Walking the Portuguese Coastal Camino

“And the road is plenty wide and welcoming,
speaking out to all,
This is the perfect place,
this is the right time,
this is where wish becomes possible.”
Susan Frybort, “On the Road of Great Wonder,” in Hope is a Traveler, 2015

 

I am home from five weeks of walking.

In May 2022, on roads – up and down the hilly tiled streets of Lisbon and Porto; the wooden boardwalks edging mile-long expanses of northern Portugal’s golden sand beaches; tarmac in urban centres and highways; quiet cobblestone village alleys; stone roads, at least a thousand years old, rutted from Roman carts; sandy trails through eucalyptus groves. Each one the perfect place, the right time where my wish to walk my Camino to Santiago de Compostela became possible.

A dream held for more than twenty years – when I first read Shirley MacLaine’s The Camino (2000) – one that waxed and waned but was re-ignited when I walked my local, pandemic inspired “Camino de Edmonton” in our renowned river valley, for thirteen consecutive Saturdays in autumn 2020 and 2021. It was then I learned that my way of walking is to “saunter.” That I need to take my time to notice, to observe, to photograph, to hum a tune, sing a made-in-the-moment, soon-to-be-forgotten melody. I enjoy conversation, and have had some delightful, edifying ones. And then what I notice – the shiny and the shimmer, the magic that suddenly catches my eye and speaks to my heart – shifts my attention.

In taking the more serious step to plan a long distance “saunter” to Santiago, I worked with Portugal Green Walks to create a bespoke “easy” Portuguese Coastal Camino, altering the typical 11-14 stage program to a 20 day itinerary with an average 10-18 km per stage – accommodations booked, bags portered, and breakfast served – giving me ample time to take in the vistas and villages along the way, viscerally making me gasp with delight, and settling any covid concerns. I’d be meeting people, savoring the food and culture, with time for writing, photography, painting…walking mostly alone and occasionally together with my companion who is “simpatico” in this way of wanting a more immersive, esthetic experience. Too, I appreciated that I’d be “living local with love,” investing in Portugal and her people, post pandemic by working with a local company specializing in walking tours.

Going with Gratitude

“When you leave home, you are a stranger, and a stranger is always feared.
That is why the wise traveler carries gifts.
To make a peace offering at every stop of a pilgrimage is to recognize
the sacred nature of the journey with a deep personal purpose.”
Phil Cousineau, The Art of Pilgrimage, 1998

 

Apart from myriad details, and the hours and energy involved in planning and preparing for this first post pandemic international trip – researching equipment and resources; designing my packing systems for easy access; “rehearsing” during my Saturday Camino walks; ensuring all covid protocols for three countries were followed – I made sure to reserve time the week before departure for two vivifying activities: embellishing with washi tape the pages of my travel journal; and preparing tokens of gratitude to gift people along the Way, to enact and realize my “sole (only)-sole (foot)-soul” purpose. I had discovered an assortment of bronzed metal maple leaves – what could be more Canadian! – and golden elm leaves in my craft kit, and other small tokens which I wrapped in colorful tissue and sealed with floral stickers, making for little lightweight packets. Giving them out along the Way brought many moments of sweet surprise and joy.

Carrying Wonder

“With each honorable step moving forward,
watching life unfold with marvel,
as beings simply being, they walk
upon this pathway of great wonder.”
Susan Frybort, “On the Road of Great Wonder,” in Hope is a Traveler, 2015

 

I carried wonder with me and attracted that essence in the poetry I serendipitously found for my journal, and in the myriad experiences along the Way, where each day was an unfolding of magnificent beauty: alleyways abundant with roses; stone walls covered in fragrant jasmine; eucalyptus forests dappled with sunlight, their scent wafting in the rising heat; sea and surf in every shade of blue pounding on golden beaches, and rocky shores; skies heavy with sodden grey clouds rolling down mountains bringing veils of rain; fresh briny sweet seafood, simply prepared, drenched in olive oil and smoky paprika; local wines that complemented the local cuisine; and the ubiquitousand plentiful cafe con leche with sweet and flaky pastries.

