The looming sky above us and the forecast for our Camino look foreboding with rain showers, so we make a quick stop to purchase more protective rain layers and hope that we don’t have a week of walking through miserable rain ahead of us. Compared to the Med, the Atlantic looks cold and dangerous. We cross the border to Portugal and drive north towards Porto, where I catch my first glimpse of the Atlantic ocean through a shroud of nebulous mist. Our journey begins on my 37th birthday with a cross-country drive from Spain’s Costa del Sol in the South through its Extremadura region, which is Spain’s version of The Outback – 16,000 square miles of rugged terrain that is home to a wildlife reserve. Also, what if the weight of the baby carrier becomes too much for my back? What if Vahla can’t adjust to sleeping in a new, strange place every night? Shouldn’t we have trained to walk over 10 miles every day with no breaks? What if we get caught out in a storm? But, to paraphrase Paolo Coelho’s The Pilgrimage, we could think about the hundreds of ways we could fail, but we had already taken the first step. I was most nervous about the 10-hour drive across Spain and Portugal to the starting point, given that Vahla does not appreciate being strapped into the car seat for long stretches. No planes, no boats, no taxis or rick-shaws, just wake up and walk.Īs our trip drew nearer, Erin and I both harbored concerns, although they differed in both intensity and priority. So we committed to walking the last 100 miles (160 km) of the Camino de Santiago starting just north of Spain’s border with Portugal and ending at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. But we were drawn to the idea of a family expedition, one that required logistical planning, gear preparations, and a leap of faith. We had heard of the Camino de Santiago here and there from co-workers, a pilgrimage trek dating back to medieval times, but we knew that it takes four to six weeks, and surely we couldn’t attempt to walk 500 miles with a baby on zero training. With a rainy forecast, we picked up this Hublot rain jacket for Vahla on Day One. With the pandemic still an active threat, we researched local, slow-travel getaway options. I’ll be forthright in admitting that caring for a baby while living in a foreign country has been way harder than I ever imagined, especially without any family support, but perhaps hitting the road would simplify things. We decided to commit ourselves to a challenge that would let us know if our days of freedom were truly behind us. Walking the Portuguese Coastal Way.īut, when our daughter Vahla was born this year, we worried that our vagabond lifestyle of transcontinental flights and off-road scooter riding would come to an end. We’ve been living in Europe as US expats for five years now, and we’ve made the conscious decision to sacrifice invaluable time with friends and family in pursuit of making unforgettable travel memories.
We first traveled abroad together as college sweethearts and the allure of faraway places has only grown over time. In my wedding vows, I included a promise to my wife, Erin, that I would “follow her to the ends of the Earth,” because, over the past 18 years, our relationship has revolved around traveling together. Vahla enjoyed riding in her Osprey Poco baby carrier. I walked the last 100 mile stretch of this pilgrimage path with my 7-month old baby on my back to answer my own question: Now that I have a daughter, are my greatest adventures in the past, or are they still to come? But the answer wasn’t waiting for me inside the cathedral, the answer was the journey itself. For centuries, pilgrims have walked on the dozen or so trails that follow earlier Roman trade routes leading towards the Atlantic coast of Galicia and ending at Cape Finisterre, Spain’s westernmost point. James’s remains were interred after he was martyred by beheading in 44 AD. Whether suffering a loss, hoping to find direction, or stuck at a crossroads in life, thousands of people every year take part in an ancient tradition to walk to the Santiago de Compostela cathedral where legend has it, St. There is a place that people from all over the world go to in search of the answers to life’s questions. If you enjoy this article, please consider creating an account to support our journalism so we can keep going. Before you read, remember this: Independent editorial isn't free.
0 kommentar(er)
