El Camino del Norte

It's a given. Next May, I am boarding a plane to walk el camino del norte en espana. As much as Iwould LOVE to walk the meseta again, I am opting for the northern route. 2010 is a holy year which traditionally attracts more pilgrims. As more people learn and desire to walk the camino, I am opting for a hopefully less busy route. In a way the Camino Frances is the main route that attracts many. First timers are discouraged from walking el camino del norte. Apparently, although I don't know first hand the infastructure is less developed. My first camino I opted to walk the tried and true. I hear different lengths...for the el camino de norte... but roughly it is 835 km to Santiago de Compostela with just the last couple of days joining up with the popular Camino de Frances. I truly hope if I walk the el camino de norte via santiago de compoestela and right through to Muxia, I will be able to put this walk to rest at last. It is a long way to go for a long walk. I dream about it, even now. I try and re-live it when I put on my pack and do a quick walk up to Elk Falls here in the mornings before work where I live. I have a rock cairn I add to. My rock cairn that you might miss if you are not looking around. This walk in Spain for me is a fixation of sorts... to me. An expensive, intensive, all encompassing hobby.... that is my oxygen. I used to think I could not leave the planet without walking it... now I must walk it again. And I am doing it while I can afford it, physically.. . financially and all the rest. I know I am not alone... really with this sentiment. This must be boring reading for some. Some people really like antique cars or limoge figurines...It takes all kinds, doesn't it?

I'm baaaack. I just found out today I can combine my holidays for 2009 and 2010 which translates into walking the el camino again. I have NOT been able to stop thinking about it since I came back. I find myself frantically trying to relive and remember every footstep. We live our lives and we forget so much but the camino to represents wanting to harness every single second... to what end? I have come up with "techniques" to lasoo every second. What will I do differently? I will follow my favourite travel writer's model, Alice Steinbach. She wrote herself postcards and in fact punctutated her travelogues with excerpts from her post cards. Post cards, like blogs are magical. They capture a point in time. They capture right fn now.

I am not going to post again until I have bought my ticket. I have the time. I will make the money happen. I can't wait until I am walking again. That is when I feel most alive. Hasta pronto.