Camino Crafts - 52 reasons

Over Valentine’s I saw a cute craft where you wrote 52 reasons you loved/liked someone and wrote these out on playing cards. I don’t have anyone to give one of these too but I thought that it could be adapted into a Camino Craft – 52 reasons why I love to walk on the Camino with my sister Becky. Equally it could be changed to ‘52 reasons why I want to walk the Camino’ or ’52 reasons why you should walk the Camino’ (or ride the Camino).

I thought of 52 reasons why I love walking the Camino with Becky quite easily and then printed off a template from the internet which I then cut out and stuck on my cards before handwriting all of the reasons down and doing some decorating (camino inspired of course!).

 The supplies for this craft are: playing cards (I got a cheap pack that cost less than £1), templates to write on (there are a fair few of these on the internet, some you have to pay for but there are free ones as well - I searched for '52 reasons card template' or just cut some out of paper), a pen, glue (stick glue or similar is fine), some decorations and that is it!

Yellow arrows are very evocative of the Camino - I measured one out and then drew it about 50 times which got me more arrows than I could use

I put some of these arrows on blue paper and cut the outline of Santiago cathedral out of black card (I went around the edges of this in black pen later to get rid of the white line)

The templates on the cards - blue for the Camino!

The completed deck of cards

I hadn't planned too but I ended up drawing a few pictures on the cards as well as using the arrows and outlines

A few more of the cards

So my 52 reasons (or at least most of the reasons) were:

Þ Make me smile

Þ Keep me going

Þ Sing with me while we walk

Þ Love collecting sellos

Þ Love drinking Cola Cau

Þ We take turns to take the top bunk

Þ If I don’t have cake/biscuit then you do!

Þ You speak French

Þ You keep me calm

Þ We plan our day’s walk well

Þ We walk at the same pace

Þ We race around museums

Þ Meet cats

Þ There’s someone to look after my stuff whilst I get a shower

Þ We make new friends

Þ Just spending time with you

Þ We save each other from mad cyclists

Þ There’s someone to take my picture

Þ A chance to find out new things about you

Þ Try new food

Þ Try new cakes

Þ Shared jokes

Þ We laugh

Þ Walking and talking

Þ Walking and not talking and that being okay

Þ Discovering new things

Þ We have our own jobs

Þ Our breaks

Þ Celebrating when we get to Santiago

Þ You sympathise with me about my blisters

Þ Help me through snow/mud

Þ We may lose the path but we find it again

Þ You encourage me

Þ We get to talk about it when we get back

Þ Planning for the next time

Þ Shared experiences

Þ Memories

Þ Climbing up mountains

Þ Being silly]

Þ Because you’re you!

Okay, not all 52 reasons are there but some are in-jokes that you have to have been there to understand! I really do have an amazing trime on Camino every time that I walk with my sister.

I also thought of a few more general reasons for ’52 reasons…’ as well:

Þ An adventure

Þ Get fit

Þ See Spain/France/Portugal/Europe [include the Camino with other travels?]

Þ Learn a language

Þ Spend time together

Þ Manage without computers/high heels/the kids …..

Þ Get away from the washing up/work/the kids …..

Þ It’s my/your/our dream

Þ It’s cheaper than staying at home

Þ It’s the right time

Þ Let’s give it a go!

Þ It’s cultural/historical

Þ A cheap holiday

Þ You’re my partner in life and on the Camino

Þ We’ll have fun

Þ You speak French/Spanish/Portuguese

Þ Get away from it all

Þ Space

Þ Follow path of the Milky Way/walk under the stars

Þ You’ll sleep well at night (unless I snore!)

Þ Quiet

Þ Inspiration

Þ A new experience

Þ A shared experience

Þ See the changing landscape of Spain

Þ See Spain without the touristy bits

Þ Go on a long walk

Þ A break from life

Þ Time to think/plan/decide

Þ A chance to wear your new walking boots/use your new bag

Þ You’ll love it!

Þ See nature

Þ It beats sitting in the office/at home/in the classroom

Þ You’ve/we’ve always wanted to travel

I hope that this gives you a few ideas - post any more in the comments if you want to.