diagonally over mountain ranges and has much more of a desert-style climate. Finisterre is just my favorite part of the Camino, stretching to the ocean and at the end of Spain.

I was aware that for local Spanish people, the second half of July is when they all move away from the south coast of extreme temperatures and go enjoy a nice cool breeze by the sea in the north. To my surprise, almost all pilgrim accommodations closed this year for this period of time. Locals had already booked pretty much all hostel options for hundreds of kilometers on the route, so I had to change my plans for this year.

Camino Frances is the most popular hiking trail among walking pilgrims. There are lots of people coming from abroad. This trail has a good choice of accommodation along the trail and special pilgrim menus are offered in almost all restaurants. Two thirds of the route is on a softer surface, making it friendly to the knees (especially for those like me who have just fully recovered).

I wanted to keep my backpack extra light this year. In my 24L pack I have only bare necessities, but did not forget to pack warm sleeping clothes, because it gets quite cold walking through the desert the first half of the journey. The total weight of everything I will carry and wear is 5,6kg. In addition to that, I will carry 1-2 liters of water depending on weather and other conditions.

I have no expectations to beat past records in speed and distance, but I still want to walk to my heart’s content through the beautiful countryside, enjoy delicious local food and have mind-opening conversations with other pilgrims from around the world.