Interview with a Pilgrim: James Sage
I met James Sage and his son Leo at the 2023 ‘Australian Friends of the Camino Conference‘ in Melbourne.
I was intrigued by Leo’s experience on the Camino as a teen, and asked him if he was interested in doing an interview with me. Leo and another teen had walked with their dads, and they had met while walking the Camino Frances. (More on the other father/son duo later). Leo was keen, but I knew I had to get his dad’s okay first.
In the time between asking the boys, and asking the dad’s permission, I had a better idea. I wanted the dad’s input too, of what it was like to walk with his son’s on this journey.
Little did I know that I would get such a comprehensive and yet vulnerable interview with James, Leo’s dad. It’s a story of love for his son, but also an understanding what James needs himself too.
I’m happy to say, James and I have become friends through this process. Yes, the Camino is still doing its magic, even at home, bringing pilgrims together.
So grab your beverage of choice as this interview is a long one. But I PROMISE you, it’s worth the read.
- When did you walk the Camino and which route did you walk?
I walked the Camino Francés in 2019 and 2022. On both occasions I departed from Saint Jean Pied De Port in early Spring.
- Did you walk solo or with someone else? Were they a friend or a relation?
In both instances I walked with my son Leo. He was 12 years old in 2019 and 15 in 2022.
- When you initially started, what did you imagine the walk to be like?
For my first Camino I tried to keep my imaginings for the journey ahead to a minimum, trying to avoid preconceptions and preserve the experiences for when they happened. I think I was applying a ‘no expectations, no disappointments’ mindset.
My strongest ‘preconceptions’ for that Camino were dominated by the physical aspects of the journey – images of walking on a trail across long open spaces as often seen in blogs and movies. These are what had attracted me so strongly to the Camino.
Imagining the weeks of physical exertions and challenges of this adventure fuelled my sense of elation as we walked up the hill out of SJPDP to start.
I intentionally avoided learning the locations of well-known landmarks – Alto del Perdón, Puente La Reina, the wine fountain, and others, so that they became a wonderful surprise when each revealed themselves as we travelled.
Being a bit of an introvert, it was not my natural tendency to think too much about the human relationship aspects of the Camino beforehand.
On that first Camino I was travelling with my 12-year-old son Leo who was suffering from significant anxiety at the time. This was the primary reason for our journey.
Consequently, as a parent, I could not avoid reflecting that I would be trying to perceive how he was imagining and perceiving our journey, with special consideration of things that would make him feel anxious or unsafe.
Leo was there to experience walking the Camino, complete with its challenges for sure, but I imagined and expected that I would be keeping an eye open for anything that was overly negative for him.
In retrospect it created a bit of a mental cocktail for me, creating thoughts of an adventure that might be equal parts exhilaration and anxiety management simultaneously.
My imaginings for my second Camino were shaped by the knowledge and experiences of my first journey, but there was still plenty to think about. Having already completed one Camino in no way lessened the sense of excitement associated with the unknowns that lay ahead.
My son Leo was a very different travelling companion in 2022. Fifteen, hairier, effectively as strong as an adult and just starting to spread his own wings.
He was also happier, wiser, and mentally more resilient. Since our first Camino he had become confident and independent, often taking off for weekends with his mates with nothing more than a daypack, credit card and phone.
He had also developed a great sense of humour, which is a great enabler when travelling.
I was imagining that Leo would be a more independent travelling companion, spending periods of time ‘doing his own thing’ with people he would meet. As a consequence I was contemplating some time being by myself on the journey which I imagined would make the experience different.
Leo and I were familiar with the pathway we would be walking. However, we also knew that our journey experiences would Probably be shaped more by the people we would meet, our physical and mental states at different places, and the weather. Whilst the pathway would be familiar, everything else would be different.
We understood that our Camino number two experience would be completely different to our first journey, and my imagination was focussed on wondering what might prove to be the most influential things.
We walked our second Camino shortly after the trail opened up after the Covid-19 pandemic, with masks, vaccines and Covid passports very much in the front of our minds. High on our list of wonderings was whether the albergues, towns, and locals we had befriended had been affected, and likewise, whether would this change the trail culture.
- Halfway through, what was your primary feeling about your walk?
By the middle of both walks I was totally absorbed by my journey on the Camino. It had become my whole World. I was living very much in the moment and time on the trail had made me oblivious to any thoughts of my everyday life back home.
Similarly, there was still so much of the journey ahead that any thoughts of it ending, and by progression, of the journey home, were also completely absent.
