Carried by their feet, pilgrims from around the world follow the signs of the Way of St. James.
© StockPhotoAstur / iStock

Every Kind of Travel Inspiration

Not because I’m religious,

Not because I believe in spirits,

Not because I love Spanish cuisine,

And not because I needed to be punished.

I just wanted a long walk.

—B.C. Tørrissen

This is one pilgrim’s reason to walk the Camino de Santiago. More than 100,000 people every year walk the International Heritage Trails. They come from all over the world, taking different routes to reach the same destination: the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.

Why do so many people take a 500-mile trek across highways, mountains, valleys, cities, towns, and fields? Each pilgrim has a personal reason: to get away, to be a part of an ancient tradition, to make a change, weight loss, to renew faith, to connect to people.

Here, three pilgrims share their travel inspiration, their reasons for walking the Camino de Santiago.

Father Kenneth Allen: Inspired by Simplicity

Celebrating his 10-year anniversary of priesthood and the recovery of an injured knee, Father Kenneth Allen decided to embark on his Camino journey.

Since childhood, Father Allen, hoped to walk the Camino de Santiago to visit the shrine of the apostle St. James in the Cathedral.

A normal Camino day is 15–20 miles of walking from one town to another.
After losing his way Father Allen walked 30 on his first day.
© Eva Boynton

Among the pristine landscapes are challenges that tax the body and strain the mind. Father Allen’s first day consisted of getting lost, losing his walking partner, backtracking, and finally reaching his lodging in the dark.

It was cause enough for him to question the reason of his pilgrimage:

My feet were killing me. I had responsibilities at home, obligations to meet, people to support. . . . A good prayer room. A comfortable chair behind my desk. . . . A laptop and internet access. Why was I walking through Spain? And not only walking, but walking. And walking and walking.

When walking the Camino, life’s complications become blurry,
while simple details of the trail come into focus.
© Eva Boynton

As he neared his destination, charging past his initial struggles, Father Allen discovered his true inspiration for the journey. The absence of a convenient lifestyle caused him to find value in the simplicity of the path. He explains:

The Camino demands a sense of simplicity from you. You have to lighten your burden as you walk (literally by tossing things out, or mailing them ahead if you’re carrying too much) . . . There’s only one goal, which is to walk to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Whatever distracts from that just falls by the wayside.

There is one simple instruction for walking the Camino: follow the yellow arrows.
© Jenna Tummonds

The travel inspiration that Father Allen discovered while walking followed him home. The value of simplicity continues to affect how he approaches relationships and day-to-day life; slowing down to find the extraordinary within the ordinary.

Jenna Tummonds’ Inspiration? Time to Think

Although pilgrims often cross paths, Jenna Tummonds dedicated her time on the Camino to walking alone.

A pilgrim can choose to meet people or take advantage of the quiet space of the long road.
© Jenna Tummonds

Prompted by the idea of ley lines in Shirley MacLaine’s El Camino, Jenna prepared for the long walk. Ley lines are lines of energy that allegedly connect geographic locations and structures across the earth, something like the straight lines drawn between constellations.

Some believe that several ley lines intersect along the Camino de Santiago and that their energy brings about clarity of thought. With that in mind, Jenna asked her question:

Why, as she was growing older, did she trust people less and less?

She feared that the inevitable consequence was a life of old age and bitterness. The Camino de Santiago gave her time to remove herself from a familiar world and and concentrate on personal growth.

A pilgrimage is a long journey centered on a purpose.
The purpose can come in infinite forms.
© Jenna Tummonds

By making the effort to walk alone for parts of the journey, Jenna gained self-trust and self-reliance, resulting in her revelation:

I don’t need to trust anybody. I just have to trust myself.

Her reason for traveling the Camino was to spend time alone, and that travel inspiration led to a rejuvenated sense of self that prepared Jenna for her journey beyond the Camino.

My Inspiration: The Love of Spontaneity

I first learned of the pilgrimage while working in Switzerland. I loved the idea that what would happen on my days along the Camino were left up to chance. Two days later, I was on a train heading to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to start walking the Camino Francés.

Friendly faces along the way
© Jenna Tummonds

Every day was filled with chance encounters. When fellow pilgrims and I passed each other, we sometimes stopped to chat, and sometimes we walked together.

Pilgrims, staying in the same refugios (refuges designated for pilgrims), often met up for dinner and spontaneous conversation around a communal table that might connect ten pilgrims from six or more countries.

No phones. No exchange of contact information. But often bittersweet goodbyes—when we parted, everyone said, ¡Buen camino!,  and we meant it.

Sometimes we saw each other again along the way, and sometimes not. The fun of it was the idea of leaving it all up to chance.

My love of the unexpected, my appreciation for spontaneity had been reason enough to walk the Camino, and my travel inspiration was fulfilled along the Camino from beginning to end.

Pilgrims reuniting at the finish line in front of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
© Jenna Tummonds

Oh, I See

Despite the many kinds of travel inspiration, our destination—the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela—was the same.  It was a celebration of our pilgrimage, whatever the route taken.

As Father Allen explains:

For all of us as pilgrims, we were formed by the journey as we sought the destination. 

You can always tell Camino pilgrims by the scallop shell hanging from their backpacks. Like the shell, the Camino de Santiago is shaped by a system of trails, taken by pilgrims with different kinds of  travel inspiration along different routes, but all converging at the same point.

Buen Camino!
© Eva Boynton

Thank you, Father Allen and Jenna, for sharing your stories. For planning your own route on the Camino de Santiago, visit Camino Ways.

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