Today is a special day for two reasons – it is our lovely Dad’s birthday (77! Imagine!) and it marks two years since my friend Steph and I took our first steps on the Camino de Santiago. Both anniversaries include wonderful people, and bring back many fantastic memories of fun times and lots of laughter. With a few challenges along the way (if you were a blog reader two years ago, I am recovering well from The Insect Attack of 2013, thank you).
I reckon it’s always important to celebrate and remember on a day like today, so here are some snaps for today that make me smile.
All dressed up – LIttle Jim and Little Pat. (That’s my Dad on the right, circa early 1940s, I guess. He still has good hair.)Dad / Dadoo / Dooey. Or you can call him Pat. Our lovely Lauren’s portrait (on an etch-a-sketch) from a few years ago.August 2013. Steph on the Camino. And yes, I am available to photograph weddings, parties, etc on my iPhone.Fields of smiling sunflowers along The Way. Sometimes cute, sometimes very creepy.Cruz de Ferro on the Camino, at sunrise. This should be on more bucket lists, I reckon.
And we made it! After 800km, our arrival in Santiago de Compostela, September 2013. [Unfortunately, this pic is missing Shane and some of our other Camino family.]So many good times. So many good people. Happy Birthday, Pat, and Buen Camino, Steph and our Camino family!
Sometimes I like to think back to this time last year/month/week and remember what I was doing. It’s hard to believe it, but this time last year, I was walking across Spain on the Camino Frances. My friend Steph and I were about one week into our journey and had already made some new life-long friends. These were the innocent days, before I got attacked (firstly by unidentified bugs and, shortly thereafter, by my own body trying to deal with the crazy looking bites). Ah yes, when all we had to worry about was being tired and a bit sore, the summer heat, blisters and washing our clothes by hand.
I do miss the guilt-free carb loading that came with 30 km days.
It has been nice to have a look back at my posts from this time. Such great days – beautiful places and people. And wine.
Sure, it wasn’t always picturesque…
In case you’d like to reminisce about the Camino, or if you’re planning your own Camino adventure, I recommend this documentary by Drew Robinson: A Journey of the Mind. It brings back a lot of memories for me – undoubtedly, walking the Camino was one of the best things I’ve ever done. More for the people than for the bugs. But then the bugs showed me a different side of the people (myself included), so it really was all good.
We thought we’d need our rain gear for sure walking into this. We didn’t.
The doco runs for 40 minutes, so maybe grab some sangria and tapas (bug spray is optional) before you settle down to watch it. Buen Camino!
It’s so hard to believe, but it’s already one month since our Camino family arrived in Santiago. At that time, I think the magnitude of what we’d done was only just starting to sink in – I do remember wanting to blurt out to some of the day trippers crowding the streets of Santiago “HEY, I WALKED HERE FROM FRANCE”. It was such a great feeling to be fit and relaxed and happy after our month on the road.
A pretty spectacular finish line in Santiago de Compostela.
And now I’m back at home and it’s been really lovely to catch up with my family and friends and tell them a bit about our great adventure. I have found it a bit tricky to explain though – it really is one of those ‘you just had to be there’ kind of situations. And the return to the pace of ‘the real world’ has been a challenge for me – every day, it seems there are so many different decisions to be made, timetables to follow, commitments to meet, things to do.
I miss the simplicity of just getting up when the alarm goes off, getting dressed in one of only two available options, packing up everything I have and walking, walking, walking. I haven’t forgotten about the heat, the bites, the flies, the tendinitis, the shower without a door – but even at the time, all of those things just felt like part of the Camino experience.
And an incredible experience it was too (captured in the following YouTube clip by our resident rapper, Idol C).
So now I am home and I feel a bit restless. My work situation as a consultant means that I didn’t have to rush back to an office or a workplace routine – I think that is both a blessing and a curse though, as it means that I have had a lot of time to think and try and work out what to do next. And I feel like I should do something BIG after doing the Camino, as I try to hold on to the things that I learned about myself and the world when I was walking. But I am not entirely sure what that is yet.
