What Walking 100km Solo Taught Me

I needed to be alone; to shed the frustrations of a demanding life. I wanted to walk my way back to rediscover who I was. So I set off along the Camino...

- Veruska De Vita

I NEEDED TO BE ALONE. Time alone was not something I’d had in large doses for the previous 14 years – marriage, two children and a business meant I was at the beck and call of others who needed me physically, mentally and emotionally. What I wanted was release from the demands of daily life, from answering to clients, kids and family. I craved, and wanted, me.

I decided to do something I’d been wanting to do for years: walk the Camino, or at least a part of it. For me, walking might be monotonous, but it’s never boring. It’s a feast of smells, textures and colours. It’s the variation in the pressure my feet impose on the ground; it’s the earth, the grass and the gravel. It’s the heat of the sun that bears down on me in summer, and the slicing wind of winter that feels like ants crawling on my skin. It’s something I do every day, and it goes beyond the physical to a form of meditation. It grounds me, and it helps me to piece together solutions to challenges in both work and personal life. And it keeps me fit.

So I packed only what I needed, including a 10-litre daypack, into a small carry-on suitcase and went to Portugal for a week. The lightness of worrying only about myself and a few items was exquisite. I had chosen to walk a part of the Portuguese Camino that very few choose: the fewer people I’d encounter, the better. I wanted to experience the walk alone.