Behind the Albergue Door: Inspiration Agony Adventure on the Camino de Santiago

hours that we weren't walking?
    How would our bodies hold up over that kind of distance?
    How much rain would there be? I have inherited an intense dislike for rain falling on my head and neck from my father.
    The fact that we weren't doing it for religious reasons. Would this cause any issues about staying in the albergues or how people perceived us?
    What would the other pilgrims be like? Especially since we would be in such close, daily contact with them.
    Also, as an added precaution, before we left I also set out a list of acceptable reasons to quit: injury, boredom, getting tired of the other pilgrims, illness, rain/bad weather. I let my family and friends in on my list which, in my mind, would make it mentally easier if we did decide we wouldn't / couldn't finish. I don't tend to be able to quit easily and I didn't want to feel like I had to finish something that I wasn't enjoying or wasn’t capable of.
    So my attitude to starting the Camino could be described as excited but unsure. And, in the end, this is what I discovered:
    I enjoyed the dorms. I liked the camaraderie and the random encounters and the conversations. It turned out that the shared living aspect didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. My wax earplugs worked like a charm, my choice of bringing a sarong for showering and a pair of shorts and a tank top to sleep in meant I wasn't daintily scurrying around like some of the girls, and my plan to get to the bathrooms first in the morning in order to miss other people's 'morning ablutions' tended to be effective. Dean and I went in with the plan that we would stay in the albergues until we had a bad night and then would get a hotel room the next night. Turns out that we never did have a bad night. I think that it really helps that everyone is doing the same thing so we were all tired and ready to go to sleep around 10 pm and then wake up around 6:30 am. Pretty much my schedule at home so my sleep went as well as could be expected - except for the aching feet and muscles.
    We worked our way up slowly in our daily distance. Starting out at averaging 20 - 22 km a day in the beginning, 25 km a day in the middle and having some bigger (35 km) days in our last push at the end. It seems that your body can get used to anything. I would be tired and dragging myself into the last town every day and it never got easy but it was all do-able. And, really, that is all that I felt I could ask for.
    Shockingly little boredom to be had - amazing how entertaining your own brain can be when it needs to be. And music helped. And walking with other pilgrims. As for the hours when we weren't walking, they seemed to fill up quickly. Getting checked in at the albergue and getting your bunk, showering, doing laundry, getting snacks, eating snacks, napping, chatting, having a few drinks, going for a pilgrim's menu for supper, reading, writing in a journal, getting food for breakfast etc. all took time. Most days it seemed there was barely enough time to get it all done.
    Bodies held up well - strained calf from an old injury and two blisters. Lots of aching muscles and my feet hated to touch the ground after being in the bunk for an hour and especially the next morning and a brief cold with lots of sniffling but, hey, I'm pretty impressed all told.
    There was some rain. Resulting in a couple days where I was incredibly unhappy. Before I bought my poncho. I used to believe in the rain jacket/pants and pack cover combo but I am now a convert to the poncho. Keeps everything dry including your backpack straps and allows more ventilation, which, as I am a sweat-er, is very important for me. Once I had my hat, poncho, and rain pants combo the rain no longer bothered me. An important discovery for the rest of my hiking career.
    Turns out that people are walking the Camino for every reason possible and there seemed to be no judgement as to what that reason was.
    There is an amazing sense of community on the Camino. People of all different ages, interests, and backgrounds all walking together. In general, people were incredibly helpful, thoughtful and interesting. Which made meeting new people along the way a pleasure instead of becoming tiresome.
    All-in-all, the Camino was one of the more memorable experiences of my life so far. I didn't think that I would feel anything when it ended other than happiness to not have to walk the next day. Instead, as I was wandering the streets of Santiago the day after I felt that there was