Before setting out step by step, it is worth pausing to ask a quieter question: \u201cWhy walk at all?\u201d Why has humanity, across continents and centuries, felt compelled to leave home in search of something that cannot be purchased, scheduled, or fully explained? As a teen in the 1960\u2019s we thought it was important to go to Europe to \u201cfind our head!\u201d Not that it did any good.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
As a hopefully more mature man in my 70\u2019s I recall when going through a difficult time, someone counseled me to \u201cget up and start putting one foot in front of the other.\u201d I, in turn, have given others this same counsel. One thing I discovered on the Camino in 2023 was that if you have an agenda about what you want to learn, forget it. I was told, and I believe, the Camino will teach you what it wills. Just walk and pay attention.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The Camino illustrates the pilgrimage belongs to a much older, wider human instinct\u2014one that appears in the great religious traditions of the world. Though their doctrines differ, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism each preserve a shared pattern: the world is not random, the human person is not at rest, and life itself is a movement toward return.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The opening of the Gospel of John declares that \u201cIn the beginning was the Word.\u201d Creation is not an accident; it is spoken. In Islam, the Qur’an is received as the very speech of God, and creation itself unfolds at the divine command: \u201cBe, and it is\u201d. In the Hindu tradition, the sacred syllable \u201cOm\u201d, reflected in texts like the Upanishads, is understood as the primordial sound from which all existence flows.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
In each case, the world has a source that is not silent. It is spoken, sung, or willed into being. We are not merely present\u2014we are addressed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
And yet, if we are addressed, we are also alienated. The same traditions that affirm a sacred origin also insist that we are not fully at home. Islam reminds the believer, \u201cTo God we belong, and to Him we return,\u201d implying both origin and distance. Hindu thought names this condition as ignorance or forgetfulness, a drifting within the cycles of birth and death.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
For the Christian, the book of Romans tells us, \u201cWe all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,\u201d and at the same time we are told to \u201cwork out your salvation\u201d. For Christians it reflects the life long work of sanctification, the need to reach for holiness.However it is described, the human condition is not one of arrival, but of displacement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The Road of the Living\u2014and the Dead<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It is here that pilgrimage emerges\u2014not as an optional religious exercise, but as something closer to a necessity. If we are created, and if we are estranged, then something in us must move. One step at a time begins to do what the soul already knows. Go.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As I walked I began to suspect the journey is not uniquely Christian, but deeply human. Across traditions, this movement takes recognizable form. The Muslim undertakes the Hajj to Mecca, circling the Kaaba in a ritual that echoes both origin and return. The Hindu pilgrim journeys to Varanasi or the Ganges, seeking purification in waters believed to carry the memory of eternity. The Christian sets out for Santiago de Compostela, Rome, or Jerusalem, walking toward places where heaven and earth seem to meet.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Different paths, different theologies\u2014yet the same movement: away, and then back again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Pilgrimage, then, is not merely about reaching a destination. It is about finding truth. We leave what is familiar. We accept discomfort, and pain. We carry only what is necessary. We become, in a small but real sense, dependent again. In doing so, we rehearse death\u2014the letting go of control, identity, and accumulation. And we rehearse a rebirth\u2014the rediscovery of meaning, dependence, and grace.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This is why pilgrimage persists even in a modern world that prides itself on efficiency and immediacy. The airplane may take us faster, but it cannot do the work of the road. Only the slow accumulation of steps can teach what must be learned slowly: that we are not self-sufficient, that we are not yet home, and that the return requires participation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The Camino, in this light, is both deeply Christian and profoundly human. It is Christian in its history, its saints, and its destination at the shrine of Saint James. But it is human in its structure. It answers a need that precedes any single tradition: the need to move toward what we have somehow lost, or forgotten, or not yet fully known.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The Old Testament figures of faith, such as Abraham and Sarah, who regarded themselves as temporary residents or travelers on earth, seeking a heavenly home. \u201cAll these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.\u201d (Hebrews 11:13 (NIV))<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n To walk the Camino is to step into this ancient pattern. It is to accept that life itself is a kind of pilgrimage\u2014one that begins in gift, passes through estrangement, and seeks, however imperfectly, a return.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Abraham leaves without knowing where he is going, but he does not walk alone. Moses leads his people through wilderness, sustained by provision they did not produce. The psalmist speaks of pilgrims whose hearts are set on the way, passing through the Valley of Baca and finding it, somehow, a place of springs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The Camino simply makes visible what is already true.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n We are, all of us, moving.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n We are, all of us, dependent.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n We are, all of us, passing through structures\u2014some built by others, some given by God\u2014that make the journey possible.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The Camino is not an escape from life. It is a clearer version of it. And every bridge, every stone, every place of rest along the way is quietly asking the same question:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Will you walk it as a traveler\u2014or as a pilgrim?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n There is a kind of faithfulness in walking, even when the end is uncertain. Even when the body cannot sustain what the will desires.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Finishing the Camino was never the only measure. The Camino, in its older understanding, did not promise survival. It promised meaning.