The past months have been pretty busy with a lot of things happening. One of the many highlights was Bea’s and my return to the Camino de Santiago. After our first visit back in 2014, about 10 years ago, we were finally able to do some more of „the walk“ – this time starting in Porto following the Camino Portugues. Bea has documented this quite well on our Instagram accounts, so my article will only cover some additonal aspects.
I decided to write in English because there are probably more English-speaking people following me these days, and maintaining two personal blogs in two languages is just too much of an effort. Anyways, we had the idea to walk the Camino Portugues already a few years ago. The Covid pandemic got in the way, and we have spent the last couple of years mainly in Australia.
We took the opportunity to plan the trip for late October, and combine several visits in Europe with it, and Ironman Portugal, of course. In the past years, I always found a way to combine our travels with some exciting endurance events, and Cascais, the venue of Ironman Portugal, was on top of my bucket list. I had talked about it (in German) in episode 200 of our Ausdauerwelt Podcast, where I also described our experience on the Camino.
One of the most beautiful things about walking on the caminos is the simplicity. You wake up in the morning, pack your things, get ready, and walk. At times, I feel that life can be very complicated. We get distracted by a lot of things, like news, work (important and often unimportant work), and notifications of all sorts. Setting yourself free from all this creates more clarity and freedom again.
I personally have the feeling that after a few days, my senses are sharper: I can smell better, hear better, see more. I am more in one with nature, back to the roots. I learn more about myself and (re-)discover the essential things in life. One of the things that I appreciated most was that I really love reading and writing.
This has been re-enforced by a friendship I have developed over the past months. It started with a blog article, became an exchange of messages and thoughts, and ended up with a personal meeting. Greetings to Harley in Saigon at this point who gave me a warm welcome in Vietnam, together with his team.
So, walking from Porto do Santiago de Compostela in about two weeks concluded our visit to Europe and brought back many memories from our first „Camino“.
And it will take a while, until I have fully realized what changes the Camino brought this time. At this point, I can say, that I am motivated to start new ventures, realize exciting ideas, and have a positive impact on individuals & businesses together with my team!