It is almost 4 weeks since I left sunny Spain and 27 degrees to return home. I finished walking 4 weeks ago yesterday, for some reason it feels like longer.
People ask me how was the Camino? My first response is usually that it was fine, tiring but I loved it. That's really all that people are interested in, they do not want a long account of how my Camino experience was. However, since returning home I have not really reflected on my Camino experience. To do it justice I feel it is only right to take time to reflect.
For me the Camino was a very personal journey. I was both nervous and excited. Since I watched 'The Way' a few years ago I wanted to do the Camino but I did not want to go with a group. When Joanne said that she was organising a trip I jumped at it as there would only be three or four of us, as it happened it was just me and Joanne. I had just got over a sinus infection so I had a fear of being unwell during my journey. Two days before we flew out I was with my GP and he knew I was anxious. Medically he gave me the all clear so it was time to get into the mindset that I was going on this pilgrimage.
On Thursday the 13th September, we set out for Tui, Spain, first stop Dublin airport. I was so grateful our flight was not at the crack of dawn, I got to sleep until 6AM. Our flight was slightly delayed but once the plane arrived they got us on fairly quickly and off we went, two hours later we arrived into Vigo airport, collected our bags, sorted ourselves out and made our way to Tui. We just took it easy for the rest of the rest of the day in Tui. During the day we met a good few Irish people, most of whom were actually on our flight; we did not see any of them on the plane. Those that flew out on the Thursday were starting to walk the next day like us.
Friday the 14th and so our walking began and like Martin Sheen in 'The Way' we got off to a great start by almost taking a wrong turn, a local lady pointed us straight. We split up early on when I had to stop to put on sun cream, the sun came out earlier than I had expected. We kept meeting and splitting up. I finally decided to stop, let my feet breathe and eat an apple. Joanne caught up with me and we chilled for a few more minutes. In this time a local lady gave us some fruit off the nearby trees. We were apprehensive about eating something that we did not know what it was so when we resumed walking we threw them away. It was very kind of the lady though. We then continued to walk the rest of the way together. Our whole Camino journey was like that; we started our day together, split, joined and split again various times. And I think we were both very happy with that, time together and time alone.
The kindness we experienced from that lady on our first day we witnessed off the locals for the duration of the trip. Personally, I was blown away by their kindness. To my surprise, English was not as well known by the Spanish as I had thought it would be. But the locals did not let this stop them from helping us. We soon realised that if we pointed at the name of the place we were looking for they could show us, some used language (Spanish) and hand signals (wasted on me) while others brought us out of buildings and pointed. One very memorable moment was in Pontevedra when a local man who did not have a word of English brought me in to the local chemist and we met a lady who spoke English, rather than tell me how to get to my Hostel she proceeded to tell me the meaning of the Spanish name of the place, that was very helpful indeed! The gentleman then walked me to the street on which my hostel was located. I remember this experience as when I understood that he wanted me to follow him I looked for my walking pole I had been carrying and realised that I did not have it. I wanted the pole because here was this stranger, with a dog, in a strange country, no English, bringing me to God knew where, I needed something to defend myself with should anything happen. And then in Caldas de Reis we were in a hardware store looking for shoelaces for my shoes. The lady had no English so we did not even try explaining using language, instead, I just pointed at my lace and she knew instantly what we were looking for.
I wet on the Camino asking one thing of God, I had one prayer. While I trusted Him to deliver I was not expecting my prayer to be answered on day one of my walking. He did not give me the answer I wanted or was expecting so the next five days helped me to accept that this was the answer to my prayer.
Along the Camino I met many people, some I only said a passing hello, others I chatted while we walked together and others I chatted in the Hostel we stayed in. The people we met we kept bumping in to and friendships were formed. There were a lot of Irish people on the route. Each evening I wore either my Offaly jersey or my Ireland one in order to attract the Irish, and it worked a charm. We were having food after walking on day one and a guy from Waterford seen the jersey and came over to say hello. I really enjoyed meeting people and hearing their stories along the way, what brought them on the Camino. For some this was the first time to do the Camino, for others they had done it many times and various routes.