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n [Part Four: Proposed Daily Schedule}<\/strong><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before setting out step by step, it is worth pausing to ask a quieter question: \u201cWhy walk at all?\u201d Why has humanity, across continents and centuries, felt compelled to leave home in search of something that cannot be purchased, scheduled, or fully explained? As a teen in the 1960\u2019s we thought it was important to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193664754,"featured_media":629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1379,1380],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal","category-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/64018079-389a-4ec2-a23b-aa96ea8566f1.jpg?fit=578%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgfYCB-aa","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":617,"url":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?p=617","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":0},"title":"My Pilgrimage Experience in 2023","author":"Old Griffy","date":"April 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"(Part One) Stephen Griffith Stepping Out of the Boat I was working at my desk on a new project in the summer of 2023, having just come to the end of a three-year musical endeavor that, toward the end, had begun to bore me. I cannot even remember what I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?cat=1379"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_7144.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_7144.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_7144.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_7144.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":624,"url":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?p=624","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":1},"title":"Personal Note on the Following Articles","author":"Old Griffy","date":"April 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"NOTE: In October of 2023 I did something crazy and signed up to walk the Camino. I became fascinated with the concept of pilgrimage and especially spiritual pilgrimage. So, last year (2025) I decided to walk a portion of the Camino Frances for a second time, feeling I did not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?cat=1379"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5c098c42-daaa-4c41-a546-25057fe88cd9-1-1.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5c098c42-daaa-4c41-a546-25057fe88cd9-1-1.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5c098c42-daaa-4c41-a546-25057fe88cd9-1-1.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5c098c42-daaa-4c41-a546-25057fe88cd9-1-1.jpg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":921,"url":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?p=921","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":2},"title":"May 5, 2026: Sarria","author":"Old Griffy","date":"May 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Sarria is about 100 kilometers from the end of the line, Santiago de Compostela. I walked about 6,000 steps today with almost no problems. I got winded and dizzy a couple of times but was able to find all the medieval sites in the city. Sarria is also the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino 2026"","block_context":{"text":"Camino 2026","link":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?cat=1393"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_2364-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_2364-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_2364-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_2364-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":880,"url":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?p=880","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":3},"title":"May 3, 2026: O Cebreiro, Crash & Burn","author":"Old Griffy","date":"May 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019d been anticipating the walk to O Cebreiro for months. It is an amazing, gorgeous city. The distance from Villafranca del Bierzo to O Cebreiro is 18.6 miles and I was ready. I only got 3 km and my body quit working. I started using my trekking poles just to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino 2026"","block_context":{"text":"Camino 2026","link":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?cat=1393"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/90adf189-1dbc-4719-9230-474f6dfaa4c0-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1018&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/90adf189-1dbc-4719-9230-474f6dfaa4c0-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1018&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/90adf189-1dbc-4719-9230-474f6dfaa4c0-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1018&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/90adf189-1dbc-4719-9230-474f6dfaa4c0-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1018&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/90adf189-1dbc-4719-9230-474f6dfaa4c0-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1018&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":728,"url":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?p=728","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":4},"title":"April 21, 2026: Sahagun, Spain","author":"Old Griffy","date":"April 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Sahag\u00fan, Spain, is a critical medieval town on the Camino de Santiago known as a capital of \"poor Romanesque\" or Mud\u00e9jar architecture, characterized by 12th-13th century brickwork. Key site is the Puente Canto bridge. Puente Canto (1085): A medieval bridge over the Cea River, commissioned by Alfonso VI, constructed with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino 2026"","block_context":{"text":"Camino 2026","link":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?cat=1393"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_1993-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_1993-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_1993-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_1993-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":861,"url":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?p=861","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":5},"title":"April 30, 2026: Rabanal del Camino","author":"Old Griffy","date":"May 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The trail is getting harder and because I suffer from a variety of heart problems, I\u2019m getting slower and more in need of rest. But it has been amazing. My prior Camino was mainly about getting from place to place, but my intent this time is to seek out the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino 2026"","block_context":{"text":"Camino 2026","link":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/?cat=1393"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_2190-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_2190-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_2190-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oldgriffy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_2190-rotated.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/193664754"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldgriffy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}