“Could it be that your time has come?” That’s what Inge asked me a couple of months ago and she meant that perhaps it was the right moment for me to walk the Caminho Português. I declined the invitation because at that moment I did not feel ready physically. After all it is nothing like my walk to Bom Jesus, even when you count the 600 stairs. “But it is on my list,” I said to her.
I have a thing for Esposende, from the first time I was there, in May 2019. I had just bought my house in Braga and I wanted to explore the region and visit the coast. Somebody told me that Esposende was a nice place and only a short drive from Braga.
It was love at first sight. I remember sending a message to a friend, saying that for the first time since very long I felt some happiness again.
I have stopped counting the number of times I have been to Esposende ever since I live here in Portugal. This summer my inner critic told me to try some other places, since Portugal’s coastline is over 800 km. I’ve been to every place between Porto/Matosinhos and Viana do Castelo. So beautiful and diverse. But… Esposende kept calling.
And then, a couple of weeks ago, I started to look at the several routes of the Camino de Santiago and I was triggered by the coastal route. Again I ended up in Esposende. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that the camino passed there, but I did not know the exact route. So I went searching for a sign and I found one. Moreover, it was on a spot where I pass by almost every time when I go for a walk along that beautiful promenade in Esposende.
And then I realised that, without knowing and for over a year, I’ve been walking the Camino. Every time when I walk that short part of the route on the promenade in Esposende. Sometimes my figurative camino is also literally the Camino.
Everything happens for a reason. And this reason often only shows afterwards.
I have become a bit more frugal with the use of the word ‘magic’. But sometimes that is just what it is. 
