Aaand this is when, 90% of the time, I hear Wait. What do you mean on foot?!

Yes – that’s correct, 6 years ago, together with my partner at the time, we left our flat in Katowice, Poland and started succesively walking West, till, after four and a half months and over 3500km later, we set foot in Lisbon, Portugal.

We didn’t write a book, we weren’t interviewed, we weren’t talked about on the radio, nor were there any high-fives at the finish line; we did it for ourselves, not counting on gratification in the form of a momentary splendour. However, as after many years this topic still seems to pulsate slightly and have its magical influence, I decided to write about it, hoping that the elapsed time will become a filter to leave out the banalities and small things, for a summary of what was most important and, hopefully, the most interesting. Thus, I would like to point out, that the content of this article comes almost exclusively from my personal memory, as when parting with my travel companion, I also parted with all souvenirs, maps and notes that would allow me to recreate it all in a more formal manner.

But, let it be so – because isn’t the thing we call experience usually a slightly curved reflection of the facts and our personal contemplation on it?

How I didn’t “look for myself” on the Camino — a bit about motivation

We never know self-realization.
We are two abysses — a well staring at the sky.

Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

Apparently, people choose the paths of Camino de Santiago for the same reason they travel to India – to find themselves. Even though I’ve walked through 7 countries, I never really understood what this term is supposed to mean. Neither can I be categorised into the other popular reason of such travels – although it is quite possible that I will quote a cool passage from the Bible later in this article, when asked if I’m religious, I answer “hell no” (unless my place to sleep depends on it).

Most probably, at the very beginning it was just a pure challenge, a simple typical polish “What, I won’t do it?!”

And, as the reasones behind the decisions to travel are a completely personal matter, maybe it would be better to describewhat this turned into, that is – why such a trip may be attractive for other people.

Simplicity and freedom

In today’s capitalist world, all travellers are a dream target, a dehumanized mass that necessarily has to fit into a part of a predetermined process, being only a variable in the calculation of cost, revenue and strategies. Personally, I don’t like being treated that way. Traveling on foot, apart from a little bit of logistics that needs to be managed on a daily basis, gives an extremely rare comfort of freedom, independence from the proposed ready-made solutions, eternal waiting, delays, controls, procedures, and expenses. Whenever you want to change your location, you just get up and go. Yes – it is very slow, however, as there’s no waiting for things beyond your control, there’s no irritation or stress that accompanies the traditional forms of travel.

People’s cool reactions

People have been surprising us from the very first to the very last day of our trip. When we were walking along the edge of the road, they stopped, asking if we want a lift; when we asked them to fill up our water bottles, we happened to receive wine or fruits or dinner invitations; when we asked for a convenient place to set up a tent, they suggested their own garden or simply invited us to stay at their home. Honestly, some of these reactions made us wonder how bad we must look.

In each of the countries we travelled through, people gave us more than we could ever ask for, regardless of their age, education, or knowledge of English.

Once, in Spain, a woman ran after us out of her shop and gave us two wonderful peaches, without a single word. Another time, two Portuguese people pulled us into their garage and offered home-made wine, which was only a beginning of an adventure that ended with riding a digger, a tearful goodbye, and a proposition (for me) to become an English teacher for two Portuguese children. In Slovakia, where we stayed in a tent by the lake, we woke up to a bag full of food from a stranger friend. In an Italian village, a few ragazzi that we met on the way, brought warm pizza and printed maps of the area to our tent, just like that. In France, a cool couple, professional concert organizers, gave us a quick lesson on what a perfect lazy breakfast with croissants, coffee and music should look like. By accident, we also met the organizers of the Polish pavilion at EXPO in Milan, who, having found out what we were doing, invited us to visit the exhibition and to see a concert of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

On many occasions, we have been rescued from problems, such as a need for medical help or the absolute standard – drying our belongings after rain.

I am truly grateful, when I think about the Polish emigrants who let us crash on their couches and showed us around large European cities such as Vienna, Milan, Porto and Lisbon. But yet, there also were the dinners in the albergue at Camino Frances and Portuguese, all the companions who had travelled alongside us for a while, and our friends supporting us from distance, following our steps online.

And when I recall these memories, I think there must be a miscalculation. It is impossible to experience so many adventures and meet so many fantastic people in just four and a half months.

Better than drugs

I climbed the path thinking of nothing, as almost always in moments of revelation (to study once more how all profound distraction opens certain doors and how you have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate).

Julio Cortázar, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds

Perhaps there is no life that’s more shitty, than an artist’s life. You are born with the curse (that others name a gift) and you have to deal your whole life with the fact, that your profession (which others name a calling), depends on some random tides and flows of something, that no one has fully understood. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but there must be a reason why creators, from Van Gogh to The Beatles, have stimulated themselves in order to reach this ‘something’, or, as Cortázar wrote, open a certain door.

