Glovertown man hikes on soulful journey through Spain
Plenty of hikers enjoy the trails in Newfoundland and Labrador, but one Glovertown man likes to hike a little further from home.
Phil Riggs has hiked more than a thousand kilometres on the Camino de Santiago trail that runs across Spain, and he said the route has special meaning and history.
"It's a trail in northern Spain ... it's 800 kilometres long, and it's a trail that the pilgrims have done for centuries," said Riggs.
"They go to a place called Santiago, which is in northwestern Spain, and that's where the bones of St. James the Apostle are supposed to be."
The trail also had a personal meaning for Riggs, beyond just being an adventure and some great exercise.
"There, when you get up in the morning, you have the trail and there's nothing else you think about, and often you're hiking alone. It's a great meditation," he said.
"The trail to me was a meditation, and that's what I really enjoyed about it."
Interest piqued by Reader's Digest article
Riggs said he first heard about the Camino trail while teaching in Nunavut in 2003.
"I read this article in Reader's Digest about it, so then I said, 'That'd be nice when we retire,'" he said.
"In 2007, after we had all our gear and everything, we started hiking. Every second year we go back and do more of the trail, and we've basically done 1,500 kilometres since we've been at it."
Riggs said while on the trail, he hiked about 20 kilometres a day, carrying between six and nine kilograms of equipment on his back.
He said there were some tough and hot days, when he struggled to climb the hills — but the views and the people along the way made it all worthwhile.
"When you hike along, you always meet new people. Some people got a sad tale, some people got a happy tale," he said.
"It's just a wonderful experience, it's like nothing else in the world you could ever imagine."
After the reflection and meditation that hiking gave him, Riggs said he's more peaceful and more accepting of people being just the way they are.
Riggs said he also began writing down his experiences after his first hike.
A friend suggested that he turn those experiences into a book. Hiking the Spanish, Portuguese and French Caminos: A Soulful Journey is the compilation of those experiences.
Riggs said hiking the trail is like an addiction, and suffers from what he calls the "Santiago syndrome." Riggs plans to go back to Spain in the fall for a few weeks to hike another 250 kilometres of the Camino trail.
"It's always pulling you back, and it has pulled us back."
