Camino del Norte '24 Ends...

...a bit prematurely. I explain.

I ended the second week of my Camino ’24 with a great burst of socializing – so many interesting, nice folks – and the most beautiful part of any Camino of my five. All have had something to recommend them, of course, I’m just captivated by this one now, as you’ll see from the following photos.

I’m currently in tiny Vilalba, about 120 km from Santiago, and the last week has been…wet! So THAT’s why it’s so green here!

So, saying goodbye to some new friends…for now.

Seriously, though: A few days ago we got the remnants of Hurricane Kirk, which lashed northwestern Spain with winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour (125 MPH). Kirk made for a very noisy night at the top of a mountain pass at Vilamartin Grande, a tiny outpost with one albergue.

It was nice to be cozy in a centuries-old stone building as the wind whipped all around us, the rain going horizontal to the ground, and every crack in the building whistling through the night. The next day I walked through quite a bit of fallen debris, and a surprising calm after the storm. Since then, not much rain to speak of…though the creeks have been swollen ever since.

The walking has been absolutely beautiful, lush green and soft forest paths alternating with quiet country roads. Galicia is my favorite Spanish province, and Camino del Norte really IS my favorite Camino now, though again, they’re all pretty great. The photos really don’t capture the endless green immensity of Asturias and Galicia.

What this Camino has not been so great for is…work! I had thought I’d do shorter stages, but this Camino has far fewer services – groceries and bars, let alone albergues – than the Frances. Which means that one must pretty much walk 20 kilometers daily just to get somewhere to sleep and eat and do the basics.

Not too difficult, and if Camino were all I was trying to do, it’d be fine.

But 20 kilometers (12+ miles) with 13 kilos (nearly 30 pounds, with laptop and Shure 58 microphone) on my back – with the occasional steep climb, as two days ago – wears me out! After coming into wherever I’m going, finding a bed, taking a shower, lying down for a bit and eating something…I’ve got little left to give, even to write something simple, like this post.

To work on a complicated, daunting thing like a musical? No. It’s just not happening.

So with only five days until I fly out of Santiago, I’m faced with a choice: To walk, or to write? There’s really no question in that questions, given that my stated goal was to finish the libretto for the first act of my musical. So I need to settle down and WORK. Walking is wonderful, but I simply can’t do both. Next year.

Besides, working has its rewards…

So my Camino ’24 ends here in tiny Vilalba, with some fond farewells to some new friends, who will do the last four or five stages to Santiago without me. I always walk alone anyway, it’s one of the great draws of the Camino, but to get this work done requires more than solitude: It requires focus, at the computer, dotting literal i’s and crossing actual t’s. Without which, there will be no libretto.

I’m a bit sad about it – I’ve only done 240 kilometers (150 miles) of what was supposed to be 330, which was already to be my shortest Camino – but mileage was never the goal. Verbiage was, and remains, the main reason I’m here. I just thought I could get away with both.

I always want BOTH. And I will always multitask whenever I can get away with it. But this time, it’s just not working.

So I am going by bus to nearby Lugo, the incredible walled city which I enjoyed two years ago when hiking El Camino Primitivo, and hunker down for the next five nights. Even if I’m mostly just working, I need the city vibe. Small towns and villages are charming, but they are of limited interest, or utility. But I have to add that I absolutely love all the old, abandoned buildings. I could do a post on those alone. Here are a couple:

I will also treat myself a bit, to my own apartment for those few nights, as I’ve spent too many nights in albergues. As nice as they can be – and as nearly-empty as many of them are this time of year – my last night featured an older gent snoring madly, about four feet from my head, the whole night – enough with that!

I also just got my bi-annual royalties check for my book Japan From Anime to Zen, and it was the biggest I’ve ever gotten! Not massive, but certainly enough to justify a splurge.

So, that’s the end of my Camino ‘24, and now I hunker down to work. Once I finish this…

I will, of course, have to do battle with my procrastination and hypercritical demons – that’s an ongoing challenge. But at least I will have the energy, and time, and no remaining excuses to avoid doing what needs to be done.

I’ve come a long way, just a bit more to go. But this time, not with my body, but with my mind, and creative spirit. Fingers crossed.

Onward.