We promised a bit of reflection on this long walk we completed. Here are some thoughts from each of us:

Jane

The physical and mental demands of this walk were more than I realized, even though we trained for 12 weeks on hills and flats before we left.

I thought of myself as pretty strong in body, mind, and spirit. You just don’t know how body parts (and your mind and spirit) hold up to hours of walking day after day until you do it day after day for 30 days. I was miserable for quite a few days and was not a good travel companion to Lori on those bad days. I know now that long-distance walking is not my happy place.

The community aspect was the delight, meeting people from all over the world, and being grateful to the string of hospitable local people – rural and urban – who live along the Camino and welcome walkers 24/7, 365 days a year.

The day after day walking challenged my notion of myself, which was part of the reason I did this walk – to prove to myself I was and would be physically active and mentally alert as I start careening towards 70.

I keep reminding myself that I did pretty darn well, and though I developed heel (bursa) and toe (blisters) problems on my right foot this trip, my left hamstring (torn off the bone in a training walk before we were to do this trip in Fall 2023) came thru with flying colors.

And I’m also grateful to have made it to the finish, carrying my Mom’s picture on my backpack and her ancient Viking Christian crosses around my neck. I’m now the same age she was when she died far too young at 67 and 1/2 years, nearly 24 years ago. She would have loved the spiritual learning and experiences along the Camino, and she was with us in spirit all the Way.

Lori

Jane and I took a long trip together, literally, together almost every minute of the day for over a month! But how to put this? One trip, two journeys?

I had several reasons I wanted to walk the Camino and I prepared for over a year (thanks to the unexpected hamstring-induced postponement, I got an extra 12 months!) I think all that intentionality really helped me have the kind of experience I hoped for.

We started planning this trip when we both retired. I looked upon weeks of walking in a foreign country as an opportunity to transition to this new phase of my life.

I was rattled by the three falls in the last year and a half between the two of us that resulted in two broken bones and a torn hamstring. I was starting to feel vulnerable, fragile, and cautious.  I wanted to feel strong, capable, and brave. I wanted to feel like Jane and I together are a strong team aging together. I wanted to feel we still are learning, growing, and exploring.

I was also intrigued by the idea of pilgrimage as a journey of spiritual seeking. I hoped walking the Camino would be a means of spiritual growth for me.

And the Camino did provide. I feel that what I got out of doing this long, at times challenging, journey was directly proportional to what I put into it.

Probably the hardest part of the whole experience is that as I kept feeling stronger and more invested in doing the Camino, my beloved was really suffering from her injuries and, frankly, kinda wanted the whole thing to be over!

So tough to see her in pain. And so tough to not be sharing the same positive experience. I am grateful to Jane for sticking it out. Grateful she gave herself the chance to get what good she could from the Camino. Grateful she sacrificed so I could have my Camino experience.

I’ll conclude by saying this, Jane is one strong cookie! She walked, on average, 12 miles a day, usually in some degree of pain, for close to 30 nearly consecutive days.

Thank you all for sharing our Camino journey with us. We both are excited to see many of you soon! We are so grateful to have you in our lives.

After 31 days of walking (plus three rest days), 374 miles (12 of them today), at about 2:30 p.m., we arrived in the plaza in front of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

We both had our moments of being verklempt, and we both had lots of grins. We sat in the plaza for a while, just enjoying the accomplishment and watching other pilgrims do the same.

It’s been a long, busy day, not leaving much time or energy for gathering our thoughts for the blog. We’ll write something more thoughtful tomorrow.  For now, just a recap of our last day.

We had a rainy morning, but even Jane — she who does not like getting wet — was not deterred! We were excited to know that we were on arrival day.

Despite Jane’s foot difficulties, we kept up a good pace all day. We planned three tea/hot chocolate breaks (every three miles) as those really help Jane rest and treat her blistered toes. In the end, though, we skipped the third one and just pushed through the last six miles, eager to be done. Yay! We made it!

Top row: Lori & Jane glad the rain stopped, Jane on the outskirts of Santiago. Bottom row: Jane about a mile away from the Cathedral (spire in the distance), Lori displaying stamps she collected all month on her pilgrim credential.

Coming into Santiago

We reach Santiago tomorrow, and while today’s walk was lovely, what got Jane’s attention was the laundry room at our hotel this afternoon.

She’s our family laundress at home and considers doing laundry therapeutic. A good opportunity to clean up and time to reflect, too, while our sweaty, salty clothes get a real wash and dry after 17 days of sink washing and REI camping clothesline drying (with an occasional assist from a hair dryer or radiator when we have one).

