I became unemployed, so I decided to walk 700km. [Part 1]

At the end of May, I quit the architectural firm where I had worked for two and a half years.
In other words, I became genuinely unemployed.

For six years since graduating from graduate school, I worked almost non-stop, throwing myself into my job. During that time, I experienced many things both publicly and privately, including the pandemic, changing jobs, moving, and getting engaged, butlooking back, there was never a situation where I didn't work for more than a month.

So, I decided to gratefully take advantage of France's wonderful unemployment benefit system andfully enjoy the option of not working for a few months.

Around the same time, my partner Pierre also decided to quit the company he had worked at for five years, anda miracle occurred where we became an unemployed couple together.

We could have stayed in our Paris apartment and started job hunting right away, but since we were at it,

So, I am currently walking theCamino de Santiago, an 800km-long pilgrimage route in Spain.

I already completed the first 100km (from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Pamplona) during last year's summer vacation, so this time I am taking on the challenge ofwalking the remaining approximately 700km from Pamplona to the final destination, Santiago de Compostela, in 26 days.

It is a serious challenge byunemployed Yuri Murata (33 years old), who is the same age as Jesus Christ.

500,000 meanings on a single path.

In the first place, this path, calledEl Camino de Santiago, is a general term for the pilgrimage routes that cross northern Spain from east to west, aiming for the cathedral in the town of Santiago de Compostela. The abbreviation is El Camino.

The route can be easily checked with official apps and such, but basically you just need to follow theyellow shells and arrows.

It is said that former Christian believers walked this path while repenting for their sins and praying, aiming for Santiago, where the remains of Saint James are said to rest. Nowadays, regardless of whether they have faith or not,about 500,000 pilgrims from all over the world walk this pilgrimage route every year, each with their own resolve.

There are people at turning points in their lives, people enjoying hiking, and people aiming for local Spanish cuisine. Some are walking to find something, while others are running away from something. Some know clearly why they are walking, while others are searching for the reason as they walk.

Just like Pierre and me, there are people walking as couples or partners, and there are groups of friends or family members walking together. I also often see combinations of a parent and a child. However,the overwhelming majority of pilgrims are walking alone.

Even if you end up walking with someone you met on the way, deciding to walk alone and taking on this grueling 800km pilgrimage is something thatrequires considerable courage and grit.

To walk is to move your heart and mind.

Pierre told me something interesting about El Camino, which still retains a very mysterious atmosphere. It seems that as pilgrims walk along this pilgrimage route, they experience a gradual series of inner changes.

This includes my own interpretation, but to summarize it simply, it goes something like this.

Last August, I spent three days walking from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Pamplona, which is the path where your raw self is exposed. Underestimating the fear of the extreme heat, I followed a textbook scenario of getting heatstroke on the very first day, and I just kept walking through headaches, lethargy, and dizziness. Besides the heatstroke, the trekking shoes I bought without much thought didn't fit, and I had numerous blisters on my feet that would form and burst. "There's no way I can walk another 10 kilometers in this state!!" I shouted at Pierre countless times. (Poor Pierre)It was three days where both the parts of myself I like and the parts I dislike were exposed without mercy.

It was certainly more grueling than I had imagined. However, the reason I was able to take that step without hesitation when the opportunity to challenge this journey again came around was because, even though it was only three days, there were countless landscapes and words that remained in my heart, and encounters and emotional shifts I still cannot forget.

A path walked with emotions that haven't settled.

By the time this article is posted, it will have been two weeks since I left Pamplona. The distance I have walked so far is 358.6 kilometers. The first half of the journey has finally come to an end.

As for how much I walk every day, on short days it's 19km, on long days it's 32km, averaging about 26km.I walk this distance over 5 to 8 hours. Although I take breaks here and there, I wake up at 5:00 AM, leave at 5:30 AM, and just keep walking to reach my destination before the sun gets too high. Sometimes I walk while talking to Pierre, and other times we intentionally keep our distance and walk in silence. There are, of course, days when I have no motivation. Even on those days, since there is no option not to walk, I walk without motivation.

To put it simply, all I am doing is "walking", but don't underestimate it. Walking 30km with a heavy backpack is, honestly, quite tough. Mishaps are an everyday occurrence. Unexpected pain in the soles of my feet, getting bitten by mysterious insects, or forgetting all my contact lens cases at the hostel. Being mistaken for a child at the pool reception (though that has nothing to do with the Camino directly).

