Day 50 (!!!) Via de la Plata/Sanabres/Fisterre, from Corcubion to Fisterre Lighthouse, 15km.
This last sun-drenched day was magical, and actually much too short. A beautiful route, babbling conversations with Axx, and so the kilometers actually passed much too fast!
The question "am I ready to finish this Camino" haunted my mind for almost the entire walk. Honestly; no.... And also physically I feel so strong now that I could walk forever; a walk around the world now seems very attractive
Yet the number of miles between me and "the end of the earth" diminished inexorably, and I also feel an intense peace in it..."It's okay
"
Because this is not the end of my Camino...And January 8 wasn't even the beginning! The beginning was in 2021, when I closed the door behind me and started my first Camino, from my home, which would never really be my Home after that...
A life on the Camino ever since ...and also a start of an inner journey that goes on and on, the Camino that changes me as a person, in how I experience world and myself, a journey that will continue. And I am so grateful for that
And so, this Camino too is "only" a chapter in the book of my pilgrimage. And so it's good to walk to the end point!
We arrive at Langosteira beach, where Jeppe and Sarah are waiting for us
Axx decides to follow the ancient tradition and undresses for a dip in the sea
"In the old days" when pilgrims arrived on this beach it was often their first bath in weeks or months, after which they also traditionally burned their clothes...
The burning is no longer allowed and so we leave it out
, but Axx won't let the dive into the sea be taken away from him and we watch with admiration and vicarious freezing symptoms
This is one of the few times I'm "grateful" that I can't / shouldn't do something because of my heart condition
Of course I like to take pictures of this heroic act
Afterwards we have lunch with Sarah and Jeppe, again very nice to end this together. Still, I'm a bit on restless...the end of the world is still waiting...I'm not done yet!
We check in at our hotel, and because I haven't been able to take a dip in the sea, I catch up by taking an extensive bath in the Jacuzzi in our hotel room
From weeks of "suffering" on long stages, unheated frozen inns, no hot water, limited and boring food, to a jacuzzi on the last day, eating chocolate bonbons while bubbling....
The sunset is approaching, so I get dressed. Time to walk to the end of the world! Axx follows me by car a little later... at least that's the plan, until he is stopped by a roadblock and therefore has to walk the last kilometers too
So I'm walking alone for a while, which is good...to walk these last kilometers alone with myself. And these too go way too fast! I pick out the same place on the rocks as in 2021, and sit in silent reverie until Axx joins me and then we sit together
What a journey, what an adventure, what an inner journey. This Camino, this chapter of my pilgrim life, has brought me a lot. Many of you have been able to read that and so much has not yet been said...I could write a book...
This Camino counted 1106 kilometers / 691 miles, and I took a whopping 1,581,149 steps on the path. I am grateful for every moment, every encounter, of course and especially for Sarah
, with whom I formed a friendship for life
And for all the support and encouragement from "my" followers; Axx, family, friends, fellow pilgrims, everyone from the Facebook groups. You all made my Camino a lot more beautiful
It only remains for me to say two things.
First of all, due to popular demand and also because I like it myself, I decided to continue writing about my life as a hospitalera on the camino, not every day but hopefully every week...from the end of March.
I will do this on the Facebook page;
Gite de la Porte Saint Jacques
This is a public page that anyone who wants to can follow, you are very welcome! You don't have to submit a friend request since it is a public page, you can click "follow" and you will automatically see my new posts appear... But please be patient... I will start at the end of March
And one more thing...in the gite in Saint Jean Pied de Port we are always looking for new challenges and opportunities to contribute to the pilgrim community, and in the middle of coming summer (check-in 8/8, check-out 14/8 ) we have planned a yoga/meditation retreat aimed at pilgrims who possibly want to start (part of) the Camino from August 14.
For those who think it would be nice to prepare themselves physically as well as mentally/spiritually in a multi-day retreat.... We are still in the process of preparing/designing, but in general the program will look like this;
Check-in and welcoming August 8.
From 9 to 13 August each morning and evening a yoga/meditation session of 2/2.5 hours, of course provided by professional yoga/meditation instructors (including Sarah
)
Depending on the weather, this can even be done on our large terrace overlooking the Pyrenees
A workshop foot and blister care in combination with carrying/packing a backpack, do's and don'ts.
In consultation and according to the desires of the group, we organize different hikes and a bike ride during the day (rental bike included)
All this on a full board basis (you make your own packed lunch at breakfast), fully vegetarian and in terms of drinks we serve water/tea/coffee/juice.
The price for all this is 500 euros, and the group will consist of a maximum of 8 participants.
We are very curious if there is interest in this, and are also very much looking forward to this way of giving a "deepening" to a (start of a) camino, for those who want it.
Of course, the hostel is exclusively for participants of the retreat during this week! For more information you can always send me a message
Well, for now, that's it. We're going to walk around Fisterre a bit, maybe camp on the small beach...but it's REALLY cold and the wind is blowing pretty hard too...so maybe we'll leave that plan for my next Camino...we'll see
Thank you all, for your support and heartwarming comments, and hopefully see you on the fb page of the gite!