WALKING THE CAMINO

Walking the Camino Frances changes your life in some way.  I have yet to meet a 'pilgrim' who disagrees with this statement.  Some walk for precisely this reason, whereas for others, including ourselves, this was not the original intention.  The daily ritual of rising early, lacing up your boots, swinging your pack onto your shoulders and stepping out into the quiet countryside to follow a path that has been walked for centuries, along the way passing places of outstanding cultural, architectural, artistic or religious interest, changes one's concept of how travel should be.  Life becomes simplistic and mesmerizing, but never, ever boring!

Walking the Camino can also be one of the most shared and collective experiences of your life, if you allow it to be.  We met people from all over the world, some only briefly but with whom we shared an incredibly close bond, some we will be glad to never meet up with again, and others with whom we still keep in contact and now consider good friends.  For the first two weeks of the Camino Frances we walked with our niece Anita.  We parted with Anita in the beautiful city of Burgos as her limited time on the Camino was over and it was time for her to make her way to Madrid for the flight home.  The memory of our goodbye on the steps of the hotel on that cold early morning was, for me, one of the most poignant of the whole journey.

There is also the challenge of carrying a pack with all your current worldly possessions for eight hundred kilometres, including across two mountain ranges, in all weathers, whilst trying to maintain some semblance of orderly appearance.  Then at the end, having coped with all these challenges, feeling invincible and incredibly fit, not really wanting it to end, proud of your achievement, yet at the same time astounded that you actually succeeded.

And then, on the horribly long flight home, which you vowed on the horribly long flight over never to undertake again unless you could afford business class, you begin to think about perhaps walking it again, or perhaps walking a different Camino, because from this time on, walking through a country is the way you want to experience it.

And so, on the 18th April 2015, after much research and planning, Steve and I will board a plane for another horribly long flight in economy class to Geneva, Switzerland for a two day stop over before catching a train to Le Puy in France to begin our second Camino.

Anita and Wendy at Roncesvalles
about to take their first steps on the Camino Frances

Steve and Anita - first day on the Camino Frances

Anita - Steve - Wendy

Meeting Jane and Hanna - our American friends

Steve, Wendy, Anita and our friend Diane from the USA
sharing a bottle of vino tinto
with Luca, a French peregrino

Anita and Steve walking the Camino Frances with our
Aussie friends Ian and Robyn

one of the many beautiful towns along the Camino Frances

Watching the sun rise over the Meseta

Wendy walking towards Cruz de Ferro (the Iron Cross)

the 'Iron Cross' - 1,504 metres above sea level

Steve on a cold bleak day

Wendy at the 'Monumento do Peregrino'

Arriving in Santiago, Spain



 
Praza do Obrdoiro and Cathedral, Santiago
journeys end 

journeys end celebratory drinks!