Before Compostela
April 05, 2025
I never did finish that novel about world-altering fictional events that transpired early in the 20th century during a young pilgrim’s camino. Barely got past the opening, in fact. There was something inauthentic, at least to me, in writing a book about a place I had never been, or of a journey that I myself had never taken. Yet wouldn’t that be the case for any work of historical fiction? Or any fiction at all? In the case of the Camino de Santiago, however, the journey is undertaken by millions from around the world to this day. Not necessarily the entire lengths of it (there are multiple routes), nor for durations of a month or more (though many do spend that much time on it), but each in their own way can embark on a camino that fits them.
When I posted that fictional opening of “After Compostela” to Medium back in April 2016, the story had been taking shape in my mind and coming to life in handwritten notes for a little while already, along with several others. But committing it to Medium made it more real, as if it were to finally, truly exist. As it turned out, it was to be a case of “not…yet.”
Here in early April 2025, five months after purchasing round trips from Dallas to Madrid for my wife and me, we are now about six more months from our own camino. Currently set for early October (with the possibility of moving it up to mid-September to allow a bit more time, depending on work schedules), with a journey through northern Spain that will be limited to only a week or so for the actual walk (with a few days on either side of it for travel and exploration), getting to finally visualize some of what the fictional Pembroke encountered on his pilgrimage of a hundred years earlier should be the catalyst of catalysts; more to come on that tale. But for the months leading up to our actual pilgrimage, I’ll be sharing some of our preparation, inspiration, and motivations for making it.
Buen Camino!