My First Camino

My First Camino For you who want to walk your First Camino de Santiago. Created to share experiences and tips.

👣⛄️ Winter is coming! This was Roncesvalles last year, on December 8th ❤️. BEAUTIFUL! But challenging, right?Buen Camino...
05/12/2025

👣⛄️ Winter is coming!
This was Roncesvalles last year, on December 8th ❤️.
BEAUTIFUL! But challenging, right?

Buen Camino to everyone walking the Camino over the next months 🙏🏼👣

👣❤️ Having this book in my hands feels a little unreal. I thought I was walking 779 km. Turns out I was walking into a w...
04/12/2025

👣❤️ Having this book in my hands feels a little unreal. I thought I was walking 779 km. Turns out I was walking into a whole new life.

A few years before the Camino, I researched everything. Took care of every little detail. Maps, spreadsheets, even weighing flip-flops on a digital scale. People told me not to overthink, not to plan, not to this and that. Sometimes I did the opposite — it was my Camino. And I loved every step of it.

I walked fast, I walked slow, I laughed, cried, ate more cheese than I should, drank less wine than I could, met strangers who became family, and reached Santiago as the happiest man alive.

Anyone who has walked the Camino knows that it keeps living inside us.
A fun unpretentious book was born from that feeling.
1986 - A Camino Lost in Time.

👉🏼📖 It’s not just another Camino memoir, but a story that mixes my journey with a step back in time, to the Camino of 1986. All my presciously calculated planning unraveled… No modern technology, different world, same soul. Encountering Camino legends before they were Camino legends…

The Portuguese version is coming to Amazon.
I’m already working on the English version (with the help of my Scottish friend Ross — I hope you can understand him 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😆).
If you’d like to follow along or know when it’s ready, keep an eye on this pages ( My First Camino and 1986 - Camino ) or leave me a comment — your encouragement means a lot. A lot.

Maybe this whole project was just my way of saying thanks — to the Camino, to my parents (still strong at 85), to some inspiring legends, and to everyone who believes in walking their own way.

The Camino never ends.
Where will yours take you?
Gracias, obrigado, merci, grazie, danke, arigato, thank you!!!

Love,
Daniel R. Castro

👣❤️ This weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the amazing Pilgrims Office in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-PortIf you’ve walked t...
01/12/2025

👣❤️ This weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the amazing Pilgrims Office in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
If you’ve walked through its doors, you know the feeling. Almost 900.000 pilgrims have done so!

THANK YOU / MERCI! to all the dedicated volunteers who served there on any given day 🙌🏼👣

Gracias/obrigado!
Daniel

Since November 27th is Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal day, I wanted to share this again…👇🏼👣🙏🏼 A moment and a “job” I’l...
27/11/2025

Since November 27th is Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal day, I wanted to share this again…👇🏼

👣🙏🏼 A moment and a “job” I’ll never forget

On the way from Burgos to Hontanas, just outside the tiny Rabé de las Calzadas, I was almost passing by this little church on my left when I felt I should go inside for a while. Maybe it was the need for a quick break/shadow, maybe it was something else.

Inside, there was a lady pilgrim holding hands with an old little nun, and when I walked through the open door, both of them looked at me with some hope in the eyes.
“Hablas inglés?”
“Do you speak Spanish?”
“Sí and yes”

So, both asked me to translate what the nun was telling her. I won’t translate it here, but the nun was blessing her and saying a lot of beautiful things, and as the nun reminded her recently passed mother, there was some tears in the room, and some of them were mine.

When I was scratching my eyes, two other pilgrims came in, one of them being a Dutch young man that I had met the day before. The nun was amazed by how handsome he was - and it is true, he was being called Harry Styles (I had to check who that was) by other pilgrims. So I stayed to translate her kind words and blessings. Then another pilgrim came in. And another one. And another… And the nun kept holding my hand asking me to stay and translate her words. She was truly happy that everyone was understanding her messages - and so was I.

All those pilgrims were leaving the place not only with their body and souls refreshed. They also left with a blessed small medal in a bracelet made with a white thread. As simple and valuable as possible.

When I realized I was there for over half an hour, I asked her if I could quit my job. She smiled and said yes with her eyes. I took my little medal and left.

And that’s how I worked at la Ermita de Nuestra Señora de Monasterio (or Ermita de la Virgen de Monasterio).

Best job I ever had. 👣❤️
Daniel Castro

P.S. 👣🙌🏼 I found a way to pay tribute to Sor Teresa in my forthcoming book (soon 🙏🏼). The story starts as a “simple Camino memoir” before taking a sharp turn and jumping into the past, specifically to 1986.

