YOU on the Camino de Santiago

WHAT IS THE CAMINO, FOR YOU? There are so many different ways to answer the question, what is the Camino? Do we define it? Do we explain it? Do we talk about what it is for me? We know that the Camino is an ancient pilgrimage route. Or more specifically, it is a collection of routes that end at the Cathedral in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, and we know that millions of people have ma...

WHEN YOU CAN'T DO THE "WHOLE" THING Let’s just say you have exactly four weeks for your Camino trip. Not just the walking part, but out the door from home . . . to the Camino . . . walk . . . travel back home . . .  and then back at your desk at work on day 29. Is that enough time to walk the Camino Francés? My guest today worries that it’s not. So what are his options? And how does he make the ri...

CALLINGS, EXPECTATIONS, AND OTHER PILGRIM THOUGHTS When you feel called to walk the Camino de Santiago, what are you being called to? And what is this thing, the pilgrimage to Santiago? I ask myself that question a lot, especially when I am on the Camino. And it turns out that I am not the only one asking these questions. In this episode I am talking with Neil from the United Kingdom. Neil has the...

SLOWING DOWN, TAKING IT ALL IN, HEALING FROM LOSS Sometimes what drives people to go on pilgrimage is the need to make sense out of an unbearable loss and to heal our hearts so we can move forward with some sense of peace. Losing a loved one can be disorienting, devastating, knocking us to our knees and throwing us off course. Now imagine losing not just one person who is dear to you, but instead...

SEEING THE WORLD AT THE PACE OF WALKING What comes after the Camino de Santiago? What do you take on next, after you’ve shown yourself that you can do big and hard things and when you realize that you are physically, emotionally, and mentally strong? And what do you do when you realize that the practice of pilgrimage is now completely a part of you, and your favorite way to travel is to move at th...

THE DEEPEST QUESTION OF ALL: AM I A REAL PILGRIM? What is the story of your life that you’re writing right now? That’s one of the questions my guest this week is asking as she counts down to her pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. Today I am talking with Danya, who is starting her pilgrimage with my May Camino Experience group in just over a week. As a wife and mother of two daughters who is app...

THE COURAGE TO TAKE THE FIRST OF *MANY* BIG STEPS If there’s one thing we don’t talk about enough when we talk about walking the Camino de Santiago, it’s the courage it takes to take on something like this pilgrimage. For many people, walking the Camino is unlike anything else they’ve ever done before. It’s the first time they’ve traveled alone. The first time they’ve traveled internationally. The...

THE PILGRIMAGE JOURNEY CONTINUES FOR PILGRIM CHAD It seems as though the default choice for walking the Camino de Santiago these days is to walk either the Francés route or the Portuguese route. Now, that does oversimplify things, but the statistics from the pilgrim’s office in Santiago de Compostela do show that those have been the two most-walked routes in recent years. My guest on the podcast t...

WEATHERING THE PLOT TWISTS OF CAMINO PREP If the Camino starts when you say YES, which I think it does, what are the implications of that? If the moment you decide you are definitely going to do this thing is when the journey begins, what can you expect to happen next, after you commit? In my experience, when I say yes to something big, something bold, something that will take me way outside my co...

MEET THE CREATIVE TEAM BEHIND THE WAY, MY WAY This week on the podcast I am delighted to be sharing a conversation I had with two very talented and Camino-spirit filled people, Bill Bennet and Jennifer Cluff. [See their bios below.] You may know Bill as the director and lead character of the film The Way, My Way, and the author of the book of the same name, which tell the story of his pilgrimage o...

WHAT DO THE CAMINO AND THE KUMANO KODO PILGRIMAGES HAVE IN COMMON? Let's find out! If you are looking for your next big trip and you love the spiritual practice of pilgrimage, then you are going to love this episode of the podcast. But it’s not about the Camino, per se. It’s Camino-adjacent, but about something that, turns out, is totally different. Chris from episode 142 is back! It feels like th...

WHEN YOU CAN DO WAAAAAY MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU CAN If you haven’t yet walked the Camino because you think you can’t do it because of an illness, my guest today is about to turn that idea on its head. Today I am talking with Phil, who walked the Camino after recovering from a serious illness. And, as many of us have done, he walked to honor a family member and make a statement about how he wants t...

