13/ On the anniversary of my first solo long-distance walk
Walking the Camino de Santiago's 1000km Via de la Plata route
While staring blankly out the window trying to figure out what I wanted to write about for this week's post, having struggled to go out on any walks at all for the last few weeks, I suddenly realise that it’s three years almost to the day since I set off on my most challenging walk so far.
The Via de la Plata, “The Silver Way”, is one of the many routes of Spain's famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. I started walking on March 30th 2019 and finished 45 days later.
I didn’t want to write about long-distance walking just yet since I’ve got some exciting photography news which I can’t reveal for a few weeks, but the anniversary of this particular walk is too important to pass up.
The Via de la Plata is the second Camino I’ve walked. I walked the most popular and most established route, the Camino Frances, in 2016; it was my first ever long-distance walk. The beginning of all this.
I chose to walk it for many reasons, including the fact that my mother is Galician. All our family – and my memories of Spain – live in the region where the trail ends, at the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela.
I felt like I couldn’t not walk it; what an incredible way it could be to explore and connect with one of my ancestral homes, I thought. It was also a transitional time for me. I'd left my first job post-university and wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do next. I felt this walk would be good for my physical and mental health, as well as my creative health. At the time, I hadn’t "properly" photographed anything or worked on any personal, fun projects since I’d left university, where I’d studied photography.
On that first walk, I went with a friend and together we walked around 550km over 20-ish days. The second time, I decided to go alone.
The Via de la Plata is a solitary way, much less popular and much quieter. Something I craved at the time. Instead of regularly passing through villages, almost always finding somewhere to have a coffee or a snack like on the Camino Frances, many days on the VDLP were largely remote. Still well-marked and well-provisioned, it’s one of the longest routes at over 1000km.
The moment I came across it, I knew I wanted to wanted to walk it. I craved the challenge. I wanted to explore more of Spain, the south, which I had only visited once. I also wanted to commit proper time to a long walk, to see what it’d be like to spend so long on the trail, dreaming of completing something like the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail.
Again, I was in a transitional time in my life; I’d finally made the decision to go freelance and took a year-ish off to travel before doing so. Again, as well as for the above cultural, identity-related reasons, I wanted to walk for my physical, mental, and creative health.
It was during this walk that walking became curative for me, an achievement that’s opened so many doors in my mind – ideas, dreams, hopes, goals.
I can’t believe it’s been three years since then, when some days I feel like I’m still catching up on the emotions and feelings and realisations I had during those 45 days.
I’ll leave it there for today. I’ll write more in-depth about this walk and long-distance walking in general over the coming posts, and I’m also super excited about the news I can hopefully share with you soon!
Meanwhile, if you’re interested in hearing about the walk, I journalled the whole journey here in my last newsletter – The Silver Way – which was the seed of inspiration for this newsletter!
Until next time,
A.
Bookmarks
Welcoming April with this beautiful illustration by Valériane Leblond
Inspiring words from creative Andy Wasley writing on living life more adventurously
A springtime field guide to the iconic flora of children’s literature
Walks of a lifetime: six epic mountain hikes across Europe
Listen to 'Cold as a Mountain Top': Robert Macfarlane climbs a wintry Buachaille Etive Mor, guided by the words of WH Murray.
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A bit about me
Hey! I’m Ameena – a freelance writer based in London. I love to tell stories about adventure, the outdoors, and our relationship with the natural world, and by night, I’m a portrait and documentary photographer.