With no alternative but keep walking, I end up meeting with some Camino legends, before they were Camino legends. One of them… is a young sister Teresa…

I hope this story resonates with you fellow pilgrims.
Let me know if you'd like to be notified when the English version is available.
THANK YOU
Daniel

👣 This never gets old 🤣😅👣So You're back home and missing that Camino feeling.You can recreate that feeling right where y...
26/11/2025

👣 This never gets old 🤣😅👣

So You're back home and missing that Camino feeling.
You can recreate that feeling right where you are.
Here's how!
1. Sleep in your sleeping bag in a different room of the house every night.
2. Wash your clothes by hand in the sink using the same sliver of soap you showered with.
3. Sit outside your front door for a few hours waiting for someone to come and unlock the door.
4. Ask someone to shine a flashlight in your eyes while you're sleeping.
5. Walk to the store and buy one bread roll, one slice of chorizo, one slice of cheese, and one banana.
6. Ask for that food by pointing and using sign language.
7. Strike up conversations with strangers and pretend you've known them your whole life. Ask them if they prefer shoes or boots.
8. Wear all the clothing you can then ask someone to spray you soaking wet with the garden hose.
9. Tap a spoon on a plate to emulate the sound of trekking poles.
10. Drink 3 litres of water then 'go' in the bushes.
11. Pick fruit from the neighbours trees.
12. Pop 3 painkillers with your glass of wine.
13. Take many pictures of arrow-like objects.
14. Go to the post office and mail some clothing back to yourself.
15. Get dressed in the dark and put on damp clothing.
16. Go to the local pub and ask the barman to stamp your passport.
17. Eat just toast or a croissant for breakfast.
18. Sit in the sun in such a way that you only get tan on the left side of your body.
19. Say "Buen Camino" to everyone as you walk down the street!!

Does anybody know the author of this treasure?

P.S. I “created” images for 3 of these recommendations 😁

👣❤️ For many, many years, the Camino de Santiago lived quietly inside me.When I finally walked it, the journey became fa...
25/11/2025

👣❤️ For many, many years, the Camino de Santiago lived quietly inside me.
When I finally walked it, the journey became far more than I ever expected.

After I returned home, I realized the Camino wasn’t “over.” So, beyond creating this page (My First Camino) to help other pilgrims, I also wrote a story born from that experience, and from my heart.

A story that begins like a traditional Camino memoir — with all the planning, the anticipation, the thrill of the first stages — but eventually takes a turn. A step into the past!

👣 A Camino walked without smartphones or GPS, trusting uncertainty, relying on faith, meeting Camino legends before they became legends…
Another era, a different society — yet the same sacred essence guiding every mile.

😄 The Portuguese edition is coming soon.
Aos amigos brasileiros e portugueses: o livro está quase chegando! Falta muito pouco 🙏🏼🙌🏼

And for English readers worldwide — a careful translation is underway.
It’s becoming real.
Step by step.
Just like the Camino itself.

If you’d like to be notified when the book (Portuguese or English) is released, just leave a ❤️ in the comments or send me a message. I’ll contact you personally.

Buen Camino!
👣 Daniel

P.S. The photo shows the proof copy of the cover straight from the print shop — the very last step before final printing (I took the photo in the park where I trained for my Camino 😊)

👣❤️ Available now in a lot of countries that had been waiting for this. It’s worth checking it out 😊I will watch it this...
19/11/2025

👣❤️ Available now in a lot of countries that had been waiting for this.
It’s worth checking it out 😊
I will watch it this weekend for sure!

Thanks Bill Bennett’s The Way My Way for making it happen 👣🙌🏼
Cheers from Brazil,
Daniel

👣📸 That first day, in front of Refuge Orisson 🥰Lovely memories…(May 2023)
14/11/2025

👣📸 That first day, in front of Refuge Orisson 🥰

Lovely memories…
(May 2023)

👣 The morning fuel for a lot of pilgrims is the combo Café con leche ☕️ + croissant 🥐. This is how it gets to your table...
12/11/2025

👣 The morning fuel for a lot of pilgrims is the combo Café con leche ☕️ + croissant 🥐.
This is how it gets to your table, from the beautiful fields of Spanish Meseta.

Legal disclaimer: there is a slight chance this image is not real 😅
Buen Camino!!

👣 Leaving a quiet Estella in a beautiful morning. In 35 minutes I would be having some free wine at Bodegas Irache ❤️. C...
11/11/2025

👣 Leaving a quiet Estella in a beautiful morning.
In 35 minutes I would be having some free wine at Bodegas Irache ❤️.

Camino Francés (May 23)

👣❤️ Wait, whaaat? They told the Meseta was flat, what is going on? 😅😅That was my reaction (with my heart pounding) havin...
03/11/2025

👣❤️ Wait, whaaat?
They told the Meseta was flat, what is going on? 😅😅
That was my reaction (with my heart pounding) having to face the Alto de Mostelares, coming from doooooown there… In the photo, pointing to where we came from, you can see Castrojeriz beside that little mountain.
What a wonderful view. What a magnificent day.
And going forward, a few hundred meters ahead, then yes, the open flat Meseta - and the most beautiful sight of the Camino, in my humble opinion.

Buen Camino!
Daniel R. Castro

👣❤️ If you are planning your Camino and ever wondered about the landscape differences in Spring and Fall, take a look 👇🏼...
28/10/2025

👣❤️ If you are planning your Camino and ever wondered about the landscape differences in Spring and Fall, take a look 👇🏼.

Pilgrim Changhyun Kim (it’s worth checking his work) walked the Camino in the Spring 2022 and the Fall 2023. His photos are amazing, and captured how beautiful both seasons are 😍.

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