Jakobsweg 2.0 Camino de la Costa

I'm off again... again :)

I would like to take you on my journey, over 600km by foot through Spain... with me are "our Charly" and Quack the little duck :)

This time I will try to write my first blog ever on the side, so don't be too hard on me...

A long time ago, three years and a few days to be exact, when I came back from my first Jakobsweg, the Camino Francés... The reasons to walk this path couldn't be more different... Back in May/June 2015, I was on my way to somehow find "myself" again. Burnout had a tight grip on me, nothing was going... hardly forwards, hardly backwards, there was only one direction and it led further and further into a whirlpool. It couldn't go on like this, therapy only helped so much, that's why the audiobook "I'm off" by Hape Kerkeling and the movie "Wild" were just right for me. I asked myself, can such a long hike also help me... can I do it... all alone in a foreign country without knowing the language... ultimately, I didn't have much to lose, I saw it as an opportunity... and I took it!

I never dreamed how this path would change my life. From Hamburg, I went from Burgos to Santiago de Compostela and then further to the end of the world, Finisterre, and further to Muxia and then back to Hamburg, completely changed.

A few months later, I completely turned my life around and emigrated to Switzerland... In retrospect, that was one of the best decisions of my life!!!

This time I'm not walking because I'm looking for something or to find something... this time I simply have time and the desire for the journey. But somehow I also want to thank the path for it, without it I wouldn't be where I am today... who knows what would have happened without it... but I'm very happy with how it has developed.

Now I'm sitting on the plane to Bilbao and writing my travel blog, later I'll continue with the bus to Santander, from where I'll start tomorrow. I don't know yet how I will shape the whole thing, daily or every few days... we will see!!!

When I'm walking this time, I have no stress to arrive somewhere, so I walk one stage every day, which I look at in my book the evening before. But if I really like a place, I just stay and enjoy the here and now... that's what pilgrimage is actually about too. Simply not making too big of a plan... "the path is the goal" and let it guide you.

I'm very excited about hopefully very interesting acquaintances, the great places, experiences, tortilla and of course good wine.

See you tomorrow or so...

Charlie 🤙

Ps. Some of you may have noticed, I have dyslexia and if you find any spelling mistakes, you are welcome to keep them :)