Santiago de Compostela (Sunday)

After Saturday’s early-ish start it was nice to have a slightly slower Sunday morning to pack up and then I headed back into the city to meet up with Jeff and his friends who were his pushers/pullers on the Camino. They’ve been planning this trip for over two years, it was meant to happen in 2020 but of course with the pandemic it wasn’t possible at that time. In 2017 Jeff walked the whole 500 miles from St John, only having to use a stick for support at that time, and when he heard about Justin & Patrick’s story who set up the Accessible Camino, it was his dream to return. (Jeff with college friend Thoma aka David & his wife Cathy pictured at lunch below).

After goodbyes with Jeff et al, I took a last look at the Cathedral and a final wander through the streets before collecting my pack & going to the train station (pics below). I was sad to leave Santiago de Compostela on Sunday evening, there’s just something about it. It felt strange to be at the point of turning around and making my way back, especially as I’ve been thinking about this trip since the start of the year at least.

One of my intentions for the trip was for some #slowtravel - rather than taking off in a metal box & emerging into another world, I wanted to appreciate the journey for its own sake, not just as a means to an end. Walking a pilgrimage trail is probably the best way of doing that, a high speed train is somewhat incongruous with #slowtravel but it’s worked for what is possible for me. And I’ve been trying to apply the same philosophy in making my way back - my Camino continues, maybe it’s just about being open to that.

The encounters with other travellers along the way have been one of the best things about this adventure - my conversations with Camino pilgrims have been especially warm. As friends of mine who are Camino veterans agree, ‘everyone has a story to tell’.

On Sunday morning I met a lovely older Swiss couple who had spent a fortnight doing the route from Porto. We chatted about the woman’s travels in Ireland, including on the Shannon, and they extended sympathies about the 2 B’s - Brexit & Boris. I’d like to be like them when I grow up; I certainly hope I never stop having adventures.

On Friday and Saturday I got chats with  Dana from Siberia now living in Vienna who is one of those incredibly warm & beautiful joy-giving people on the planet. I could see how she had been a friend to everyone on the Camino in the way she interacted with others at the hostel. She has spent the last number of years caring for her husband’s parents and her own until her mother passed at the end of last year. So her Camino was a way of marking this new phase of her life. God love her, she’d banjaxed her knee and was herpling about in pain.

Then on Saturday night I inadvertently met a woman from Dublin who’d walked the whole route from John, and had an amazing experience. I say ‘inadvertently’ because we were both in the toilet queue at the restaurant thinking the door was locked with someone in there not realising it was a sliding door until a waitress pointed it out. We laughed and agreed it was a good mistake as we wouldn’t have met otherwise and enjoyed the chat.

There were times I found it hard not being able to do a proper walking Camino but Dana & the Dublin woman were so lovely about my train version which was affirming & and as another one of my wise friends back at home says, there’s no right or wrong way to ‘do’ the Camino.