I had an all-prevailing sense of needing to keep moving forward. In part this was probably driven by an acute awareness of where I was relative to my ‘Camino Family’ and a desire to remain in proximity to them.
There was also a simple raw desire to keep moving, as though I could feel every step helping me. My mantra became in movement there is peace – especially on the Meseta.
By the halfway point on both Caminos, I was afflicted by ailments that were threatening my journey. I wasn’t quite thinking that I wouldn’t make it to Santiago, but certainly each was making me very focussed upon each step I was taking and bringing my awareness down to the immediate moment.
- If you came across another Pilgrim what were the first two questions, you would ask them?
My first question was invariably ‘Have you seen my son?’ My son Leo was usually out of sight chatting to someone behind or ahead of me in the trail, so I liked to check in every now and then.
In other circumstances, the two questions that tended to be first out were “where are you from?” and “why are you walking the Camino?”
The first question was probably my version of an icebreaker, a way to open a conversation and gauge whether the person was open to talking. It also gave me a potential topic that was not too invasive if it was apparent that the person only wanted a little chit chat.
The second question I guess is at the core of why many people come to the Camino and provides an opportunity for each pilgrim to collect and articulate their thoughts at that time and place. Probably as beneficial and interesting for the person answering as for the person asking.
I certainly found my response to this question evolved as I travelled further along the trail and I had reflected upon it more and more.
- Did you do any training beforehand? If so, what did you do?
I prepared quite a bit before travelling on both my journeys. For me the lead-up time was full of positive emotions and something I count within my overall Camino experiences.
The moment of deciding that I was going to Spain shifted my thinking from what-if, to anticipation and triggered my preparations.
Preparing for my journeys both mentally and physically was motivated and empowered by the growing excitement and the approaching departure date.
For my first Camino I continued to read accounts written by pilgrims, and found myself returning to the ones I enjoyed to fuel my anticipation, and to others that I remembered having useful information of a practical nature.
Initially I started to make notes of places of interest, such as albergues that got positive mentions in other’s accounts. However, I soon stopped this as I felt these pre-conceived items might work against the simplicity and spontaneity of the journey I wanted.
In terms of personal fitness, I am a cyclist and I felt my basic cardio and leg strength were sort of OK, but I was aware that hiking uses different muscles. For about 4 months before leaving, I began more specific hiking exercises.
I joined a social hike group, doing one or two walks with them each week, the social aspect keeping me motivated. On a couple of occasions, we challenged ourselves to 50km day hike as short-term objectives to work towards.
About two months out from departure I started walking most days along local trails with a backpack that I gradually made heavier. By the time I departed I was walking around 5-6kms each night with a 10kg pack.
I used these walks to break-in and test my footwear as well.
I accidentally walked a lot of the life out of my hiking boots before my first trip without realising it. This later revealed itself very painfully, mid-way across the Meseta.
For my second Camino I was vacillating between taking boots and trail runners. I eventually bought a pair of each and used my daily walks to put each through their paces. The cost of an extra pair of footwear was a small price to pay to ensure that my feet would remain healthy enough to see me to the end of this special trip.
I trialled my Camino ‘après-hiking’ footwear options on my evening walks as well, to find something I could also hike in should my feet need a break from my primary walking footwear.
Finally, I also targeted some weight loss so that my body would not need to deal with an increased load when carrying a pack. I lost slightly more than the weight of my fully packed backpack on each occasion.
I did not do any focussed mental or spiritual training as part of my preparations.
- What was the one thing you packed that you were glad to have with you?
My absolute favourite first Camino item was probably my waterproof shell jacket – I wore that thing nearly every day at some point – protection against the wind, against the early morning cold, and against the rain.
Light, versatile, and quite fashionable, I also wore it on wash days when everything we owned went into a washing machine for a ‘proper wash’ in between all the hand washes, and we wore our wet weather gear as we waited. You can always spot the pilgrims in town on a wash day.
On my second Camino it was a joy to have the correct footwear for my needs. My first Camino footwear choices had been disastrous.
In terms of a discretionary item, I loved my Zpacks FUPA (Front Utility Pouch Accessory) – interesting name but effectively a waterproof utility bag, like a bum bag, that connected to the sternum strap of my backpack. It carried my wallet, passport, guidebook, notebook, pen and telephone, all instantly accessible.
It had a shoulder strap so it stayed with me when I took off my pack, and I hung it in the shower when showering. Having these items protected from the rain and snow, and in such a convenient location, and having their weight carried by my backpack harness rather than on my shoulder made a surprisingly positive difference.