Naturally, my relationship with Pierre can also get rocky. Basically, we enjoy walking and talking together, but there are times when one of us is in a super bad mood. We once had a shouting match after we left in the morning without eating anything, only to find out there was no place to eat for 15 kilometers. (According to my statistics, arguments happen especially often when we are hungry.)

In any case, when you encounter some kind of problem on the road, you have no choice but to face it head-on. Without rushing to a conclusion, I dare to observe the feelings that haven't settled. After all, I walk for 8 hours every day. I have more than enough time to think. Instead of trying to solve things immediately, fully savoring the frustration of things not settling, thinking about it persistently, and observing the emotions that well up while walking is not bad at all. It's something you can't easily do in everyday city life.

Everyone walks the exact same path.

On El Camino, titles from everyday social life have no meaning, and there is no complex logic in daily life.

People from all kinds of backgrounds come to this pilgrimage route from all over the world. What I find particularly interesting is that even though our nationalities, ages, genders, incomes, and occupations are all different, everyone walks the exact same path. We stay in extremely simple pilgrim hostels called "Albergue", which cost about 6 to 15 euros a night. We sleep together in large rooms with anonymous people, place our trekking shoes and poles in designated spots at the entrance in the same way, and greet the same morning.

Life during the pilgrimage is super primitive. Wake up early and walk. Rest when you are tired. Drink water when you are thirsty. If you have any pain, get medicine or cream from the hostel owner or other pilgrims. Stretch and massage to prepare for the next day. In the bedroom, be quiet out of consideration for other pilgrims. Prepare your luggage before going to bed because it makes rustling noises. If you can't sleep, wear earplugs. Eat where you can eat, and sleep soundly when you can sleep.

When passing other pilgrims on the road, we call out “Buen Camino!” to each other. It is a cheer to encourage one another on this journey that tests us both physically and mentally.

There are days when I prepare and eat dinner with pilgrims I happened to meet at the hostel. On the fifth day, I stayed in a town called Grañón, a place I surely would never have visited if not for this pilgrimage. In the albergue inside the church of this small town of 307 people, I sincerely hugged and shed tears with people whom I had met for the first time that day, and might never see again once I left the next morning.

Sometimes, the moments spent with someone whose name I don't even know, as a fellow traveler on El Camino, are truly enjoyable. I sometimes think that perhaps it is precisely because we have shed our social labels that we can exchange raw, honest words.

I am walking in order to stop.

The rest time after finishing a day's walk varies by day, but I use it as a time to slowly calm my mind and body, which are in a state of excitement from walking long distances. I try meditating in a church, reading a book, playing chess with Pierre, talking with other pilgrims, or writing in a small notebook. I feel it is a great luxury to be able to spend such simple time in the life of the Camino, which exists a step outside of daily life.

Some pilgrims bring the habits and routines of their daily lives with them, unable to break free. For example, when someone is playing TikTok videos without headphones or scrolling endlessly through Instagram in a dormitory where other pilgrims are trying to take a nap, I feel a bit disappointed. Of course, how one spends their time is their own freedom, but I feel it is a waste to fill this special time with the noise of daily life.

I don't know yet if walking El Camino will change my life, and I don't have any such expectations, but when you repeat physically demanding things every day in the great outdoors, with a rhythm radically different from my usual life in Paris, there are moments that come again and again where I am forced to stop and rethink my habits and ways of thinking.

As I face myself while walking for long hours, trivial events and thoughts that cross my mind become incredibly vivid, while at the same time, I have encountered moments where I feel emotions I don't want to put into words. As small movements of the heart accumulate, my values are forcibly reset.

That is, how should I put it, an incredible sense of liberation.

Right now, I am in the middle of walking a path to 'let go'. Over the past few years, I thought I had consciously accepted reality and let go of various things, but the more I walk, the more the things I was clinging to without realizing it come to the surface.

I don't think walking the Camino will let me let go of all of them, but in any case, to the goal of Santiago Cathedral, there are 352.3 kilometers left.

[Postscript]
I am posting updates on my journey on my Instagram stories as they happen.