These Holy Bones: Vol. 2-Episode 15: 400,000 Steps Alone

400,000 steps with almost no conversation is a different kind of loud. From the plaza in front of the Santiago Cathedral, we sit down with Ron from Oregon right after he finishes a solo walk from Porto to Santiago, largely in silence, giving himself hours each day to think, remember, and let life catch up with him.

Ron breaks down the practical side of a Portuguese Coastal Route Camino de Santiago pilgrimage: why the coast felt right, what a sustainable pace looks like (around 10 miles a day), and how simple routines like water breaks and staying fed can decide whether the walk stays joyful or turns into a grind. He also talks about looking ahead a few days for lodging, a small planning habit that can make the whole trip calmer.

Then the conversation opens into the real reason he came back now. At 70, with a wife still working, a dog waiting at home, and kids approaching big transitions, he sees a closing window of freedom and chooses to take it. We also explore the stories that drew him to the Camino, including The Way and Walk With Sam, and the hope that a long, meaningful walk can help someone find a better direction, even if you can’t measure the impact. Ron shares the spiritual thread running under his steps too: prayer, gratitude, and the awareness that safety can change with one wrong move on cobblestones or roots.

If you’ve been searching for a solo Camino de Santiago story, a Porto to Santiago route guide, or honest insight into why people do pilgrimages, this conversation brings it back to what matters: time, attention, and the courage to walk. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with your own reason for going.

Transcript

Welcome From Santiago Plaza

Robert 0:07

Welcome to another episode of These Holy Bones. This is Robert Nerndy, your host, and I'm back in the plaza in front of the cathedral in Santiago, a beautiful cathedral, and I'm with Ron from Oregon. How's that sound?

400,000 Steps In Silence

Choosing The Coastal Route

Ron 0:22

Ron, tell us a little bit about yourself, and then we'll get into some pointed questions. Not really pointed. Yeah, I walked from Porto to Santiago by myself, about 400,000 steps, and uh zero conversation along the way with anybody else, and so a lot of time of reflection and thinking and memories, and so uh I did talk to some people at the hostels or at the hotels, but interesting for me just to walk all that distance and have so much time on my hands uh to contemplate life.

Robert 1:03

Yes, that's uh that's one of the uh beauties of the Camino. Now you chose to to walk by yourself, and um now the the Porto to uh Santiago did you take um what route did you take? Like the coastal or the on there a couple of routes?

Ron 1:18

Yeah, we took the co I took the coastal route and uh some beautiful sunsets, a lot of pictures, walking along the boardwalk. Uh, you know, I'd recommend it to anybody. Oh, very good. And how many days did it take you? Uh I had planned on taking 16 days. Uh I landed in Porto on the 7th and took an the eighth day just as a rest day. So I started on the 9th, got here on the 24th, took about 10 miles a day. That was kind of what I was trying to do. So 16, 17 kilometers, some days a little bit less, some days a little bit more. But I thought I could do that.

Why He Returned At 70

Robert 1:55

Yeah, that's for me, that's ideal. Yeah. Okay, like eight to ten miles for me is is good. After that, it's downhill. Yeah. Um, and so what was the uh provocation? Like why did you I know you said you uh you came last year, you had uh problem with your knee and stuff, but why did you come back?

Ron 2:12

Well, I I think I'm at a point in my life. I'm 70. Oh, you look great. Uh thank you.

Robert 2:18

I thought you were 40.

Ron 2:20

Uh I'm 70, and my wife is still working. Uh we have a dog at home. My daughter is gonna be a senior this year. My son is working in uh Michigan right now, and so there's a chance after this year that if my daughter leaves and my son stays away from home, that I'm the one. I need to stay home and take care of the dog, and I won't really have this opportunity. And so my wife said, go ahead, you know, and so I did.

Robert 2:51

That's wonderful. It's really wonderful. And uh yeah, a lot of people that I I've spoken with recommend walking alone, those that have done it before, and uh they they recommend walking alone for a number of reasons, and uh, you had no problem with that.

Ron 3:05

No, uh again, it uh it just there was so much time to think, to contemplate, to remember, not so much to plan ahead. Uh I didn't really do things like that, other than hey, I I've got this one hour and then this hour, and then I'm halfway through the day, and yeah, about every 20 minutes or a half hour I need to stop and take some water and and get stuff in my body. And so just kind of breaking up the day, kind of day by day, I did start looking ahead two or three days and trying to get lodging in advance.

