During my 2018 Portuguese Camino de Santiago, after a particularly hard couple of days, a friend reached out and asked, “What are you doing this for?
My reply? My reply was, “I do it for the love!” I´m quite certain she thought I was a little crazy. I mean who walks 300km for the love?
The answer is… thousands of people walk the Camino de Santiago routes every year and they too do it for the love.
So, what do I mean when I say I do it for the love?
It goes without saying that I love the Camino but it´s the love of a good adventure and challenge that really does it for me.
It´s the spirit of the Camino and the simple life of a Pilgrim which takes me out of the mundane of everyday life.
It´s the making of new friends and the intense connections that I make along the way.
It´s the aches and pains after a day when you never thought you would make it. Yet, I never crumbled and that makes me incredibly proud.
Most importantly, I do it for the incredibly sappy feeling that comes across you in the golden hour of the Camino. When you’ve gone past your pain barrier and you are walking on sunshine. When the world is a beautiful place again. When your dreams no longer seem out of reach and you believe that you can achieve anything.
I walk the Camino because the Camino teaches me to love life again. The Camino teaches me to believe in myself. The Camino shows me the way.
I do it for the love, my friends. I do it for the love!
(c) Samantha Wilson 2019. All Rights Reserved.