- What was the one thing you packed that you could have left behind?
On my first Camino, the list of things that were either bad choices, or were not needed is long. We posted a box of odds and ends home from Burgos and left more in donation boxes in albergues.
Mindful that it may help someone reading this, one ‘fear’ that took me down a rabbit hole and resulted in a few unnecessary items was what to wear in towns and in albergues when not hiking (neat town clothes, sleepwear etc) This was fuelled in part by uncertainty about how often I would be able to wash and dry my clothes.
Curse my mother and her warnings about always having clean underwear ‘just in case’!
I found that ‘trail wear’ is an integral part of Camino town scenery and being a bit grubby is just fine, although perhaps not to the completely stinky PCT hiker standard. Opportunities to wash and dry clothes proved plentiful.
Likewise, dormitory wear proved to be a non-event, limited only by one’s own sense of modesty. Hiking underwear and T shirts being very much the norm.
Some of my ‘spare’ clothing could definitely have been left at home.
On my second Camino, with the benefit of experience and applying lessons learnt, my ‘leave at home’ items came down to just my head torch and a second pair of shorts.
I generally do not walk in hours of darkness requiring a torch. I am quite comfortable walking through the heat of the day, and, as I value my sleep, I purposely do not arise early and disturb the sleep of others.
Consequently, I found that I did not use my head torch on either Camino and that my phone torch was ample for any short illumination tasks. Having said that, in the three years between our journeys technology had halved the weight of head torches so the weight penalty is now small – less than a protein bar.
I took two pairs of shorts and one pair of lightweight long pants, the second shorts being in effect spares (I still hadn’t quite kicked my fears). I found that post-Covid there were far more washing machines and dryers available on the Camino so spare shorts were not really needed.
Leaving those suckers behind will save me a whole 187 grams next time!
- Would you walk a Camino again? If yes which route, would you walk and why? If no, why not?
I plan to walk the Camino again, probably multiple times, and at least once by myself.
My final choice of which route will come down to whether I am seeking a journey of solitude and reflection, or one where I can interact and have the company of other pilgrims.
In the case of the former it would be Via de la Plata, a route that is not travelled by many and where the chances of bumping into another pilgrim are few.
The call of the Via de la Plata is strong for me. I like that it travels through parts of Spain with very different terrain, history, and culture than the Camino Frances route.
The Via de la Plata route has plentiful extents of Meseta. I spent some time growing up in South Australia’s hot arid lands and I find the open and exposed Meseta particularly familiar and peaceful.
I also like that it is longer route in both distance and duration.
In the case of wanting a sociable journey, I would gladly walk the Camino Francés again, although perhaps starting in France to increase the duration.
Having walked it twice, I know that the experience of each journey is indeed very different, even on the same route.
In both instances I would finish by spending time in Finisterre to contemplate again.
- Which was your favourite albergue and why?
I would probably say Le Refuge Orisson, where we stayed on the first night of our first Camino, was our favourite.
The experience of its evening meal provided a very positive start for our journey. All pilgrims staying at the albergue share a communal meal and each is invited to stand and say a few words about themselves. This shared experience and being able to put a name and some information to the faces we would encounter over the next few days laid the foundation for our wonderful Camino Family.
Reflecting when we arrived in Santiago on that journey, we had initially met well over half of our ‘Camino Family’ on that first night at Le Refuge Orisson.
- If you’re open to sharing, what did you learn about yourself?
- Often, I accept inferred parameters or ‘rules’ as limits without challenging them. On my second Camino I ‘broke away’ from the stage itinerary of the popular guidebooks and found it very uplifting.
- I have filled my everyday world with many things that trigger negative feelings and reactions in me, to the detriment of my personal wellbeing.
- Walking long days on the trail is a positive and rewarding activity for me, both mentally and physically. I am capable of far more than I assumed.
- I gain far more personal strength, and have far more positive experiences, when I allow myself to be vulnerable and open to others rather than being closed.
- I am reluctant to take risks that take me outside of my comfort zone and this self-limits the potential positive experiences I have. In particular, accepting offers of help or kindness from others is challenging for me.
- I discovered that I carry with me thoughts and feeling of things I thought long-buried. For, example, I found myself recalling many ‘cringe’ moments – times in my past where I feel I should have acted differently. After Camino number one I found myself contacting people from my past, sometimes decades in my past, and apologising for my behaviour. In many instances the people concerned had no idea what I was talking about and it just became an enjoyable way to have a catch up. Deep down I found myself being more content for having reconciled these within myself.
