People often ask me what the highlight of my camino was. That's a difficult question to answer.
Here's what I did:
1,215,930 steps according to my Fitbit
2,098 photographs taken
790 kilometres walked
38 days walking and 38 different places to sleep (hotels/casa rurales etc.)
37 blog postings (not including this one)
Made new friends - who live in a total of different 7 countries
What I liked best:
Every day was completely different and yet so routine.
Every day was as simple as one step after the other, and as challenging as one step after the other.
Every town, every church, every path was so different and so beautiful.
All the people I met were open, kind, friendly, generous, interesting and interested, articulate, spiritual, well educated, well-travelled, trusting and trustworthy, and completely accepting of whatever their camino brought them. I loved meeting them and getting to know them, and I loved meeting myself again, and getting to know me in this brand new and completely different context.
I loved the dirt accumulated during the day, and I loved watching it flow down the drain each evening - in hot, hot water.
I loved the finely tuned choreography of each morning: wake, wash, dress, pack, eat, ensure phone charged, batteries and water bottles full, turn around once to check the room, and finally, leave.
I loved each stunning vista at the rise of every hill and at the turn of every curve.
I loved walking long and hard, feeling that I truly earned my cold, cold beer and dinner at the end of the day's journey.
I loved feeling the rise and then fall of the temperature in sync with the rise and fall of the sun.
I loved the sounds of the wide open country mixed with the crunch of gravel under my feet.
I loved the cool darkness of the churches which brought welcome respite from the heat of the day.
I loved being blessed at the end of the Pilgrim masses.
I loved being there, doing that, and then I loved coming home to the people who love me.
I conclude with the words that were first recorded in the Codex Calixtinus in the eleventh century:
To all pilgrims, and to all my readers and friends in all their unique situations I say:
"Ultreïa et Suseïa"
(The pilgrim shouts “Ultreïa!” (meaning “go further” or “to the end”)
Then the fellow pilgrim responds “et Suseïa!” (meaning “and then go beyond the end”).
Here's what I did:
1,215,930 steps according to my Fitbit
2,098 photographs taken
790 kilometres walked
38 days walking and 38 different places to sleep (hotels/casa rurales etc.)
37 blog postings (not including this one)
Made new friends - who live in a total of different 7 countries
What I liked best:
Every day was completely different and yet so routine.
Every day was as simple as one step after the other, and as challenging as one step after the other.
Every town, every church, every path was so different and so beautiful.
All the people I met were open, kind, friendly, generous, interesting and interested, articulate, spiritual, well educated, well-travelled, trusting and trustworthy, and completely accepting of whatever their camino brought them. I loved meeting them and getting to know them, and I loved meeting myself again, and getting to know me in this brand new and completely different context.
I loved the dirt accumulated during the day, and I loved watching it flow down the drain each evening - in hot, hot water.
I loved the finely tuned choreography of each morning: wake, wash, dress, pack, eat, ensure phone charged, batteries and water bottles full, turn around once to check the room, and finally, leave.
I loved each stunning vista at the rise of every hill and at the turn of every curve.
I loved walking long and hard, feeling that I truly earned my cold, cold beer and dinner at the end of the day's journey.
I loved feeling the rise and then fall of the temperature in sync with the rise and fall of the sun.
I loved the sounds of the wide open country mixed with the crunch of gravel under my feet.
I loved the cool darkness of the churches which brought welcome respite from the heat of the day.
I loved being blessed at the end of the Pilgrim masses.
I loved being there, doing that, and then I loved coming home to the people who love me.
I conclude with the words that were first recorded in the Codex Calixtinus in the eleventh century:
To all pilgrims, and to all my readers and friends in all their unique situations I say:
"Ultreïa et Suseïa"
(The pilgrim shouts “Ultreïa!” (meaning “go further” or “to the end”)
Then the fellow pilgrim responds “et Suseïa!” (meaning “and then go beyond the end”).
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