The countdown has begun
Only three weeks left until my Camino de Santiago starts. Even though I’ve been working towards this for a lot longer already, the countdown really has begun now.
My plans started to take shape during last year's summer and most thoughts up until a month or so ago were around my Santiago ideas for Spring-time coming up. This made it feel a while away still, until it quickly went from ‘in April’, to ‘next month’ to now already ‘only a few weeks away’!
Whaaaaa, it’s really going to happen, I’m so excited!
During my adventures on route to Santiago de Compostela I would like to take you along with me through my stories in this blog. I do not intend to bother you with daily diary inputs. Not only because I appreciate your time, I also value my precious moments surrounded by nature away from electronics. Keep an eye out, I'll be posting with some regularity. I hope you will enjoy my stories of Going Green with Mandy to Santiago. Make sure to sit down with a cup of tea or a glass of wine when reading them for optimum enjoyment. And please don’t hesitate to leave a comment at the bottom, your vibes will give me fresh energy for the days to come. Because that’s what I got from all the reactions to my first blog, so much encouragement, positive and kind words. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read it and left a comment. I loved reading them!
Before my Camino actually starts, I’d like to tell you a few things about all the prepping that was involved.
‘Voorpret’ is a big part of the journey for me. I really enjoy doing research and getting prepared. Being a bookworm, my research started with my nose in books.
The first book I read about someone's Camino was called ‘Bestemming Santiago’, a story about 2 brothers that walked from Brabant, the Netherlands to Santiago de Compostella in 98 days, written by Klaas Slager, one of the brothers.
I had this book as a PDF file on my phone and during the last 2 weeks on the Pieterpad trail last summer, I started reading their story to my mum out loud. Each time we had lunch or afternoon break during our hike, I read a few chapters while we let our meal digest.
De wondere weg van Amsterdam naar Santiago, written by Marlies van der Steeg is the next book I went through. The diary from a girl who walked for herself and the charity of ‘Make a Wish’ foundation. She walked 3000 km in 4,5 months. An inspiring and fun book to read.
One of the people I’ve met through the Dutch Santiago Community, Ger Lenssen, bundled his stories about walking to Santiago from Konstanz in Germany, and lend me his book to read. A pleasant read, brightened up by pretty drawings and aquarelle paintings made by Ger himself. The beauty in reading this book was the part that I’d actually met the writer.
I enjoyed reading their stories, and besides that, I gained plenty of information from their journey, their experiences and things they encounter along their Camino.
Other books I’ve read last year that perhaps had a little influence towards my curiosity for a long distance hike were;
Niet Alleen (Not Alone) - Tim Voors, about hiking the Te Araroa Trail in Nieuw-Zeeland (3.000 kilometer),
The Salt Path - Raynor Winn, decided to walk the South West Coast Path in the UK with her husband.
Wild - Cheryl Strayed, about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in the US.
The Camino - Shirley MacLaine, famous American actress, walking her Camino in 1994 at the age of 60.
And of course I’ve also read The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, which I intend to read again during my Camino.
When I searched on YouTube for Santiago de Compostela, or long distance hiking, a whole new world opened up for me with an uncountable amount of video’s from people all over the world. A few of my favourites that I gained information and inspiration from are;
Homemade Wanderlust aka Dixie - An American girl who does a lot of thru-hiking (long distance hikes) including Camino Frances to Santiago.
CaminoTellers - a whole range of short do’s and don’t Camino vlogs
Chase Mountains - An Aussie dude that’s all about hiking, strength, body and mind health
Set to Hike - A girl from Australia living in New Zealand, I found her gear and food video’s helpful.
Floor Denil - A Belgium girl, solo-hiker and artist. Inspiration and information about solo hiking.
For entertainment along the way, I’ll fill up my e-reader with books and download some podcasts and audiobooks on my phone. If you have any suggestions for great reads or interesting things to listen too, do let me know in the comments below!
I've spent plenty of evenings, lunch breaks and uncountable hours researching the World Wide Web. I wanted to learn all about Santiago, the best gear to take with me, what not to do, the different route options and everything else around the subject people did or didn’t recommend.
Very quickly I came upon the website santiago.nl which is a Dutch Community for Santiago walkers. ‘Nederlands Vennootschap van Sint Jacob’. They organize a Saint Jacques café evening every month in Roermond. I went here last year in November and met Cor Odenhoven, amongst other people that done their Camino. Cor walked a few years ago from Venray to Santiago de Compostela. He had amazing stories to tell and I had plenty of questions to ask.
At the end of this evening, one of the Camino-Coaches, Ria Feijen, gifted me a Scallop Shell. A very familiar shell to me from my time working as a scuba dive instructor in Picton, New Zealand. Traditionally, a pilgrim is supposed to wear this shell on them during their Pilgrimage or Camino. Well, that’s it then, no more turning back. I got my shell, now I have to make the walk!
From there, I became a member of the community and received my own personal ‘Credencial’ or Pilgrimspas. It also led me to join in on their ‘huiskamer’ (livingroom) meeting for those who are planning to walk a Santiago route. An afternoon where the Camino-Coaches shared a lot of their information and answered plenty of questions we all had. An informative and fun afternoon, where I also met other pilgrims-to-be.
The Camino-Coaches also organized a practise-walk, which took place yesterday (Saturday 11-3-2023). This was a 14 km walk starting from Reuver that members got invited to, to walk with full Camino gear. I think we were with a group of 25 people. It was great to see some familiar faces again. Cor whom I’ve met at the Saint Jacques Cafe, others from the ‘huiskamer’ meeting and plenty of new people to meet.
It was amazing to hear everyone’s stories and motivation, and how everyone has a different route/starting point of their Camino. People were equally interested in hearing my plans, I was the one with the most km’s to cover. Plenty of other things, like what to bring and how to use certain equipment, were discussed during this practise hike. Halfway through we had lunch in a restaurant in Beesel and upon return to Reuver we had a drink in a bar before all going our separate ways.
It was a lovely day, not only because of the sunny weather, but mainly because of the strong Camino vibes. It felt like a very good preview of what to expect on the Camino. These are the first Camino people I met on my journey. Goodbyes were easy, as we all intent to get together again in fall time, where we all hope to share our Camino stories with each other.
Only 3 weeks left ya’ll!
In the next couple of weeks I’ve got a few more things I like to tell you about before I set my first footsteps on the Camino de Santiago.
Till soon! X
Ps. Let me know any suggestions to read or listen too.