- Turns out that I am not averse to getting a tattoo.
- Losing and forgetting things out of my pack is my super power.
- When you began you walk, what was your motivation to walk the Camino?
My first Camino was travelled with my young son Leo, who was suffering terribly from the effects of anxiety. We had enrolled him in a new school that year. The journey to the Camino, made as early in the season as we could manage, was an attempt to provide a circuit breaker between a dark past and the hope of a bright future.
School as a place had become associated with pain for him so getting away from all schools for a while was important.
Leo’s particular anxiety was founded in a fear of the World around him, and whether he was safe. He would always check-in with those around him to see if there was anything near him that might cause him harm. Unfamiliar places were naturally a source of heightened concern.
Travelling the Camino was an act of faith. We hoped that what we had heard about it as a positive and supportive environment, was in fact true.
My wife Jennie and I also hoped that Leo would walk the Camino, which would challenge him every day with its lack of certainty about where we would be going and staying, and travelling through a strange new land, and have a positive experience. We hoped that he would learn that the World can be a safe place, and that challenge, uncertainty and new experiences can be a good thing.
I knew that if we completed the Camino, it would also be a significant personal achievement that could demonstrate to him that he was capable of extraordinary things, and that challenges that may appear initially insurmountable, can be overcome.
I also motivated Leo by agreeing that we would get matching tattoos in Santiago if we made it.
Thus, my first Camino motivation was to help my son find personal wellbeing.
Coincidentally, my motivation for walking my second Camino was to consciously seek healing and personal wellbeing also, this time for myself. In late 2021 I had been diagnosed with depression and mental fatigue.
To achieve this, I hoped to draw upon many things the Camino offered:
- A long physical journey, having time for contemplation and thought,
- Being exposed to a new country, its people, and its culture as a source of different perspectives
- Interacting with other people undertaking a similar journey but with different experiences, and
- Taking time in both natural and created places of contemplation to simply pause and benefit from moments of silent mental rest.
What about at the end of your walk?
In Santiago my response to THE question was ‘spiritual’ on both occasions, motivated in part by my desire to obtain Compostela, and in part because my reasons could not be neatly pigeonholed.
I found that my motivations for my journeys were unchanged by the time I completed them.
I am glad to say that the first Camino did indeed mark a turning point for Leo’s wellbeing and happiness that was already becoming evident even before we departed Spain.
As for the tattoos? In 2019 it turned out that under Galician law Leo was too young to get one. Happily, Nero the tattoo artist in Santiago, cushioned the disappointment by rendering the tattoo artwork on Leo’s leg as a gift. In 2022 Leo was old enough and we finally did get our matching scallop shell tattoos. Apparently, we needed another one for completing our 2022 journey.
- Did you continue walking to Finisterre or Muxia?
We did not walk to Finisterre, but travelled and spent several days there at the completion of our second Camino. I found it to be a very positive and meaningful place to rest and contemplate a completed Camino. A sort of calm Middle Earth between the physical journey and the return to the other world, especially after the crowds and noise of Santiago.
Nothing reinforces that you have reached the end of the physical journey more than having the trail stop at the end of a headland with a wide expanse of ocean in front of you.
- If you gave one piece of advice to someone thinking of walking the Camino, what would that be?
I suspect my instinctive first answer to this question will be the same as most.
In the interests of variety, I provide some other fundamental truths I have learned about the Camino:
- Plan to depart from Sarria on a Monday if you enjoy contact sports.
- The minimum drinking age on the Camino is 18 years, UNLESS you are holding a credit card and order a round for all the pilgrims in the bar.
- There is a unique smell in the Galician countryside that no one tells newbies about, and which experienced pilgrims choose to forget.
- Gummy Bears are legal tender when bartering with other pilgrims.
- Trail shoes filled with snow sludge are not as bad as you might think.
- Camino distances are +/- 10%.
- The minimum age to get a Camino tattoo is 16 years, except in Leon where it is 14 years, as my son discovered.
- If you can feel gravel through the soles of your footwear, try something else.
- Listen to and read advice about travelling the Camino, but make up your own mind (but remember trail runners are better than boots!)
- Do you feel the Camino changed you?
The Camino has changed me.
With hindsight I realise that my first Camino was very much ‘Leo’s Camino’ and that my focus upon his journey meant I was pre-occupied and not fully open to what the Camino was offering me.
