Many pilgrims fear the alone parts of the Camino. Then the alone parts become the point.
Even on the busy Francés, there are hours — early mornings, long Meseta afternoons, the last kilometers into town — when the trail empties and it is just you, the path, and your thoughts. At first the silence feels loud. The mind chatters, rehearses, worries. Then, gradually, it settles. And in the settling, something rare happens: you hear yourself think, all the way to the end of a thought, for the first time in years.
Solitude on the Camino is not loneliness. Loneliness is the absence of people; solitude is the presence of yourself. The road gives you long, uninterrupted stretches of your own company — no phone, no demands, no performance — and asks only that you keep walking through whatever surfaces. Most pilgrims discover they are better company than they expected.
You will not walk alone the whole way. The Camino will see to that — a shared meal here, a walking companion there. But protect the solitary hours. They are where the journey does its deepest work.
A QUESTION TO CARRY
When did you last spend a whole day in your own company — and what did you hear?