You’re doing it all wrong...

📰 News Update

• ‘People understand the cap’: how a Spanish eco-beauty spot tackled overtourism

• A complete guide to the world’s greatest pilgrimage

👍 Recommended Gear I Used This Year

After countless shaky shots and a lack of iPhone storage, I decided it was time to upgrade my Camino filming gear. 

I chose the GoPro 11 due to it being tiny, but mighty.  

I’ve been so impressed with what this little device can do. The expansive wide shots I captured on the San Salvador were truly breathtaking. It’s waterproof, which was great for filming myself and other pilgrims wild swimming on the Frances. It also has a flat underside, allowing me to place it on the ground, fences, and rocks for filming shots of myself walking by. 

If you’re looking to film your travels, this little GoPro is worth adding to your packing list. It’s recently been reduced in price and now costs US $368 (£276) 

🏡 Camino Accommodation Recommendation

Bodenaya – Camino Primitivo

This delightful donativo albergue is situated on stage 3 on Gronze.  

It comes with a big reputation, and for good reason. The attention to detail at this donativo albergue is truly delightful. Upon arrival at this homely albergue, you’re warmly welcomed and given the choice of three stamps for your credencial. There are 10 beds to choose from—some bunks, singles, and a couple of private rooms.

Once everyone is settled in, Alison, the owner, gives a short talk packed full of useful tips to help pilgrims prepare for the upcoming Hospitales route. The evening meal is a wonderful, home-cooked communal affair that helps you bond with your fellow bunkmates. 

Oh, and when you stay there, the 'local elves' do all the pilgrims' laundry for free. So, you get a break from hand-washing your clothes when you stay at Bodenaya. 

It’s advisable to book here, as places are limited, and it does fill up. They accept reservations via phone or email. 

And a friendly reminder that ‘donativo’ implies a contribution, rather than being free.

You’re doing it all wrong…

The nervous, new and inexperienced pilgrim not only has a world of unknowns to tackle, but they must also navigate: 

“Oh, you’re wearing walking boots. You only really need trainers for this route.” 

“You’re staying in hotels? You should really stay in albergues for the true Camino experience.”  

“If you use your walking poles like THIS, they’ll be so much more effective.” 

It can be hard to determine what’s helpful advice and what’s simply personal preference disguised as advice.  

Timing and intention have a lot to do with it…

Advice is an opinion, hopefully backed up by experience and coming from a good place, aimed at helping someone to decide or solve a problem. When given in the right context, advice can save you a lot of time, heartache, and on Camino, potential blisters.  

When given unsolicited or presented as the only way of doing something, it can have the opposite effect. It can make you feel like you’re doing it wrong, that you’re being silly, or even clueless.  

I’ve been on the receiving end of advice where I was told I was doing it wrong and should do it their way—the right way. I’d just released new Camino content that I was unsure about, and on receiving their advice, I remember feeling shame and embarrassment. I felt like I’d been found out. I’m sure the advice came from a good place, and I know we choose how we react to what is said to us, but it still stung all the same. 

When you attempt something new or create something original, you step out of the safe confines of your comfort zone. 

You no longer have all the answers.  

You're vulnerable.  

So, basically the perfect time for an ‘expert’ to tell you what you’re doing wrong!  

What about giving space and time to let the person learn and find their own way? Yes, this way can be slower and comes with Bambi-like stumbles, but it’s within those missteps where the first shoots of progress grow. 

Hand on heart, there have been times when I’ve given advice to new and inexperienced pilgrims when it wasn’t asked for, or maybe wasn’t even the right time. So, I’ll use this newsletter to atone for my sins! 😂 

Deep down, the Camino advice-giver wants to show the world that they’ve accumulated all this hard-won knowledge. What better way to demonstrate their black belt in Camino expertise than by dropping knowledge bombs on every fresh-faced pilgrim who crosses their path? 

Overloading people with unsolicited knowledge they never knew they needed is not the way.  

The knowledge and experience we hold inside us is a gift, and if we hand out our gifts all day, every day, they lose their unique quality. One thoughtful, well-timed gift of knowledge will have more impact than 50 random gifts sprayed out ad infinitum. 

Try not to rush in, all guns blazing.  

Choose 

Your 

Moment 

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