I still came home with a sense of having experienced a place where I could be open and true to self, without the various filters and screens that I often put in place to manage others’ perception of me in my everyday world.
I effectively dusted off my true self and was happy and comfortable with what I re-found after many years of neglect.
I now realise that I did not make a conscious effort to capture, preserve and nurture what I learned on my first Camino. As such, the experience was very positive, but any personal changes were not enduring.
My second Camino had a much more marked and enduring effect upon me. As mentioned, I was motivated by a desire to be open to things that would help me heal and find an enduring sense of wellbeing from depression.
In more plain speak, I wanted a break in a positive place that would help me regain strength, and provide the mental space to identify those things that had led to my depression.
Accordingly, I approached my second journey trying to be more conscious of my thoughts and experiences as I travelled, and more careful to capture what I learned.
To me the Camino provides pilgrims with everything needed to sustain them – food, water, shelter, all with the minimum required effort on their part.
This enables focus upon those things that have been overlooked, and to experience new places and people in a way that is meaningful and enduring.
In this regard I have come to consider the Camino as a haven, or perhaps a womb. A place of sustenance, nurture, and growth.
A recent psychology study has found that humans need around 3 weeks to break a habit. If true, I can certainly see why five weeks walking the Camino provides the opportunity for long-term change.
The Camino gave me the time and the supportive environment to be able to expunge the mental ‘noise’ of my normal life, and to identify those things that had caused me to become unwell.
Ultimately, my second Camino did help me identify and make some valuable changes that have benefitted my everyday life, which I will expand upon later.
Time on the Camino also showed me the importance of making the time in life to do something like the Camino every now and then, in effect to step off the mad bus of life for a few weeks and make sure you are on the right route, before continuing onwards.
My travels on the Camino have changed my also allowed me to discover a love of this type of walking, travelling light, freely and thoughtfully.
- How do you feel you brought the Camino home with you?
There are several things about me and my life that have changed since experiencing the Camino.
I am very conscious that the Camino has taught me the value of removing negative things, doing positive things, and doing these meaningfully.
I now value my time and am more discerning about what I try and fit into my life both mentally and physically, removing those things which are not positive.
Since my first Camino I have probably given away half of my belongings so that there is less physical clutter and I can easily find what I need. After all, I only needed 2.5 changes of clothes when living on the Camino.
Since my second Camino, I have virtually ceased following media news, tuning in to commercial television and radio, and using social media. I realised none of these was making a positive contribution to my life, and they were consuming time and emotional energy.
I now practice good ‘psychological hygiene’, carefully discerning between what things I engage in, and what I do not. I realise in retrospect, that I was always quick to have an opinion and engage in topics, even in relation to things that had little bearing upon the important things in my life. I cannot say I was one of the perpetually outraged, but I was certainly impatient and negative about many things that were frankly irrelevant.
Now my wife now describes me as being far more ‘Zen.’
Except when driving in traffic maybe.
Now I find I have time to do the things I value ‘properly’ and meaningfully, rather than just quickly.
I have just finished hand-writing letters to each of my Camino Family in their native languages. For me, a hand written letter is the ‘proper’ way to communicate with close friends and family. I can’t even remember the previous time I took the time required to consider, compose and write a letter (no PC editing) and then take it to the post office to post. Maybe twenty years ago(?). Having now done this I feel far more satisfied that if I had dashed off an email.
I must admit though, translating and writing seven pages of Danish almost broke my will to carry on.
Despite no longer doing many things that I had instinctively jammed into my life before I walked the Camino, I have noticed that the World has not suddenly ended, reaffirming that my involvement in everything around me was perhaps not essential.
I find also that I am now much more willing to be open and engage positively with both friends and strangers. It seems to be due to a unique blend of not being so concerned about what other people think about me, and enjoying the benefits of being positive with others. I now spend far less energy putting up filters and shaping my outward persona to try and influence how others perceive me. Now, just being nice is far easier.
It took a little while to get the balance right. Arriving in Madrid on the way home and unleashing the Camino-utopia-induced smile of friendship at everyone I passed seemed to raise looks of concern from many recipients. Had they encountered the village idiot perhaps? I’ve now dialled it back to an appropriate level and am enjoying the pleasant reactions of those I interact with.
There is a sense of personal strength and contentment that comes from just being me.
Certainly, my mental state is better, although it is still a work in progress.
It is just over a year since my last Camino, and yet I am still conscious of applying what I brought home with me from Spain, and changing because of it.