It may seem a bit anticlimactic to talk about laundry before what is sure to be an emotional day tomorrow, but it’s kind of like getting all gussied up for company coming, except you are the company coming to Santiago after a long month’s walk across northern Spain.

We’re excited and a little in disbelief that our destination is but a day’s walk away. We each came on this adventure with different reasons for doing it, and we will leave with a different personal sense of accomplishment.

But we’ll also leave knowing we worked on the challenges together and have a fresh start at the next stage of our lives, together.

We hope we’re ready for the big finish. At least we’ll be clean(er)!

Well, we’re nearing the end of our Camino journey.  We started a month ago. Two more days walking. We both have confidence that we’ll finish, together.

We’ve had some difficult times, but the thing we focused on was “just keep moving forward.” One day at a time, if not one step at a time.

We’re both thinking about what we’ve gotten out of this long walk. Maybe we’ll have some reflections to share on our last post, or not…! But we know we’re each spending time thinking about it as we get down to less than 50 km to go.

We had a lovely happy hour at our lodging tonight with some Camino friends from Texas. We spent more time this evening with them talking about why we each decided to do the walk and a bit about our lives back home. These connections with other pilgrims continue to be a highlight of this journey.

The Camino attracts people from all over the world. Every time someone opens their mouth, you have no idea what will come out.

We’ve attended a couple of Pilgrims’ Masses while here. At the end of each is a pilgrims’ blessing. Typically, the priest surveys the congregation for what languages are spoken. I’ve counted about 5 or 6 each time.

English speakers from the USA,  Canada, England, Ireland, and Australia. French, German, Dutch, Swedish, and Spanish from Europe. Korean, Mandarin, and Indonesian. And there are notable differences within Spain itself, including Catalon and Galician.

The Camino is a trail of mangled languages as people try their best to communicate. The most predominant languages are butchered Spanish and English.

It is a pretty liberating environment in which to try out one’s pathetic bits of Spanish. Everyone seems to roll with whatever they are served up.

Lori has been making a moderate effort to learn Spanish for over a year using Duolingo. At first, she thought she might improve with all this opportunity. But now, she fears that she has slid into a combination of bad Spanish, simplified English, pigeon Spanish, and gestures! Whatever the combo, it’s been quite effective in communicating our basic needs, but has probably set her learning BACK considerably.

The best pictures from today were with Jane’s newest buddies.

As we near completion of this long walk, we’re very aware of the people here in Spain who support us (and all the other Camino walkers and bike riders) every day.

A lot happens beyond the Camino pathways to enable us to set out each day with light packs, follow maintained Camino signs and yellow arrows on good paths & roads, and get lunch and snacks on the trail. And then voila, we also find our luggage always waiting for us at the night’s lodging.

Think of luggage logistics alone. Although many, if not most, pilgrims carry all their gear in large back packs, there are thousands of people (like us) traversing the Camino every day who are using a luggage transport service. The service moves thousands of suitcases to and from every lodging point on the Camino every day!

There are taxi drivers who shuttle people who need a ride. There are food and drink deliveries, people who provide rooms, folks who clean rooms, and those who maintain the trails.

There are people who sit in churches, chapels, and hermitages to greet pilgrims and sweep the floors as Camino dust, dirt, and leaves come in with pilgrims.

Yes, it’s a whole Camino industry and, no doubt, provides an economy for many of these little towns. But we are mindful that we are only able to do this walk because thousands of people provide an infrastructure of support for us.

They carry on the traditions of pilgrim care and hospitality that span centuries.

We know we are very privileged to take this journey. We have the time and the resources. And we are immensely grateful to people who live and work along the Camino who make the journey possible.

We’re now four days out from Santiago; here are some pics from today’s adventure….

Today, we left Sarria and embarked on our last week on the Camino. Sarria, in our humble opinions, doesn’t have a lot to recommend it. However, it is the closest biggish town near the 100 kilometers-from-Santiago-mark, which makes it an extremely popular starting point for people seeking a shorter Camino experience.

We were forewarned about the impact of this increase in people traffic, so it wasn’t really a surprise. Still, it’s an adjustment to suddenly be walking with hundreds more people.

We’re taking it as an opportunity to practice patience! What used to be a quick break for a hot drink and bathroom stop on the Camino now is 15 minutes waiting to order, a 10-minute wait for the bathroom, and a bit of a scramble to get a table.

On the walk, you are never out of sight of other pilgrims.  Even harder, you are never beyond earshot of other people’s conversations.

