The Camino is for everyone, hence so is Santiago Trails. It welcomes all, from the Catholic pilgrim to the atheist adventurer. It aims to cater for anyone who might be inspired to do the Camino for any of the following reasons (and most likely a combination):
- As a dedicated religious pilgrimage
- To explore or reconnect with spirituality in one’s life
- As a rite of passage
- To get unstuck (if you are feeling stuck) and achieve cohesion
- To find thinking space amid the tumult of modern-day life; reinforce and strengthen personal identity
- As a sabbatical after, for example, leaving a job or before starting a new one; to stimulate imagination, memory and creativity
- As a way of processing bereavement, loss and trauma
- Social connection, cohesion and human flourishing
- Adventure, and to experience the stunning landscapes, architecture, culture, food and drink of the Iberian Peninsula.
Santiago Trails provides guidance, logistical support and a personal touch for those wishing to walk the Camino—it also aims to provide spiritual and religious support for those looking for that.
It is aimed at those doing the Camino for the first time as well as those who have already done a Camino and wish to undertake another Camino route or to experience another side to the phenomenon that is the Camino or to experience a combination of both. As a result, Santiago Trails includes some less well known routes of the Camino network, which helps disperse the environmental and commercial impact across all routes.
What you get by doing a Camino with Santiago Trails:
The tangibles:
- Accommodation booked and organised.
- The option for baggage transfer organised between accommodations.
- Advice and guidance throughout. This includes beforehand via email (and phone if necessary) covering the likes of what flights to take and what to pack, to what literature to read beforehand and which guidebook to bring.
- Once on the ground, you'll have the closest you can get to a Camino concierge service at your side through a dedicated guide walking the Camino with you, offering advice on everything from hiking tips and what to wear and pack in your backpack, to the likes of what cultural sights to look out for, what to visit, where best to eat and drink.
The intangibles:
- Camaraderie and fellowship through being part of a group walking the Camino, including the chance to meet new people you wouldn’t have otherwise met.
- Teamwork and team-building opportunities.
- Confidence, self-respect, a sense of achievement, morale.
- Transcendence, thinking outside the box, a chance to get in touch with the metaphysical realm that we so often neglect.
James's bio:
James was born in London in 1979. He spent nine years in the British Army, serving in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. After leaving the army he attended graduate journalism school in Austin, Texas. Since 2012 he has freelanced in the US, the Horn of Africa and further afield writing for various international media about all manner of topics and themes—including writing about the Camino de Santiago.
He first discovered the Camino in 2017, after a sudden and entirely unexpected back problem persuaded him that he was spending too much time sat at his desk “writing”, which in the modern era typically means bashing away at his laptop. This led to him taking a sabbatical to do the Camino de Frances (“The French Way”). It was a revelatory experience.
Afterwards, he always wanted to do another Camino, though life, as it tends to do, kept him distracted with other matters. During the pandemic, though, the Camino came to his rescue. What started as another Camino—the Camino Norte along Spain’s lush northern coast—undertaken to get away from lockdowned life, mushroomed into an 11-month odyssey comprising multiple Camino routes across the Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal.
The experience and his writing about it led to him being asked to organise and lead a mini-Camino for the Catholic Herald magazine during the summer of 2022. After the success of that venture, he decided to roll with the momentum and accompanying signs—along with kind advice and encouragement from others—and Santiago Trails followed.
