Why Walking the Camino in My 50s Was Exactly What I Needed

In September and October 2026, my wife Lynn and I spent 14 days walking the Portuguese Coastal Camino from Porto to Santiago de Compostela.

I've done a lot of hiking over the years, but this trip was different. It was our first holiday in almost two years that wasn't with the kids or for work, and we decided to take things a little easier than I normally would. I wasn't expecting any big revelations, but the trip reminded me of a few things about life, getting older, and the benefits of spending two weeks walking.

Here are ten things that stuck with me.

1. It's amazing how quickly stress disappears

I started the Camino carrying quite a bit of stress. Between work, family, and a busy couple of years, I hadn't really had much time to switch off. Life was dawn-to-dusk work, family, and decisions.

What surprised me was how quickly that changed.

Within the first day I felt noticeably more relaxed. I think a big part of it was how simple our days became. Wake up. Pack. Breakfast. Walk. Coffee. Walk. Lunch. Walk. Coffee. Walk. Hotel. Shower. Read (or work, in my case). Dinner. Watch an episode of Slow Horses. Bed.

Repeat for 14 days.

That's about it. And it was wonderful.

There's research supporting the mental health benefits of walking. A 2024 review of 75 clinical trials found that walking significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. I certainly felt the benefits.

2. Making fewer decisions feels great

I spend a lot of my normal life making decisions, both at work and at home. I hadn't realized how tiring that can be until I didn't have to do it.

On the Camino, most of the decisions are already made. You know where you're going, roughly how far you're walking, and where you're sleeping that night.

The biggest decisions become where to stop for coffee, what to have for lunch, and whether to take a detour along the beach.

I loved having so little to think about. It made me wonder how much unnecessary complexity we create in our everyday lives.

3. The Portuguese and Spanish have a few things figured out

One thing I really enjoyed was watching everyday life in the towns we passed through.

It was surprisingly rare to see people sitting in cafés or restaurants staring at their phones. Instead, people were talking, often lingering over a coffee or a meal.

In smaller towns, the main squares were full of kids playing before dinner, with parents and grandparents sitting nearby laughing over a coffee or a glass of wine.

It was such a nice change from what we often see in North America.

I'm sure Portugal and Spain have their share of screen time problems, but there seemed to be a stronger culture of simply spending time together. I really liked that.

4. Turning off phone notifications makes a huge difference

On the first day, I noticed how distracting my phone was. Every time an email came in, I'd get a notification on my watch, look at it, and suddenly be thinking about work again.

So I put my phone on Do Not Disturb and left it that way for the trip.

What a difference it made. I spent my days with a free mind, chatting with Lynn, or just letting my mind wander. Part of feeling no stress was this elimination of distractions.

Yes, I still checked messages and did some work in the evenings, but I wasn't constantly being interrupted.

What surprised me was how many pilgrims were using their phones while walking. We'd regularly pass people scrolling Instagram, texting, playing games, and even watching movies.

Everyone can walk the Camino however they want, but I couldn't help wondering why you'd travel all that way to spend so much time looking at a screen.

Research has found that even hearing a phone notification can disrupt your concentration, whether you check it or not. After this trip, I believe it.

5. You don't have to walk as far as possible every day

I tend to plan hiking trips around what I know I can physically do. I know Lynn and I can walk eight or ten hours a day, so I'll plan each day that long.

This time, we took a more relaxed approach, and followed a more standard Camino itinerary. We had quite a few days of 15–20 km, along with some longer ones up to 33 km.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the shorter days. We had even more of an excuse to take breaks. A coffee while walking out of town, a longer stop for a coffee in our morning break, sitting on the beach watching the waves break, taking a proper lunch, and getting to our hotel with plenty of the afternoon left.

I still enjoy big days in the mountains, but this trip reminded me that a walking holiday doesn't have to be a physical challenge every single day.

Sometimes less is more.

6. My feet need more attention as I get older

My feet seem to get worse with age. Blisters are becoming more of a problem on long hikes. So I made a real effort to look after them on this trip.

I wore comfortable sneakers with a wide toe-box, I pre-taped the areas where I tend to get blisters, and changed my socks every day at lunch.

The result was just one blister in 14 days, which is pretty good for me.

Ironically, Lynn, who almost never gets blisters, managed to get some on the very last day, much to her horror.

One thing I've learned about hiking in my 50s is that it's worth taking a little more time to look after your body. Small problems can quickly become big ones when you're walking every day.

7. The Atlantic coast was a highlight

The coastal sections of the Camino Portugués were absolutely stunning. We spent a lot of time walking beside the Atlantic, passing beautiful beaches, fishing villages, and stretches of rugged coastline.

Whenever we could, we'd leave the official Camino route and walk along the beaches instead. Quite often we'd be the only people on the beach, and we felt like we'd won some sort of lottery! These were some of my favourite parts of the trip.

I've always loved being beside the ocean, and there was something special about spending hours walking along the Atlantic with nowhere else we needed to be.

For anyone considering this route, I'd highly recommend taking the beach options whenever conditions allow.

8. Two weeks walking together is great for a relationship

This was the first trip Lynn and I had taken without our three boys in almost two years. We spend plenty of time together at home, but it's usually mixed in with work, family commitments, and everything else going on.

Walking together for 14 days was different.

We had lots of great conversations, often about things we wouldn't normally find time to discuss. But we also spent plenty of time walking quietly, each lost in our own thoughts, which would then spur an interesting conversation.

There's something nice about spending that much time with someone without feeling the need to constantly talk or entertain each other.

I think trips like this are incredibly good for relationships, especially when life is busy and you've been together a long time.

9. Moderate exercise every day can make you feel fantastic

One thing I really noticed was how much better my hips felt by the end of the trip. I've had some stiffness in my hips, especially after spending long days sitting at a desk. But after two weeks of walking, they felt noticeably looser. So much so that I had a fun wiggle I would do to show off my improved hip mobility and make Lynn giggle.

The Coastal Camino is relatively gentle compared with many of the mountain routes I've done. There aren't huge climbs every day, and the walking generally isn't particularly strenuous.

But walking several hours a day for two weeks adds up to a lot of movement.

It made me wonder whether we sometimes focus too much on intense exercise and underestimate the benefits of simply moving more throughout the day.

Whatever the explanation, my body felt great by the end.

10. There's something special about walking a route with so much history

People have been making pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela for more than a thousand years.

Walking through old villages and historic towns, passing centuries-old churches, and eventually arriving in Santiago gives the trip a different feeling from a typical hiking holiday.

I often found myself thinking about the people who had made similar journeys over the centuries, and how different their lives must have been.

We talked to lots of pilgrims, and many walked for religious reasons. Others were dealing with trauma, or going through a major change in their lives. Others were looking for healing, forgiveness, or a new beginning.

I really appreciated being part of a tradition that has lasted so long, and being around others who were doing something so important for themselves.

There's something quite powerful about arriving in Santiago on foot, knowing how many generations of people have done the same.

A final thought

I didn't come home from the Camino with a dramatically different outlook on life. But I did come home feeling better, physically and mentally, than I had in quite a while. I also had an idea about modest changes I wanted to make in my life to keep the benefits of this Camino going.

I was reminded how much I enjoy a simpler routine, how good it feels to disconnect from my phone, and how valuable it is to spend uninterrupted time with Lynn.

And perhaps the biggest lesson for me was that I don't always need to push myself so hard.

Some of our best days involved a relatively short walk, a couple of good coffees, a beautiful beach, an afternoon with nothing much planned, and some free time to get into my book.

I could get used to more of that.