It seems that most people who joined in Sarria are traveling in groups, and we fear that meals will be more restaurant-provided rather than family-style at the hostel. That means less reason or opportunity to strike up conversations with folks.

So, the character of the Camino/trip shifted today. We need to adjust our expectations. We remember how welcomed we felt by people who had started the Camino in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, a week before us. We can be as gracious to people who are starting now!

And the walk today was beautiful. Here are some pics we took as we walked 13 miles to our next destination, Portomarin.

My Fair Lady withstanding, the rain in Spain does not stay mainly in the plain. It’s been staying in the mountains for several days. Severe wind warnings today with thunderstorms forecast for midday convinced us both to share a taxi with Camino friends to get to Sarria, our overnight stop.

Sarria, sad to say, is a charmless town. We’re here all day without much to see or do. Gray, drizzly skies and sour moods made for a sorry kind of day.

Lori took a long nap. Jane went to work diagnosing and treating her toes in hopes that she can walk the Camino tomorrow.

In the afternoon, the rain ceased and Lori, revived from the nap, headed out for a walk. Jane rested. Each doing what felt right lifted our spirits.

The sun is trying to break through, which lifts our spirits, and (maybe?) helps us see the silver lining. We both worked hard to get here. Trained for two summers, overcame broken bones, a torn hamstring, and doubts about our ability to make this trek at all.

We’ve met some amazing, gracious, and inspiring fellow travelers from across the world. We’ve experienced the northern Spain countryside, cities, and people in walking space and time, a perspective one never gets speeding down a highway. We’re 60 miles away from the goal, six more days, and we’ll get to Santiago, by hook, or by crook!

Today was the second of Jane’s two days of toe recovery. And, Lori’s second day of solo hiking. We both had the opportunity to stretch our comfort limits and we had stuff to talk about at dinner!

Lori left around 8:45 in the early light of morning. It was already drizzling and windy. Inclement weather was the theme of the day,  usually raining with short breaks in the precipitation. The wind was pretty much constant. At times it felt ‘gale force’!

Surprisingly, she found the whole experience pretty awesome — meaning both ‘really great’ and ‘awe-inspiring ‘. So dramatic! The exertion of walking kept her warm. (If she were cold, it would be a whole different story!)

Meanwhile, we figured out yesterday that a bus runs down the mountainside every day for a significant fraction of what a cab costs.

Jane made quick ‘Camino friends’ with a couple who were taking the same bus. Buddy-system! She didn’t have to figure out how to negotiate it alone!

Not altogether surprising, the bus filled up with pilgrims who had various reasons for opting wheels over feet. (Lori, meanwhile, was marveling over how quiet the Camino was and enjoyed having so much of the walk to herself!)

Jane got to tonight’s destination around 10:45 am. She ducked into a cafe while waiting to check into our hotel around noon. There, she found a couple from Alabama we’ve run into over the past few days. The trio kept each other company until the Alabamians finished their meal and pushed on further down the Camino. Jane visited a few local sites (see the photos below) and then checked into our hotel room.

Before long, a slightly bedraggled Lori wandered into the evening’s accommodations. Hot chocolate, hot showers, and catching up with each other’s day made us warm and content.

(Good thing, too! As we write this, the wind is howling, and the rain is pelting outside our hotel in Triacastela!)

…and end up in Ireland?

Lori left La Herrerías by foot around 8 a.m. and Jane by taxi around 9, both headed up (UP!) to O Cebreiro. These villages are a mere five miles and almost 2000 feet of altitude, apart.

Yet, in this briefest of distances, we were transported to a place that looks a lot like Ireland. Including, for those entering by foot, a bagpiper (in the rain, nonetheless) welcoming us with Irish tunes!

On the way up the mountain today we passed the dividing line between the autonomous community of León and Castille and the autonomous community of Galicia. About 2000 years ago, this area was connected with the Celtics people. Somehow, bits of Celtic culture persist.

This was mostly a rest day for us. Lori’s climb, while steep, only took about 2.5 hours, leaving both of us lots of time to rest.

There’s a simple little church here that offered an evening Mass and blessing for pilgrims. The blessing was very moving.

The priest had a binder with the blessing in several languages.  He had all of us there circle the altar, and then one person from every language group read the blessing in their native tongue. A beautiful prayer and a beautiful ritual.

May love be the light of Hope in your path.

May peace abound in your heart.

May goodness be the mark of your life.

May your faith strengthen you in the mystery of life.

And when the moment comes for you to reach your goal, may LOVE embrace you eternally.

Be happy and make others happy.