Been working a lot recently and little time to work on site or write here. Having to turn up for work every day brings the camino to my mind just now. I loved the freedom, walk, rest, little cares; at the end of every day now I sit in traffic with thousands of others, snaking home no faster than walking, a lot of it seems fairly pointless. Though they do pay me.
I wonder what it is like to walk in the winter, both times I walked the Camino de Santiago was summer and very hot. Though we still got heavy rain at some points; once there was hailstones that ruined some vines for the surrounding area. I don’t walk much at all in the winter. Living in Dublin it always seems wet and windy so the thoughts of going up the hills lose out against sitting and reading the weekend papers, or catching up with friends and working on some web sites.
I have been building another site lately http://www.walkinginscotland.org – god it must be one of the longest sites to get finished – if they really are ever finished. So anyway, it is on the West Highland Way in Scotland, my first home.
Related posts:
- Moving Again
- A Wet Long Weekend in Connemara
- Walking Holidays in Scotland
- I Built a Cage For Myself – What Happened?
- Advertising on the Camino.
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I have never walked the Camino in the winter either, although living in Montana and Alaska for 8 years has given me plenty of time to walk in cold and snowy conditions. I think winter walking has it’s own personality. Time almost crystalizes, much like the branches and leaves do in the harsh cold. In Alaska, the low light conditions provide a unique color to the landscape. It’s almost pink. It’s amazing to say the least.
Walking in temperatures around 20 below F is hard and it’s certainly hard to leave a cozy living room or kitchen. But if you force yourself to walk you’ll feel the joy of moving again and hear all the great sounds blocked out by walls and doors. When I walk in the winter, be it on trails or on snowshoes, I often think of the Camino and imagine those walking over the Pyrenees in the wind. I can’t help but think of the early pilgrims without the gortex and down jackets that we have now. That’s some determination and passion. It’s good motivation for me to get outside.