Introduction

Hi! I’m Gabriel, a freelance marketing entrepreneur. I’ll be 40 in a month. I’m not religious in the regular sense of the word. I know a bit about sports and sports equipments, but I’m not much of a hiker.

I’ve been thinking about the Camino for a very long time, but it was only this year that I came to the conclusion that I had to change, push ’Reset’ and start thinking about how to live my life on the ’B’ side. Right now all the conditions are perfect: I have the intention, the necessary financial background, and I don’t have much work scheduled for the near future either. I’m a bit tired right now, since I worked too much in the past months, and I also had to deal with some horribly unfair clients. On top of that, my private life has also been a bit hectic lately. Therefore, I’ll leave my regular daily life behind for a while, I’ll learn a bit of patience, tolerance and think my life through, while taking a long walk. And if I’m lucky enough, I’ll also get in shape physically. It’s a win-win situation.

I read that the ideal time to start the Camino is either in May or in September. These are the months when the circumstances are the best for hiking. This is why I decided that right after my 40th birthday in the end of April, I’ll step on the Camino - and if Destiny and my left knee allow me to, then I’ll go all along the way.

First, I was thinking about doing the Portuguese way. I would have loved to do the pilgrimage along the shore, as I love the Big Blue. But then I started reading about it and realized that its first half is not really well-constructed. Since there are not too many pilgrims walking that way, the section between Lisbon and Porto lacks both signs and accommodation, and I should have walked a lot on surfaced roads. All in all, I had to let it go in favor of the much more popular French way, which in turn is much better equipped with trail signs and albergues (accommodation for pilgrims), where the view is also more varied.

What is important to know is that while I’m in a fairly OK condition, I have a nice belly, my left knee makes the sound of a coffee grinder, and I also had a partial ligament rupture in my right ankle. On top of that, I broke one of my toes a few weeks ago. Hopefully it will heal by May.

I don’t have any hiking experience and equipment, as I guess many of those doing the El Camino don’t have either. As a consequence, I have to start researching and get basically everything necessary for this demanding adventure. It seems to be an exciting task.

I’ll write down everything important about my preparations, training, tickets and other little details in connection with my way. I hope you’ll find it useful.

Some useful things to read:

Choosing the right backpack
Choosing the best boots for the El Camino
Planning the trip to El Camino