Walking can be a form of meditation, that helps to clear your mind, relax, connect with nature and save money on psychotherapy; another time (e.g. in that almost desert-like part of Spain at +40 degrees), it takes you to regions you wouldn’t have dreamed of, even if you tried to diligently focus on them. It is not a novelty, that when you repeat one monotonous activity, your thoughts begin to flow through the head freely, the reality starts to smear slightly, you drift away, and then the dots under the skull merge into strange, unobvious, though beautiful, pairs. Trios… Quartets… And so on… And so on…

Sounds familiar?

So maybe taking a voice recorder wouldn’t have been a stupid idea. Although, personally, I refuse – believing that the most fleeting things, most precious in their delicacy, cannot be preserved or recorded, and whatever is important, will come back to us anyway, one way or another.

Break from technology

Ok, not an absolute break. But I wanted to mention one thing, which is often pictured incorrectly; that one question repeated far too many times — “but well, did you walk with Google Maps? Gps?” — was a surprise to me. Although the fact, that in today’s world, people often watch beautiful places through the camera app or see the concerts they were at only through the videos they shot during, somehow justifies this vision.

Yes, we used Google Maps, generally only to prepare the route for the upcoming day, to discuss the stops or overnight stays; but during the walk it was really not necessary, and certainly inappropriate — devastating our experience.

Besides, the enlightening truth: to stop using Google Maps is not the end of the world. It simply means switching to different interfaces — urban visual information systems, paper maps, markings on the trails, or the sun wandering across the sky. For people who are used to look at the smartphone screen rather than around them, it may be painful at first, but there is no great philosophy in it. Honestly, you can’t really get lost in Europe… at least not for long.

Weird places to sleep and the promised Bible quote

Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.

(Luke 9:58)

Fortunately, times have changed since the time of Jesus and his Apostles, and there are many options for overnight stays when traveling on foot. I have already written about camping in a tent and the hospitality of people met on the way. Sometimes, however, you sleep in places that under other circumstances, you would find difficult to imagine as a bedroom.

Sleeping in incredible stone monasteries-fortresses on routes in Spain or Portugal has almost become a norm. Since Camino de Santiago, also known as the Way of Saint Jacob, involves many Christian institutions, congregations such as Monasterio de San Julián (Samos, Spain), Monasterio Santa Maria Magdalena (Sarria Lugo, Spain), Convento Franciscano de San Antonio (Herbón, Spain), Mosteiro de Vairão (Vila do Conde, Portugal) are organizing accommodation for pilgrims in their units, that sometimes look more like a movie set, than a typical vision of a shelter.

However, the biggest surprises along the way happened in places that were not prepared to receive pilgrims. One of the most unforgettable (and free) nights during the whole trip, was a two-story holiday house for Catholic school students, somewhere in the Austrian Alps, with a garden, a snooker table, refrigerators full of ice-cream, and, as it turned out after opening a completely innocent-looking door… a private church, fully equipped with typical pews, confessional, altar, a huge cross and a pipe organ. Most probably the very presence of these organs caused a strange shiver, or maybe it was the dozens of corners, alleys and doors, especially that the house was empty at the time, and we had it completely for ourselves.

An entirely different atmosphere was offered to us at another accommodation, though found with a great luck as well, in an Austrian mountain village, after a day of hiking that almost killed us. Exhausted, we went for a beer to a pub, which most likely gathered all the locals — the best place to ask where we can pitch a tent. There, we’ve experienced the usual - sceptical head-shaking, smacking, and discussions in German, out of which one familiar-sounding word finally emerged: Fußballplatz! Fußballplatz!

We already camped on a football field, once, in Slovakia, with an unforgettable view of the power plant, so we were not really surprised. Meanwhile, our hosts apparently decided, that as they found the solution, we can now have a drink with them, because the night is still young, and also, we need to be introduced to the coach. After a few hours, drowned in the mountain darkness, with our fluency in German two levels higher, accompanied by the coach and half of the bar, we went to the place where - as we thought - we were supposed to pitch our tent.

A little insight: pitching a tent in the dark — is not pleasant; when you are completely exhausted — twice as bad; when you have already spent half the night in a bar, in the company of Austrian highlanders – absurd; so, the coach makes the most unexpected surprise in the whole world, pulling out the keys to his kingdom - football containers-barracks. Once inside, we felt like in one of those designer minimalist capsule-houses, which may be 4 square meters, but is equipped with absolutely everything a human being may need.

Although then our intuition failed, telling us that a football stadium is not a good place to camp, a completely opposite situation happened another time. Do you know the experience when the same place during the day seems to be something completely different at night? This is how, having found the perfect place in the dark, we fell asleep by the shore of the calm, wild lake, with its surface reflecting a million stars, but then we were awakened by the smell of sunbathing oil and the scream of children running around the tent, on a suburban beach full of people, from which we had to escape quickly enough not to get a ticket.

