Walking the Camino de Santiago

Well, at least I finished my first Camino! The rain came and went a bit this morning... ...but it was dry for my final meander into the city!   What a thrill it was to finally enter the plaza and see the goal in front of me - and to be welcomed by several other Camino family members!   More later after some rest, a few toasts and a little processing... Thanks again for coming along.  I hope to connect soon!   Please consider taking a walk together.    1,057,369 total steps      516.94 total miles  33 days of continuous walking Location:   Santiago de Compostela, Spain @ 42.881241, -8.547019

I have had amazing weather on my Camino.   The sun has been shining almost every day, but never brutally hot.  I have worn shorts from day one in Spain and only used the rain poncho twice.  The longest time was leaving Leon for about an hour. With a short and easy walk today, the weather decided to pour rain on us!  We had showers all morning and, at times, we had to seek shelter as it was raining so hard.  My last albergue is only about 4 hours away from the cathedral in Santiago.  Many pilgrims are here, all getting ready for the final walk tomorrow morning.  The excitement is growing!    There are not as many pictures today, due to the rain, but enjoy these and, since it is Sunday, a Pilgrim’s Prayer:   Pilgrim’s Prayer (in O Cebreiro)   Even if I had traveled all the roads, crossed mountains and valleys from East to West, if I haven't discovered the freedom to be myself, I haven't gotten a...

Today was the last long day, or at least that’s what the book says.  I left early again to enjoy the sounds of nature and savor the quiet before the day-pilgrims start.  It was a very pleasant morning of reflection.  This has been an amazing experience, full of both rewards and challenges. The infrastructure continues to improve as this portion has significantly more pilgrims.   I took the opportunity to ease myself off simple pilgrim meals and back to more modern items, like avocado and salmon toast.  (OK, maybe pilgrims of long ago had special toast too.)  The groups are getting larger and more organized.  Lots of young people are enjoying The Way and that makes me smile.  I also love all the families walking together.  This has become a very diverse, yet integrated group of all ages and nationalities.  I met one youth group from a church in Mississippi and think they were 20+ in number. ...

I understood from the guide book that the last 4 days were easy.  Well, maybe in comparison, but the Camino still has a lot to give.  I may now be crossing only hills rather than mountains, but it was still a workout today.  The path immediately headed up the “hill” and then continued up and down all day.    Yesterday, there were commercial shops everywhere selling Camino merch; today I didn’t see any.   I guess they figure that new pilgrims only buy on day one.  There was still an abundance of albergues and places to eat, but not the trinkets.  There are still a lot of new pilgrims on the trail, but there were also a lot of taxis on the route today. You can tell the large groups by their matching colors.    Instead, today seemed to be more focused on the spiritual side.  There were lots of small chapels open for prayer and meditation.  Most were staffed with attendants and we...

Today was payback for talking an easy day yesterday.  My day started at 5:00am again, just as the sky was starting to change. I had 9 miles to make up plus the normal stage to get me back in sync with my Camino family and i t dawned on me that maybe walking part of the way in my trainers would fool my feet into not knowing the full mileage for today.  However, I missed the security and support of my hiking books almost immediately.  The shoes made it to breakfast in Sarria and then I switched back to my boots.  I will be finishing the Camino in my hiking boots for sure!  I mentioned before that Sarria is one of the most common places for pilgrims to join if they want to do the minimum distance for their Camino certificate.  As expected, there were a lot of new faces on the trail today.  However, they are still pilgrims and I heard some touching stories from a few.  Sisters walking in memory of their mom. ...