When Billy Bryan’s last teenager moved on to college in 2022, the Millington High School economics teacher soon found himself adrift.

For more than a decade, he and his wife had been in the whirl of competitive soccer, spending their weekends ferrying teens to meets and tournaments. Their nest finally empty, Bryan remembered thinking, “What do I do now?” Feeling the need to recenter himself, he decided to explore the Camino de Santiago. 

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Hiking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail in Spain hasn’t always been on the radar of adventurous Mid-Southerners. The Camino traverses hundreds of miles of countryside in northern Spain as it winds to its final destination, Santiago de Compostela, and the cathedral where the apostle Saint James is buried. It’s considered one of the three important pilgrimage cities of Christianity, alongside Jerusalem and Rome. 

But the pilgrimage has become more popular with Mid-Southerners in recent years, thanks in part to the 2013 film, “The Way,” directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father, Martin Sheen. The story chronicles a mourning father’s hike along the Camino as he gains new insights into his lost son and himself.

There’s also a national nonprofit, American Pilgrims of the Camino, dedicated to sharing information about the trail, and members of the Memphis chapter regularly meet up for potlucks and walks, where they swap stories about their time along the Camino.

Bryan chose the region’s most popular hike, the 500-mile Camino Frances (the French Way). He completed his journey in 32 days during the summer of 2023, and in spite of the length and rigor, Bryan found the experience so uplifting he’s since returned to walk two additional routes. 

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“Every day you can choose your own adventure, walking to ancient cathedrals or viewing Roman ruins,” he said. “There’s an old saying that the Camino will provide, that it will restore your faith in humanity” — and it’s something Bryan found to be true. He made new friends with people from Great Britain and New Zealand, hikers he continues to correspond with, as well as hospitaleros, people who volunteer from around the globe to work on the trail for two to three weeks a year. 

“The Camino makes you want to give back. I’m still the same person I was at 20,” Bryan said, “but I rediscovered that guy along the trail.”

The world and the walk 

Now Bryan enjoys helping others prepare for their Camino experience through the American Pilgrims of the Camino. Members of the Memphis chapter are largely middle-aged and senior couples and singles. Many hike but some choose to simply support their spouses. 

In addition to meetups, the Memphis chapter holds orientation classes, such as one scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8, at 11 a.m. at REI, 5897 Poplar Ave.

Memphis chapter coordinator Tresha Mandel said watching “The Way” first encouraged her.

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“I thought I could do it,” she said.

And did, for the first time at 68 years old.

Now 71, part of the satisfaction she’s derived is realizing she can still attain lofty goals. During her first walk, which covered the Portuguese route, she logged 72 miles. 

“Some people walk the Camino for spiritual reasons but mine was more about the physical and mental challenge,” Mandel said. “I speak Spanish, so that’s a treat, but that I could do something big like this at this time in life, that’s been gratifying.” 

During medieval times, the existence of the Camino prompted towns and villages to create ways of accommodating pilgrims, by building bridges and hospices and opening monasteries. A vast network of pilgrimage trails fan all across Europe, reaching as far east as Germany and as far south as Italy, reflecting the historic significance of Santiago de Compostela.

Mandel especially enjoyed visiting cathedrals and monasteries along the route, enriched by the sense of community she found. Since then, she’s returned several times, even striking up a friendship with a Spanish nun, Sister Paula.

Mandel said Sister Paula’s monastery, in Armenteira, is “a very inclusive space,” where the sisters speak a number of languages, owing to the global community that passes through their doors.

“Sister Paula now wants me to volunteer,” said Mandel.

The walk can be solitary, giving participants a chance to savor Spain’s rural beauty, or it can be an opportunity to share the experience with others. The trail dips into many villages along the way, where hikers stop for meals and stay overnight in modest albergues, Spanish pilgrim hostels. 

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“I enjoy the culture of Spain, its food and affordability,” said 53-year-old Bryan. He typically spends fewer than 30 Euros (about $35) a day on his accommodations and meals. 

Pilgrims also collect scallop shells, a memento that’s long been an insignia of the trail — and a symbol of being on the right path. According to the website Camino Ways, which specializes in hiking and cycling pilgrimage tours, the shells “act as a metaphor for unity, direction and shared purpose. ... Scallop shells often appear next to yellow arrows, which serve as the most accurate and trusted guideposts” along the Camino’s various routes. 

Off the beaten path 

Today, 14 primary routes remain most traveled by hikers. When you sign up as a Camino pilgrim, you receive a passport that is stamped by hostels, town officials, cafe owners and others to reflect the locations visited. Pilgrims must complete 100 kilometers or 62 miles in order to receive a compostela, an official designation of completion. Just under 500,000 hikers did so in 2024, according to the Pilgrim’s Reception Office in Santiago. 

Memphians Lorrie and John Mark Jackson recently completed 110 miles walking the Frances route in May, a trail that traverses the hills of the Navarre region and the farmland and vineyards of Rioja. While Lorrie Jackson, who sells educational software, has always hiked, her husband, a professor at Southern School of Optometry, was a newbie. So they prepared by taking long-distance walks on the Shelby Farms Park Greenline and through Shelby Farms. 

The couple, both in their mid-50s, said they went not knowing if they could hike 14 miles a day, day after day, but they were able to do it. 

They carried a day pack and water, opting to have their luggage transferred from one location to the next. Since they are planners, John Mark Jackson calculated how many miles they would need to walk each day and mapped out their stays, using hostels and casa rural or country houses (akin to bed-and-breakfasts), for their lodging. 

Some pilgrims opt for less-traveled routes. David Powers, the pastor of Idlewild Presbyterian Church, chose Camino Primitivo (the Original Way), a pilgrimage trail that starts from Spain’s Oviedo and follows the ridge line of the Cantabrian Mountains to Santiago de Compostela. It was first walked by devout pilgrims in the ninth century, including King Alfonso II of Asturias. It was Alfonso who established the significance of the relics of Saint James, whose remains are buried in a crypt under the cathedral’s altar in Compostela. 

Powers chose Primitivo because the route is quiet and can be walked in two weeks, by covering 13 to 15 miles a day. Its elevation gains also make for a more challenging experience.

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“I wanted to disconnect from the very connected world in which I live,” said the 44-year-old pastor.

Despite encountering fewer hikers on the trail, he ate meals with pilgrims from Russia, Honduras, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Germany and Canada. There were even a handful of Americans, all seeking respite from a noisy world. 

“It was most meaningful to have conversations with people navigating life events,” Powers said. “Many were from countries where Christianity is waning, and so I got to share my journey with God and what I’ve learned, and they were open to it.” 

As Bryan said, “The necessary ingredient of the Camino is to be open to whatever experience the road brings your way. Those surprises can bring the most enjoyment.”