THE CHALLENGES OF WALKING A WINTER CAMINO Will I find a place to sleep? Will I find food? Will it rain the entire time? These are questions all pilgrims ask when getting ready to walk the Camino, but none more so than the winter pilgrim. Imagine walking the Camino when most services are closed, when only 75 of the 450+ albergues on the Francés route keep their doors open for the winter. Imagine wa...

WHEN EXPECTATIONS DON'T MEET REALITY Is the Camino safe for a woman traveling alone? What about for a young woman, say one in her early 20s walking alone? You may hear many different answers to those questions – many different experiences from the various Camino routes, and many people will argue with you about the safety of the Camino if you try to say it’s not safe. In this episode you are going...

WANT TO HAVE THE CAMINO ALL TO YOURSELF? If you’ve been contemplating a winter pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, this episode is for you. But even if you haven’t been thinking about walking in the winter, this episode may still be for you – especially if you are worried about getting blisters or becoming injured and not being able to finish. In this episode, you are going to meet Sarah from Se...

WHEN SANTIAGO ISN'T THE END This week we are hearing from Richard, who you met back in episode 127. Richard’s story really stood out because he is living with a significant vision impairment. But it didn’t stop him from walking the Camino Francés from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Santiago and then on to the coast, to Fisterra and Muxía. And his pilgrimage didn’t stop there. Here’s the question Richa...

ON BEING A BRIDGE How often do you have the time – or inclination – to ask deep, existential questions? My guest today – Michael – had just about two weeks on the Camino Portuguese to do just that. And he really made the most out of the opportunity. This conversation that may just change the way you see this pilgrimage. After years of dreaming, months of planning, days of walking, Michael shares h...

BEYOND "WHO AM I?" There are times in our lives when we just need something. Something different, something new, something challenging, to shake things up and show us who we are right now. Something is what has called my guest this week – Marina – to walk the Camino. Marina is asking a really important question as she embarks on this journey. It’s an existential question, really, like who am I? Bu...

THE POST-CAMINO BLUES We don’t talk about this enough. It’s something almost every pilgrim feels: the emotional and spiritual challenge of returning home. After all the walking, the quiet, the moments of connection and clarity, it’s jarring to come back to schedules, noise, and expectations. You may feel disoriented. Disconnected. Even a little lost. That’s not a sign something went wrong—it’s a s...

BRINGING THE CAMINO HOME You walked the Camino de Santiago and met YOU. Maybe it was the best version of you, maybe it was the worst. Maybe it was your authentic self that you were longing to meet and had suspected was hiding somewhere within you. My guest today is Kathy Kehe, pilgrim and life coach who is passionate about you finding and bringing home the gold from your pilgrimage. She and I real...

SLOWING DOWN FOR THAT CAMINO CONNECTION Every so often, timing lines up just right. This week, I catch Lisa and Abhay just days before they leave for Spain to begin their pilgrimage on the Camino Francés. They are both used to moving fast and taking on big challenges, but the Camino offers them something different: a chance to slow down, be present, and savor the shared experience of walking this...

İ SÍ SE PUEDE ! (YES WE CAN!) Imagine facing down your fears with such clarity and determination - with a sure and clear statement of yes I can - that your fear transforms into freedom. That's what happened on the Camino for pilgrim Jen Manglos, and her life has never been the same. She has since written and published a landmark book for pilgrims returning home from walking the Camino de Santiago:...

NOW IS THE TIME TO GO AFTER YOUR DREAMS I hope you are ready to be inspired, because in this episode you are going to hear from someone who knows how to make dreams happen. And more than that, she knows the value of going after those dreams . . . now. Kat is living in Spain with her husband and daughter, following one of the best plot twists ever. When Kat said yes to walking the Camino, it sparke...

WHEN PLANS CHANGE - FOR THE BETTER How many pilgrims were inspired to walk the Camino after seeing a movie set on the trail? For most people it was the movie The Way, with Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen. For my guest today it was the charming (although largely inaccurate) Hallmark movie, Journey to You. Jeff is recently retired, and his discovery of the Camino after watching the movie Journey to...

REDEFINING AGE ON THE CAMINO What is the Camino really all about? Many pilgrims say it’s all about the people, and my guest today is likely to agree with that. Cheryle walked the Camino with her friend, Janet, at the age of 81. Together they made friends all along the Way. Cheryle doesn’t consider herself a walker, but she did it, and when she wrote to me last week, she said this: I still have the...