The Books And Movies That Led Here

Robert 3:42

Oh, that's good, that's really good. Um now uh what introduced you to the uh to the Camino?

Ron 3:47

C So my wife and I we basically came to the Camino through the Way, the movie with Martin Sheen, and uh that was really uh what kind of like started the whole the whole journey. What what about for you? Yeah, uh I had read a book. Uh it was an actor, and he had taken his son on uh the Camino.

Robert 4:09

Oh, Walk with Sam?

A Camino Hope For His Son

Ron 4:10

Yeah, Walk with Sam. Yeah, yeah, I read that. And we were having some difficulty with my son, who was a senior, and uh and actually he was a junior at the time, but we were having difficulty. He was in like juvenile detention, we were having trouble various ways, and I just thought maybe, maybe something like this would help him out. And uh again, he last year on the Camino, he walked about 23 days with my brother and this other guy that we met from uh Portland, Maine. And uh, you know, I don't know if it changed him. I know right now he's working in Michigan and he's uh selling pesticides door to door, and he seems to think he's made about 60 or 70,000 uh, you know, since March. And uh he seems to be on the right track. He graduated from high school and he's got this job, and he's looking to maybe do it next year and maybe recruit some people. And again, I don't know if the Camino had something to do with it. Uh I don't know, but he seems to have turned things around, and so that's why we did it last year.

Robert 5:17

Well, it's amazing. I wrote a piece of fiction about uh three juvenile delinquents who are uh given the chance to walk the Camino to commute their sentences, and uh it's called A Walk with Wilson Burroughs. Wilson Burroughs is the parole officer, and he's the one that initiates the whole project. It's called the Freedom Walk. And so I'm uh it's at home, it's not published yet, but uh it's been 10 years in the writing, so that's interesting that you said that.

Ron 5:40

Robert, I would read that book. I would, I'm serious. Well, I'll get it. That could be a movie, so now you gotta start looking for actors to fill the parts.

Prayer, Safety, And Daily Pace

Robert 5:50

Right, right. So actually, um I've met a bunch of characters this year, and they'll I'm gonna put I I needed like another two months to revise it, but it's been really a long project. And uh yeah, so I'm gonna go ahead and finish that. It's interesting. So any religious or spiritual or is it cultural, historical, physical? What what what would you say is the driving force for you? Is it just to get out and contemplate time for yourself?

Ron 6:17

Yeah, I I wanted time because it was kind of my last chance, I I believe. And again, as I'm I know people 80 and 90 do this things like this, but because we have a a dog and I kind of need to take care of that, uh, but I do I do have some scriptures and things that I I'd find myself repeating as I'm walking, or at night when I would pray, you know, that I'd be safe. And I know my wife was praying for me at home, and I have another guy, Jerry Kimball, back in Aloha, Oregon, that was praying for me. And so 400,000 steps, it only takes one step to twist your ankle, break, break something, and there's a lot of cobblestone trees, uh tree branches up through the uh rocks. Um anyway, I'm thankful. I'm very thankful, and I believe God had an angel on my shoulder, and so I I I'm very thankful for that.

Robert 7:15

Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I I know what you mean because uh in 2017 I turned my ankle. Oh, yeah. And I couldn't walk for like a week. And then I ended up walking after that on crutches, and I got pretty good at that for like another five days. Yeah. So yeah, I mean that's you gotta be careful. That's cool. Um would you recommend it to uh a friend or maybe an enemy?

Closing Thanks And Buen Camino

Ron 7:38

I'd recommend it to anybody. Just again, it's so different than normal everyday life. And uh the idea of again, you have to think about what you're doing. You're walking, and your body is the machine, and you've got to keep that machine oiled and and with tortilla. That's exactly right, whatever it is, whatever it takes. And uh, you know, and so I'd I'd recommend it. It's uh I'd recommend it to anybody, really.

Robert 8:11

Very good. Well, that's awesome. Well, thank you, Ron. You have a lot to say, you know. So and you have a great tone. I like your voice.

Ron 8:18

Well, I appreciate that. All right, thanks again, Robert. I wish you all the best. Thank you. Buen camino.

Robert 8:22

Buen camino. All right, awesome. Thank you so much.