And probably, my favourite of strange nights. We were told that if you are going Camino Portuguese, you can ask for accommodation with Bombeiros, who are just Portuguese firefighters, and they will not refuse, and moreover, they will not even be surprised. Wanting to stay in a bigger Portuguese city (where it’s always harder to find cheap accommodation), we decided to check it out and we were not disappointed. We were asked to wait a moment inside a huge garage, where, delighted, I could admire the shining red fire engines that always fascinated me. After a while, the firewoman called me and led me to the place where I was supposed to stay, which turned out to be a changing room for firewomen. How did I know that? The walls and the lockers were plastered with calendars and posters of handsome half-naked firefighters, from a magazine that was apparently the industry equivalent of Playboy. Don’t ask, I don’t have photos from this place, those are the things that are worth keeping in your mind, only for yourself…

Myths

You need to be in good physical shape

First, you need a little courage to get out of your home and start walking, and a little persistence to maintain it. Personally, I didn’t train specially to prepare for the trip, and I don’t think it is necessary. Actually, I saw people on the Camino for whom it had to be a much bigger test than for me (weight, age, health condition). However, there are a few easy-to-understand rules, that I can share with you as lifehacks, good practices, exercises:

• don’t stop if you are tired but still haven’t reached the goal, it’s the worst thing to do;
• walk with music, keep the rhythm;
• make your brain busy with creative thinking, like Sherlock Holmes, enter your mind palace and you’ll forget that you are tired;
• turn on your curiosity mode (you really want to check out what is behind the next corner);
• keeping a meal routine is generally a good rule in life, during the trip it is a blessing;
• do not overstrain your body. Physical damages are going to stop you for longer, sometimes walking a few more kilometres more may lead to a few day stop; it’s really not worth it.

So, to sum up, I would rather say that you need to be in a good mental shape, have strong will and a bit of cleverness, so that your mind will rule your body, not the other way around.

Relationship test

A lot of people ask me how we endured being together 24/7 for so long.

I am a person who values discretion, so I will not share any spicy details or deep revelations. Perhaps, the answer to the question whether such a trip is a good test for a relationship will not satisfy everyone, because it is: both yes and no. Sorry guys, no shortcuts here. You need to take into account, that a long journey means being constantly (individually and as a couple) in the challenge mode.

Therefore, the essential components of a good relationship such as trust, mutual support and a sense of security, cooperation to achieve a common goal, are here extremely tested.

However, I believe that there are couples which, although can cope with such a test, will later be suppressed by everyday life, boredom, monotony, socks disappearing in the laundry, daily duties, bills, the need for space and existence as a separate individual (yes, yes, it does not disappear when you are with someone, even in the most intimate relationship). Maybe the other person has a need of controlling you and jealousy that previously hasn’t showed up, as you always used to be together? Maybe you can be good friends, but simply have completely incompatible ideas of how to spend the rest of your lives?

So, you want to know if your relationship is good? My suggestion – change your perspective – stop thinking about testing it. You are one of the two sides it depends on. Responsibility, communication, honesty — fantastic words. You can always contemplate them on the way – it certainly won’t hurt.

Traveling on foot is cheap.

Relatively. One of the funniest things we heard during our trip was: We thought you were traveling on foot because you don’t have money for the plane. It’s a lovely point of view, but – when you think about it for a moment – rather off target.

First of all, a flight from Poland to Portugal would have taken us a few hours, not 4,5 months, during which we had to – in the most minimalistic scenario - worry about food every day, sometimes (e.g. in larger cities or Camino Frances) about paid accommodation, not to mention other joys, such as medications, doctor visits, repairing the equipment. For most people today, four and a half months is also quite a long period of time, during which you are unlikely to be able to work. We were lucky enough to have had 2 apartments in Poland for rent, so we could count on a small income every month, which allowed us to go on such trip at all.

Moreover, a significant expense was the sheer preparation for the trip – piecing together all the suitable equipment worth several thousand PLN. Here, a little crowdfunding action, a garage sale, helped.

Equipment

You can look at it this way: if you decide to go on vagabond trip for several months, it equals to the fact, that during this time you are practically deprived of home and all its comforts. It is difficult to realize, on daily basis, how comfortable we live, how many problems can be solved by having even the tightest cubby. But let’s use our imagination a bit. Let’s take a look at things we use every day. Can they be replaced? Can you opt out?

You get up in the morning (bed, bedding, pyjamas), go to the bathroom (ha - bathroom, running water, toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper, soap, towel…), coffee time (coffee, drinking water, stove, teapot / coffee maker / coffee machine, electricity [sic!], mug, teaspoon…)

Okay, stop. Stop! You’ve only stood up, but already managed to fill the whole city backpack, if, of course, you skip the bed and the little problem with running water, and electricity.

