Have you walked the Camino Frances or any other Camino? Have you written or created a video of it?

If so, please feel free to share.

You can either post your link in the comments below or email me at clearskiescamino@gmail.com.

To see my current links, click here.

Buen Camino!

Another weekend.

Another few days to catch up on sleep, but it’s not so bad. I’m just home from a very successful Spanish morning organised by Camino Society Ireland. I’ve left my knowledge of the Spanish language fall by the wayside a number of years ago. I have become fearful of making mistakes and to be honest, making mistakes is all part of learning any language. However, since the opportunity arose to dust down my skills and possibly improve them, I grabbed it with both hands.

I need to be taught in Spanish and that is exactly what our “profesora excelente” is doing. Hopefully, I will have less of the fear and more of the patience, to be speaking it before the lessons end. Who knows?

Next May is Camino #8, but who’s counting? Next I travel to Vigo and start walking a little further down in A Guarda on the Portuguese Coastal route. I should be in Santiago within 8-9 days as we are taking our time. I say “we”, as I am walking with my brother. I wonder if I will have the patience, and whether I will walk into Santiago with him. Keep an eye on this blog to find out, folks. He bought his backpack, a Lowe Alpine 35litre, and a few other essentials in the last few weeks, and our walks start soon. We are both constantly looking forward to the start date on May 6th and me being the “Camino expert” is being asked many a question. The real test will be taking the packs out for 2 consecutive days.

I walk into Santiago for the first time since June 2011. I’m not sure how to feel about this, and am hoping we get time to walk to the Coast. The Camino has been calling me big time since I returned from Astorga in September. I am getting more involved with the local Camino Society..and I enjoy it. For any other reason, I would be filled with trepidation.

I must return to my weekend now. More news later.

Hola!

I write to you in the Municipal Albergue in Astorga. I have walked for ten days and while this is not even a third of the full French Way, I have completed the time allotted to me this year. I started in Burgos what feels like months ago and after close to 240kms, I strolled into Astorga this morning.

This has been very much a solitary Camino. I have made friends but none will remain friends once I leave. This contrasts to previous Caminos when I made life-long friends. I have learned alot in these ten days. I have learned to accept more and some important questions have been answered. Time passes so quickly and the important things are not how your day in work is and bills but what is in your pack and what condition your feet are in.

I wish I had more time, I wish my feet didn’t hurt and I wish life could be this simple. But no, i must travel to Santiago to fly to Dublin. One day I will have time to walk for 5-6 weeks but it won’t be for some time. I return home on Saturday with a heavy heart and with sore feet knowing that my Camino continues at home and it won’t be long before I return to this great country. 

I will write in more detail when i return home. In the meantime, Buen Camino to one and all. 

I still remember to this day the words a section manager at my workplace told me a number of years ago.

“You’re your own worst enemy”.

He knew me from working with me day in and out. And I agreed with him. I’m sure a lot of you can relate to this. Having a lack of self-belief can stop us achieving goals. I certainly had a few goals I wanted to achieve, but a voice inside this little head of mine kept plugging away…”I can’t”, it said.

So I didn’t.

I’m sure I would be in a different position to where I am today – both in and out of work – if I had a little more self belief.

One evening, while watching one of Anthony Suzuki’s brilliant “Beyond The Way” videos before he walked the Camino Frances in 2015, he explained that he didn’t have a great amount of faith in himself to arrive in Santiago. It was then that he brought up the famous story by Dr. Suess “Oh, the Places You’ll go”. In it, Dr. Suess says:-

“Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go”.

Andrew used this piece as motivation, he gained a little faith in himself and he completed his Camino. I had never heard of this story until it was brought up in the video and it was a great eye-opener for me. The difference is, for me, while on Camino, I have no shortage of confidence or self belief. I open up and bloom. I love meeting people, telling stories and I suppose I am the opposite to who I am at home. So you can see why I return to the Camino year on year.

The trick is adopt this attitude to everyday life at home. The above few lines push me in the right direction.

February 19th sees the start of a new series on Irish TV called Camino na Saile (or Camino by Sea in English). It will be shown on our Irish language TV channel over the course of 3 weeks. It documents the journey of 5 men who sailed from the south of Ireland to A Coruna over the course of 4 years. For 800 years, people have sailed from Ireland to A Coruña in Northern Spain and walked to Santiago de Compostela from there. These men have done their own version of this historical voyage in a Naomhóg (or a currach) they built themselves in this Modern day Celtic Odyssey. Stage 1 of the journey follows the crew on a journey across the Irish Sea and the English Channel to reach Brittany in Northern France.

Now I understand that the majority of my readers live outside of Ireland, and will be unable to watch it, however you can do so online on www.tg4.ie/en/player/home or via the Mobdro smartphone app. If you download the app at www.mobdro.com on your phone and search for TG4, you will have no problems viewing the series.

It starts at 8.30pm GMT on the 19th of February and continues each Sunday after that. Happy watching!