{"id":649642,"date":"2026-10-09T14:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T14:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/649642\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T14:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T14:26:12","slug":"barbara-byrne-i-set-a-goal-to-walk-the-camino-and-it-has-changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/649642\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbara Byrne: I set a goal to walk the Camino and it has changed my life"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2010 I just knew I had to walk the Camino. I\u2019d been very overweight and wasn\u2019t really sure if the Camino was possible, but by 2010 I\u2019d begun to lose weight.<\/p>\n

My cousin had done various routes of the Camino and I\u2019d read Paolo Coelho\u2019s book, The Pilgrimage. In 2010, Martin Sheen\u2019s movie, The Way, came out and I thought oh my God, this is what it looks like! I\u2019d heard and read about it, and now here was a film.<\/p>\n

And almost because I\u2019d started the weight loss that year, the film coming out was like another sign, and I set this goal to walk the Camino.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d heard about the sense of freedom, I\u2019d only have myself to think about when I was there \u2014 I\u2019d heard it was a way of working through pain. For so long, I\u2019d been unhappy in jobs, my marriage had broken up and I was on my own with two daughters.<\/p>\n

To just know all I had to think about was the simplicity of one foot in front of the other!<\/p>\n

I wanted to go on my own but my family were concerned \u2014 I\u2019d suffered with depression when younger, I couldn\u2019t speak Spanish\u2026<\/p>\n

I did my first Camino in September 2016, I was 45. I did the Portuguese way, from Tui to Santiago, a week \u2014 117km. I went with a group doing it for the Marie Keating Foundation. This gave a safety net but also the space to be myself within that group \u2014 I didn\u2019t know them so there were no expectations.<\/p>\n

I quickly realised a lot of the women were cancer survivors, which was very humbling. And also they had careers where I felt very out of my depth \u2014 one had her own legal firm, there was a chief financial officer for a charity. Meeting all these accomplished ladies, I felt real imposter syndrome, like who am I to be here?<\/p>\n

A pivotal moment was phoning my partner at home, telling him how I was feeling. And he said \u2018hold on a sec Barbara\u2019, and he reminded me of all the people I\u2019d been helping through my weight loss support groups, having lost a lot of weight myself. So he said to get back in the room and remember what I bring to the world.<\/p>\n

\"BarbaraBarbara Byrne doing yoga<\/p>\n

That was the first \u2018aha\u2019 moment of the week \u2014 I\u2019m human, they\u2019re human, I\u2019m a woman, they\u2019re women too, look at what I\u2019ve got to bring to this.<\/p>\n

The following day \u2014 there were 12 of us in the group \u2014 we all started speaking about our stories, our different life challenges. I realised we\u2019re more alike than we\u2019re different. Despite the jobs, clothes, money, we were all carrying something heavy that brought us to want to walk and to experience that sense of freedom.<\/p>\n

One evening, sitting around sharing stories, I told them about the impostor syndrome I\u2019d felt at the beginning. And they said \u2018but the energy and motivation you bring to the group is off the charts!\u2019 And I thought: Oh! We all have our hang-ups, and we all have something to bring \u2014 but we often don\u2019t realise, it takes somebody telling us\u2026<\/p>\n

In October 2021, I finally got my fully solo Camino trip. I\u2019d just turned 50 and I thought we\u2019ve come out of a world epidemic, I\u2019m not waiting for a right time because there\u2019s never going to be one. Because during covid I couldn\u2019t wait to break free \u2014 the first opportunity I was going to walk over the Pyrenees from St Jean Pied De Port.<\/p>\n

\n I chose that route because I knew the Pyrenees would be a challenge. It was to say \u2018so what if I\u2019m 50\u2019. For too long we put limits on ourselves \u2014 I can\u2019t do that because I\u2019m a woman, or because I\u2019m too old.\n <\/p>\n

A big realisation on the Camino was: We\u2019re only ever alone when we choose to be because there are so many people out there walking. Nobody was pressured into anything \u2014 if you wanted to walk with someone you could, or you could say \u2018I\u2019ll see you for dinner\u2019.<\/p>\n

The biggest \u2018aha\u2019 was on my last day of walking, a really challenging day by myself. It was hot, long, my tummy was upset, my blisters came out in force. Sitting on a bench before going back on the trail, along came another lady. She was holding her leg, crying with the pain of it \u2014 I was crying because of the blisters.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve no idea where she was from \u2014 we had an exchange without speaking each other\u2019s language. I took out a rub to offer her, she gave me jellies. We hugged. It was a really special moment, knowing somebody understood, was thinking of you. I remember her hands in the prayer position saying thank you.<\/p>\n

People say you meet Camino angels. Looking back now, I can safely say: yes, she was definitely one.<\/p>\n

My Camino journey \u2014 all of it \u2014 has changed my life. I learned when we dig deep, we\u2019re capable of more than we ever think we are. So many times I thought I couldn\u2019t go on and yet I did, and I made it. It has all brought me a sense of peace, clarity, a deeper connection with myself.<\/p>\n

Barbara Byrne is founder of Walk This Way. Through self-guided journeys, group walks and wellness offerings including yoga and mindfulness, she helps others experience the magic of Camino trips in Ireland and Spain. Visit walkthisway.ie<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2010 I just knew I had to walk the Camino. I\u2019d been very overweight and wasn\u2019t really…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[61997,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-649642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-what-a-difference-a-day-makes","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}