Simply stated, when I left Canada in early May 2022 to realize this twenty-year dream, I, like Peter Coffman wrote in Camino (2017), would be walking “because I knew others who had gone, and the experience filled them with wonder.”

 

Living One’s Commitment

“For many women, going on a sacred journey means
getting back in touch with what is sacred in the earth.”
Joan Marler in The Art of Pilgrimage,1998

 

Yes, and I would add, getting back in touch with and staying present to what is sacred in one’s life – one’s needs, one’s knowing, one’s intuition – one’s commitment to one’s life.

Thinking back to a particularly long stage – from Viana do Castelo to Vila Praia de Ancora – with my earned blisters throbbing, I took myself to dinner, finally rested enough to eat. It’s an evening that stays with me, deep within my heart and mind and belly. Not only because it so simply and deliciously satisfied my need for a good, hot meal after a long day of walking face first in the elements, but also because I was tended to with such simple love and kindness, in the most fundamental ways, by the women in that restaurant. Even now, I’m moved to tears …what it gave me…how it sustained me. I had stayed present to my need, and my intuition to venture into an empty café, to be warmly welcomed by the hostess who filled my goblet near to overflowing, while the women in the kitchen prepared my dinner.

Too, that stretch of coast to Baiona – one of the most beautiful stages – where I’d made the decision to walk off route, heeding input from a younger woman’s knowing, trusting intuition, and the simple logic that by keeping the ocean to our left we wouldn’t get too far off. Pausing now and then to take in the magnificence, I found myself thinking about what it means to make a commitment, particularly to one’s self – often the most difficult one to make, particularly for women. Remembering the commitment I had made to the Camino the moment I had said “yes” and made my deposit to Portugal Green Walks that December os 2021, I realized it and my commitment to my life were steps in the same dance. That when I followed its sacred choreography, the more my joy. And that this joy was palpable…it flowed, attracted, and was contagious to those open to catching it. As the quote in my journal for that day affirmed: “Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” (e.e. cummings)

Becoming More Myself

“Aging is no accident. It is necessary to the human condition, intended by the soul. We become more characteristic of who we are simply by lasting into later years; the older we become, the more our true natures emerge. Thus, the final years have a very important purpose: the fulfilment and confirmation of one’s character.”
James Hillman

Making this walk, as a woman in her sixth decade, how I held, nurtured, and realized this dream within a container of heartful commitment and mindful intention as an act of gratitude, with the kind attention and support from Paola and Portugal Green Walks, became and continues to be a profound expression of my creative life force. While not as spry, fit, nor strong as I would have been twenty years ago, I brought instead the maturity, self-knowledge, and wisdom gained from years of attending to my inner life.

The seventeenth century Japanese poet Basho, renowned master of haiku, devoted his adult life to writing poetry and walking pilgrimages. Contained within that poetic form’s seventeen syllables, he synthesized the art of pilgrimage’s skill of observation, soul of attention, and heart of intention. Writing about my Camino is my attempt to echo that of Basho: by making the ineffable conscious and evident through my words and photos, making what another poet, James Wright calls “the language of the present moment,” I am becoming more myself with every step taken in the Camino that is my life.

About the Author:

Katharine Weinmann is a seeker whose reading of poets and mystics shapes the container from which her words and images emerge, revealing beauty in her imperfect, sometimes broken, mostly well-lived and much-loved life. She is a long distance “saunterer,” most recently having walked the Via de Francesco from Assisi to Rome and is next planning to walk the Via di St. Catherine on the Via Francigena, from San Miniato to Rome. An intrepid traveler and internationally published poet and photographer, she blogs at A Wabi Sabi Life.

Together her husband and their beloved Annie dog, Katharine makes her home on ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan), Treaty 6 territory, sacred ancestral home of the Cree, Dehcho Dene, Metis – Indigenous land that was generously shared with her settler ancestors, a gesture for which she is most grateful and inspired.

For the complete series of photo stories describing the stages of Katharine’s Portuguese Coastal Camino, designed with Portugal Green Walks, please see http://awabisabilife.ca/the-portuguese-coastal-camino/

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