Everybody’s Camino is different, it does not matter if you walk 10 km or 110 km, the journey is individual to each and every person. You may walk the full distance of your Camino with a friend, walking the same path, seeing the same things, yet your experience will not be the same as your friend’s experience. Some cannot walk it all due to injury or other reasons. On day three I decided not to walk it all as my chest was a bit sore, probably from having a strap across it. As it happened the taxi dropped me further than I wanted but I walked back on the route a bit. I stopped at the Café at the edge of town and met a few people, mostly Irish. It was thanks to an Irish lady that I stopped feeling guilty that I did not walk as much as I had planned that day, it was her who helped me realise that everybody’s Camino is different. We walked good distances each day. While the walking was enjoyable if I was doing it again I would walk less distance each day so that I could explore the towns I was staying in more. There were some days I was so tired or we did not arrive at our hostel until 3 or 4 o’clock I just did not have the energy to explore. Also, if doing it again I would start walking earlier. There is nothing worse than walking in the afternoon sun of Spain. It does not cool down after 3 o’ clock, in fact from about 2 o’ clock the sun gets very hot and stays warm until late in the evening.
Our six days of walking consisted of some lovely sights and some strange one, there were some very well dressed scarecrows and some very encouraging signposts. Our path was a combination of forest, villages/ towns, and vineyards. I especially enjoyed the forest as it provided shelter from the sun. Although the forest path was hard on the feet as it was often stony and uneven. It was lovely to walk through the vines, to get so close to the grapes. While the scenery in the vineyards was lovely I found walking along those paths most challenging, they were often long and straight and they were open, a killer in the heat of the sun.
Wednesday 19th September and we arrived in Santiago de Compostela, our final walking destination. In my opinion, we made a pretty big mistake along the way on the last day. We got to the little town just outside Santiago. Having completed a long steep ascend we wrecked. We stopped for an extended lunch break. By the time we finally left the sun was at its hottest and we still had 7km to walk, it was only supposed to be about 5 but the café owner told us that they had changed the route recently and it was in fact 7km! But we made it, thank God; thank God some of the route was sheltered in the forest. As we arrived to the edge of the city we met some of the Irish, the Corkonians and our English friend, we walked the rest of the way together to the Cathedral. In a group, it was a bit easier to push on and get there.
Our hotel was just down from the entrance door of the Cathedral. I was disappointed that we could not enter the Cathedral through the main entrance that Martin Sheen entered through in the film, the one where the statue of St James is that you approach on your knees. I think entering the Cathedral through that door to have the Altar straight in front of you would have been extra special. After arriving at the Cathedral we went to the hotel, checked in and dropped off our bags. Then we went back to look around the Cathedral, it was amazing. I especially loved the way there was an adoration chapel, totally silent, reverent in this busy Cathedral. As we had missed the 12 o’clock pilgrim mass (with 25km to walk that day we knew we would not make it so did not even try) we went to the 12 o’clock mass the next day. The mass was truly lovely. Because the mass was in Spanish we understood very little, an American priest said a small bit of it in English. But for me the language did not matter. I was at the mass to celebrate the completion of this pilgrimage with the Lord. Before the final blessing of the mass and men came out to swing the Botafumerio. And the Botafumerio was huge, they needed about 6-8 guys to swing it. This was my favourite part of the celebration, it was special and I felt it. We got our Camino certs after later that, we had to queue for about an hour and a half. We met yet more Irish in the queue and English. When I went to the desk I had to fill out a short questionnaire thing. Really proud of my recently achieved honours degree in Theology I put Theologian down as my occupation. This sparked conversation with the guy at the desk as he asked ‘as a theologian how was the Camino’ I was speechless. I suppose I had a deep sense of God’s presence along the way but other than that my studies had no impact on my journey.
When I finished I refrained from answering the question asked by people of if I would do it again. But I thought that it was something else that I could thick off my list, I would not do it again. However, within a week of finishing the pilgrimage I had the urge to return. I missed the comradery that I had experienced on the Camino and the walking. I went on a scout hike a week after I got home, I opted for a shorter route with two others as I thought I had done enough walking but once I started I could have walked much further than we did and then later in that week I went on a good two hour walk in the mountains and I really enjoyed it, the feet were grand and well able for it. Less than a week after that walk I was diagnosed with a sprained ankle caused by the amount of walking I did on the Camino, so maybe the feet were not as able for that 2-hour walk in the woods as I thought at the time.
A friend keeps reminding me that the Camino really begins when we return home. So, if I reflect that way on my Camino journey how is the experience going? Well, physically it was going fine until my ankle decided to cause trouble and I realised I had sprained it on the Camino. But other than that the journey is okay. Other than my relationship with God growing I have not noticed anything different in my life. I made friends in Spain and I really hope to maintain these relationships. Everybody that I met was so nice. And now I have a reason to visit America and another one to visit Canada. Please, God, I will see my Camino companions again.
Let the Camino continue……
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