Traveling alone on the camino primitivo

We are in Oviedo, where I took my first steps as a pilgrim. It is the starting point of the Camino Primitivo, the oldest Camino. With its wild nature and rich history, this 300-kilometer-long walk is ideal if you want to walk a bit shorter or test whether a Camino is something for you.

At the cathedral we meet Kaatje (30), a youth worker from Brussels. This is her first pilgrimage in Spain. In France she already walked a lot, she went there with a tent. She finds that total freedom. She once started with a bag of 18 kg on her back. According to a fellow pilgrim she carried a sac de peur on her back - a bag full of fear.

People who find it exciting to travel alone benefit from walking a Camino, says Kaatje from her own experience. 'I walk alone because I really like being with people, but I also really think that I should be able to travel alone. I love walking. I don't have to think about anything'. Kaatje works with refugees, the young people put her own daily worries into perspective and laugh about the number of kilometres she is going to walk. She leaves the next day, we wish her a 'buen Camino'.