- Do you feel your Camino was a pilgrimage, or was it was more of a long-distance walk?
Some of the elements of the Camino that make it attractive for religious, spiritual, or physical experiences factored within my reasons for walking. However, I feel each of these motivations are singularly too narrow in meaning, or perhaps too prescriptive to be used to describe my journeys.
I feel the two Caminos I have travelled can both be best described as ‘quests for wellbeing.’
- Do you feel the Camino is for everyone? Why or why not?
Hard to answer as a generic question. My initial reaction is that the personalised nature of the Camino experience makes it suitable for anyone.
There are practical limitations, such as personal mobility constraints that might limit some, although there are plenty of examples of this being overcome if the desire is there.
It may not be for everyone at any time, but I sense that there will be a time in everyone’s life where the Camino would be a positive experience.
- What would you like to see more, or less (other than less toilet paper) of, on the Camino?
There is nothing I would desperately like change about the Camino. Sure, there were many challenges I encountered, and these may have been lessened by more accommodation or amenities, but these did not stop me from completing the Camino.
Needing to use the ‘Camino toilet’ between towns, or having to walk a very long day to find a bed, or asking others for help because we had encountered a problem, I found hard at the time, but ultimately the solutions found to overcome the challenges tended to enhance my journey.
I would go further to say that the ‘imperfections’ of the Camino are the things that indeed makes it ultimately a positive experience for me.
If I really put my mind to it a couple of suggestions would be:
- Remove the 100km prescribed minimum distance for Compostela eligibility and provide pilgrims with more diversity of starting place options.
- Improve the wayfinding signage for the alternative route out of Leon, I have no strong desire to see Villadangos del Páramo again!
On toilet paper (since you asked)
Toilet paper itself is not something that has imposed itself upon my conscious Camino experience any more than other trailside litter. However, as a topic, it certainly has.
As a pilgrim, I aim to be a respectful guest in other people’s countries and to do no harm as I pass. I have not escaped the need to use toilet paper between towns but have ultimately carried it and deposited it in waste bins.
I have noted that toilet paper and toileting seem to result in some heated ‘un-Camino-like’ exchanges between pilgrims trying to impose their opinions on each other.
While toileting dos and don’ts are prescribed and communicated by authorities for hiking in many wild natural environments, in all my reading and walking I have not yet come across the ‘official’ rules for the Camino.
The few times I have witnessed toilet paper and exposed waste being left trailside it has been by a local going for a short walk between towns. It seemed to be done unself-consciously and as a normal occurrence.
On each occasion I elected not to test my welcome by informing the locals of my foreigner’s approach to the topic – I would have done it in English of course.
Maybe it would be good to have the trail toileting requirements explicitly both defined by the local authorities and communicated.
Good for the local environment and good for the harmony of the Camino community.
- What was your favourite city on your Camino route, and why?
This is a tough one as there are several very strong candidates for me – Pamplona, Burgos and Astorga. Each very pretty and welcoming, but ultimately it is the context of our visits that is the deciding factor. It is Astorga.
On both Caminos I have arrived in Astorga with low morale, and on one occasion with feet in dreadful condition. On both occasions Astorga and its people lifted my spirits and helped my journey when I needed it the most.
It is a small city that is easy and quick to move around on foot – which is a blessing for mangled feet. It also means that it is easy to sit at a café and see most of the pilgrims walking through town, which is great for connecting with friends.
It is home to the best hiking shop we found anywhere on the Camino – run by Swiss hiker and mountaineer Rolf and his family who have lived there for 20 years. There was nothing I required, including a new set of hiking footwear suitable for immediate use without breaking in, that it did not have.
We even managed to find a traditional watch maker to repair an old linked watch band, something we could not get repaired in Leon. Predictably in a Camino kind of way, the watchmaker would not take payment. We gave him a kangaroo pin off our backpack as he graciously declined the Vegemite sachets we initially offered.
I have no doubt that Astorga’s location at the end of the Meseta and at the beginning of the mountains, with their promise of natural pathways and trees also created a strong positive emotional response for me.
Just a word of advice for those wishing to have the optimum Astorga experience and considering overnight accommodation in the Plaza de Espana – the Town Hall clock clangs loudly 24 hours a day.
- If someone didn’t know what the Camino was or about, what would you tell them (in three sentences or less)?
Watch ‘The Way.’ Not perfect, but pretty good.
11 June 2023 @ 9:11 am
Great interview Tara & James. I’m looking forward to Leo’s interview now! Burn Camino