The Longer Way to Santiago

I walked the Camino Portugués last spring. Not the short version from Tui, but the longer route from Porto — five days, roughly 120 kilometres, mostly on foot through small towns and eucalyptus forests.

I did not bring a podcast. I did not listen to audiobooks. I walked with a small notebook and the intention to pay attention to what happened when I was not consuming anything.

The first day was uncomfortable. My mind kept reaching for something to process. By the second day, something shifted. I started noticing things I would normally have walked past — the way the light changed through the trees, the rhythm of my own breathing, the texture of the path.

By the third day, I was thinking differently. Not about tasks or problems, but in longer, slower arcs. Ideas that had been stuck for weeks began to move. Connections appeared that I had not been looking for.

This is what researchers call the default mode network — the brain's resting state, which is anything but passive. It is where we consolidate memory, imagine the future, understand other people and make sense of our own experience.

We have built a world that is very good at interrupting it.

The Camino was a reminder that some of the most important thinking happens when you stop trying to think.