I’ll let you into a little secret..

In another lifetime..well, not too long ago, I used to enjoy putting one word after the other to create sentences. From the age of 12 right up to my mid-20’s, I got great enjoyment out of writing and playing guitar on a regular basis. It was a pretty fun thing to do and I was even in a band at one stage. Sure, every 20-something was! It was a rite of passage in life.

However, in time, life got in the way and writing reports and reaching deadlines replaced this little obsession of mine. I have still listened to music all along, but my two guitars are now gathering dust in the corner of my room and my collection of songs are in a box alongside them. I haven’t looked at them in years.

But tonight something happened that hasn’t happened in quite a while. I put pen to paper and wrote eight lines. It’s not much, but it could be the spark. My inspiration? The Camino, walking and its memories.

I’ll probably forget about it tomorrow and leave these few lines lying where they are but this whole thing surprised me. Will I kick on from here? I’d love to. If I can write a part of a song without music I’d be pretty happy. It’s all about being creative I suppose and this is a great way. I had also thought about buying a ukelele before Christmas as it is so easy to learn (plus they only have 4 strings).

Imagine the scene..

You have left your albergue, it is 7am in the morning and you are setting off alone. The sun has risen behind you and you have 7 hours of walking ahead of you. Sounds great, doesn’t it? You look around and there are one or two other pilgrims behind you, while there are three ahead of you. You could slow down or speed up to talk to either group, but you prefer your own company. Silence is golden and all that…and there are only so many questions you can answer while talking to your self. I usually listen to music at this stage. Before a Camino, I make up a playlist on my phone ready and waiting. There are some days I wouldn’t listen to any music as I could be chatting with other peregrinos. But I don’t use the music as an excuse not to meet and mingle with other pilgrims. So here is my Spotify playlist for my upcoming Camino Finisterre. I probably won’t even listen to it, but it’s handy to have.

You can have a listen to the playlist here. Unfortunately, WordPress is unable to embed playlists from Spotify.

It’s worth bearing in mind that you should download the music onto your phone before you leave to avoid data costs. If you are making your own and don’t have a Spotify account, you could do the same on YouTube. Enjoy!