In such a case, minimalism, and an absolute regime in questioning the usability of each item in your possession, is the only reasonable approach. At the end, whatever you decide to take, you’ll be carrying it on your own back for the exhausting few hours a day, and each gramme is going to feel heavier and heavier closer to the sunset.

There are two most wanted features of your vagabond trip equipment: light-weightiness and fast drying/waterproofing, definitely. Everything that doesn’t fit these two categories can get you into trouble. You also have to accept, that all of the equipment you are going to use will be strongly abused, so you better take the rule who pays cheap, pays twice seriously.

I chose to carry 38L Kaipak by Fjallraven*, a backpack adapted to the female figure (as advised by girls on Podróżniczki FB group). That was one of the best equipment choices I’ve made. I adore this backpack, it’s incredibly resistant, comfortable, adjustable, it can be used as a medium plane luggage; in fact, I still use it after years. On the side straps of the backpack, I installed a self-inflating Milo* mat. Its advantage, compared to traditional mats, is the sleeping comfort as well as the size; inflating also turned out to be very easy; however, one time, while drying the mat in a quite bright sun, the adhesive film separating the chambers of the mat unsealed, and since then we had a huge self-inflating bubble. North Face* lightweight sleeping bag completed the sleeping set.

The Jack Wolfskin* Gossamer II two-person tent has become our portable home. We chose it because of its weight (about 2 kg). I have nothing against it, as apart from minor damage, it has never caused us any trouble, considering it has been put through a really solid trial.

Note: the camp equipment was essential for our whole trip, except the Camino Frances. If you decide to go only for the most popular trail of Camino, I honestly recommend that you save your back and choose these fantastic opportunities to sleep, dine and shower in albergues — shelters for pilgrims (accessible only with credentials - pilgrim’s passport, in which you collect stamps).

Footwear is a much more interesting issue. Our approach was very unusual, as we noticed by observing other pilgrims on the main Camino, who usually wore sturdy hiking boots for mountain trails. As usual, we were weirdos - each of us took two pairs of light city sneakers. In my case, it was Nike* Jordan Eclipse, heavenly comfortable, made of an unusually thickly woven mesh, and the classic Air Max 1, leather, with a slightly thicker sole. Maybe it’s a matter of individual approach, but as one of the few people who did not have a single blister throughout the entire journey, I would not exchange my shoes even for the kingdom of goretex. It is true that my Jordans had a hole through the sole by the end of the route (which actually is a really badass souvenir), but I suspect that my camino colleagues spent their price equivalent on band-aids and ointments.

In this case, we also focused on quick drying rather than waterproofing. Having two pairs, we could change shoes in case of getting wet, while the wet pair dried very quickly attached by the laces to the backpack. This system worked and it allowed us to race forward.

A lot of small items proved to be useful in various situations. One of the better ideas was to take large microfiber towels, which were drying quickly and taking up impressively little space. It was also a good idea to buy headlamps instead of regular flashlights. The solar charger turned out to be an interesting and quite useful gadget, which we attached to our backpacks every day to accumulate energy. However, I must admit, that most likely an ordinary power bank charged by the way, would have worked just as well, but being a bit smaller and of less clumpy design. My feelings about the Zippo* lighter are ambivalent. Of course, I appreciate the design as well as the fact that it does not go out in the wind, and that you do not need to hold a flint ring to keep the flame on, but carrying a bottle of fuel added weight and took up space; and as I usually am a supporter of good enough solutions, I couldn’t have sworn that having it wasn’t just for style and that a regular lighter wouldn’t do as well.

Generally, I think that the preparation of the things needed for the trip went quite well. Probably the only thing we took and never used was pepper spray, thankfully.

*none of the mentioned brands sponsored our trip, which actually is a pity.

Side effects

A little warning for those who, encouraged by this article, would like to go on their own. Walking an average of 30km a day can have side effects, such as walking addiction (personally I get nervous if I don’t walk every day), uncontrollably converting the time to kilometres and vice versa, irritating friends with the phrase “let’s go on foot, it’s not far”, and the general impression that, since then, the world has shrunk.

The adventure of a lifetime?

Sometimes I come across comments that my journey was an adventure of a lifetime, and then I reply Damn, I hope not. Although this is an unusual and intense challenge, it becomes quite easy and digestible as soon as we think that there is an end - that the remaining mileage counter slowly resets. Watching my best friend confronting her new role as a mother, or looking back at the hardships of my emigration and ways I dealt with them, or admiring people who still find new resources to develop their passions and stick to their imperatives, I think that real life adventures are those that begin without an expiry date or defined end; those to which motivating yourself can never sound just a little more…

If this article has helped you prepare for your own journey, interested, amazed, inspired, you can always: