El Camino de Santiago - 892kms walked, 0 to go

We did it! On July 1st, we stood at the end of Cabo Finisterre, looking out at the Atlantic Ocean, and even if we had wanted to take another step, we couldn´t have done it without swimming. It was a pretty incredible feeling, knowing we had walked from the border of France to the ocean, and that we had followed in the footsteps of millions of pilgrims who have made the same journey as us, over the past thousand years.

The final stats:
892kms by our pedometer (890 - 915kms by the guide books)
38 walking days
1.2 million steps

After we left Leon, we left the flat of the meseta, and headed for the mountains and hills of Galicia, a region of Spain where time seems to have stood still for the past 100 years. Tiny farms, and villages made entirely of stone buildings characterize this relatively poor area of Spain, where agriculture and fishing are the primary industries. Normally the climate in this area is quite Mediterranean-like, but unfortunately this year has been one of the coldest and wettest for the western part of Spain, and our Peruvian ponchos were used many, many times.

Some of the highlights of our walk through Galicia include helping ourselves to the delicious cherries that grew by the path - we´re pretty sure the locals would have wanted us pilgrims to eat them! We spent one night in the Monasterio de Samos, which was founded around the 5th/6th century and is one of the oldest monasteries in the western world. While in the town of Arzua, we celebrated the festival of San Juan on the night of summer solstace. A 6m high castle made of wood and scaffolding is burned, along with a box containing written wishes of the children of the town. A fellow pilgrim was named Queen of the Festival, and she was serenaded by the beautiful sounds of the Galician bagpipes as she was escorted from the albergue to the festival in a vintage limo.

The closer we got to Santiago, the more people joined the walk. Especially after Sarria (near to the 100km mark), there were many new perigrinos, including large school groups, and escorted tours. They added a new, fun dimension to the walk, and made us "oldtimers" feel like hardened experts. As we started to see the markers counting down less than 100kms to Santiago, we weren´t quite sure we were ready to be finished, but we knew that we would be walking another 100kms to the ocean.

Walking into Santiago was a pretty special experience. This was the final destination for the majority of the pilgrims. There were many small reunions of people in the cathedral and in the plaza outside. We attended the special pilgrims´ mass and listened as the nationalities and places where each group of people started their Camino were read out. Although we couldn´t understand the mass, it was quite emotional, knowing we were attending with dozens of people from all over the world who had walked at least part of the Camino.

After one rest day, we began the final leg of our walk, four more days to the Atlantic. Our final days were quite long, and we discovered that even after walking 800kms, we still had a hard time walking 30kms each day for the final 3 days. As we entered Muxia, at the northern end of the Costa da Morte, we could see the ocean for the first time since we had left Japan. The town was pretty, and we spent the evening at the Sanctuario de Virxe da Barca (Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Boat). The legend is that the Virgin Mary appeared to St. James in a stone ship during a down spell in his missionary activity in Spain. There are large, strangely shaped rocks on the beach that are supposed to resemble the remains of Mary´s ship - the sail, the hull, and the rudder.

The next day we walked our final 30km day into Finisterre. Unfortunately, but a bit typical for us, it poured rain, and we had a hard time finding our way at times on the poorly marked route. But, we did quite well tracking the boot prints and stray tissue of other pilgrims to find our way without getting too lost. Too tired to walk the 3kms to the cape, we found a nice hostel and ate our final menu del dia with a glass of wine to celebrate. The next day we made our way to the cape, and as tradition dictates, we had fun burning our stinky shirts on the rocks.

It has been an amazing 6 weeks, walking across a country, meeting many wonderful people along the way and visiting some amazing sights. There´s a real sense of community living in the albergues, sometimes good and sometimes bad. We´ve been inspired by the stories of the people who have walked along the Camino, but have heard so much snoring, and seen far too many saggy-bum old men wander around the albergues in their tighty whities. We had a hard time saying good-bye to our many new friends as we return now to our respective countries and lives away from the Camino.

It´s hard to believe we will be back in Vancouver in just 11 days. So much has happened in the year that we´ve been away, and we have had so many magical experiences and memories. We head to the little beach town of Sanxenxo now, for a little holiday before returning to Vancouver on July 13, after spending 4 nights in London.

Location: Santiago de Compostela, Spain