Updated by: July 14, 2026
6 Rules from the Camino
Six days of walking teaches you things. Most of them apply off the path too.
- You can’t stop. Just keep going.
There is no version of the day where you don’t reach the town. Your bed is 24 kilometers away and nobody is coming to get you. So, you walk. Tired doesn’t matter. You keep going, and eventually you arrive. Everything hard works like this.
- Solitude is your friend.
You spend six, seven hours alone with your own head. At first, it’s loud in there. By day three it goes quiet. Most people never find out what’s underneath the noise because they never give it long enough.
- It’s always easier to walk with someone.
The kilometers don’t change. The pack weighs the same. But a hard stage with Vincent passes faster than an easy one alone. You talk, you go quiet, you talk again. The path is the same path. Your legs just stop keeping count.
- If you get lost, get back on the path quickly.
The longer you go in the wrong direction, the harder it is to get back. The cost isn’t the mistake. The cost is every step you take after you know.
- The wrong street is fine if it’s the right direction.
Not every step has to be on the marked path. You miss a turn, you end up on a parallel road, it doesn’t matter. You’re still heading to Bordeaux.
- You always walk stronger after a break.
Every time, without fail. You sit for twenty minutes, take the pack off, eat something, and the first kilometer afterwards feels like the first kilometer of the day. The break always feels like losing time. It never is.
Paul Mercuri
Wake Up Here Founder