And I am reminded of when I first moved home after living overseas for a couple of years – it felt like everything here was pretty much the same, but I felt soooo different (not in a lah-di-dah, I-am-so-awesome kind of way) and there was definitely a transition period to work out how to fit back in to everything. Maybe it’s like a snow globe – things are settled and look a certain way, then when the globe gets a shake, everything turns upside down and gets covered in large white flakes – or preferably glitter – before it settles again.
Stepping out at the end of the earth – morning walk on the beach in Finisterre.
So, after the Camino-shake, I am sort of upside down and covered in large white flakes (metaphorically, not from another Camino skin condition, I assure you). I am more active, walking a lot and even completing my first timed 5k run last Saturday (more on that in another post) and trying not to get sucked back in to the rush of doing all of the things. I watch less TV and I do less shopping – after carrying every single thing I required in a bag on my back for a month, I definitely have a different perception of how much stuff I really need.
In the Phoenix Park kitchen garden, Dublin.
But I don’t want to make it sound as though I’m now all woo-woo-woo herbal and alternative and changing my name to Starchild – I am not a totally different person and am sure that most people don’t notice any change at all. Maybe the snow globe has just settled in a slightly different way this time. And I am sure there are countless scientific studies that agree it’s a good thing to have your snow globe shaken every now and again, just to see what happens.
Here are some pics from these past two days as we come to the end of our journey. We revised our plan a bit – instead of cruising into Santiago on Saturday, we have added some km and will arrive on Friday instead. The 30km trek today felt quite long (tho the eucalyptus trees were a welcome touch of home), but tomorrow should be less than 25km for the final stretch to the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
Mixed feelings now – after 31 days of walking, it will be so strange to fall out of this routine (5.45am wake up; 6.30am departure; stop in the first town for cafe con leche and toast or a chocolate napolitana; walk til 1.30pm or thereabouts; find a bed; shower; wash clothes; eat lunch; find a supermarket for supplies; fill in time til early dinner; bed at around 9pm – usually later in the earlier days, sometimes earlier in the latter days).
I have met some wonderful people, seen some truly beautiful sights, eaten some delicious food, drunk some nice wines (once even mixed with Coke, a Spanish taste sensation, and often chilled reds with Lift and ice to make a refreshing sangria-style number). I have walked more than 800km, carrying a backpack that weighed around 8kg. I have laughed a lot, thought a lot, prayed a bit and enjoyed my time away from everything in the real world.
Without wanting to get too sappy, this experience has been a real gift and I am so grateful to my peeps at home for their love, support and encouragement; to my Camino family for their extraordinary friendship and incredible care (especially Steph, Susana and Dave); to all the people we have met along the Way who have shared this awesome experience; to the Boss who arranged for perfect weather, great people, beautiful sunrises & sunsets and a safe journey; to the slightly crabby Doctor who jabbed me with two healing injections; to the people of France & Spain who have welcomed us into their towns and baked delicious pastries; and of course, to Steph – my blister sister – without whom I would never have gone on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
And to YOU: if you get the chance, or can make the chance, to take part in a little or a lot of this epic ride, I wish you a super dooper Buen Camino. Xo
We had a shorter day today – around 22km to arrive in the small village of Ventas de Naron. It seems that the ‘hood consists of two private albergues (each with its own bar/cafe/restaurant – possibly a bit OTT when you could reach one from the other in less than 10 steps), a lot of farmland and that’s pretty much it. So, the perfect place to chillax and enjoy a siesta…and a Magnum ice cream and some Milka chocolate.
There were some pretty scenes today as we reached Portomarin under a blanket of cloud. Spain, your Galicia is especially beautiful – so many truly breathtaking views (and hills, but that’s another matter) – it has been my favourite part of the Way. The lush green hills, the fat & happy cattle, the yappy dogs that seem to greet us in each village, the extraordinary starry skies that look like movie sets, the atmospheric foggy mornings. Love it.
Now there are a lot more people on the Way – a lot of tourists travelling on coach tours, carrying tiny day packs and completing the final stage to Santiago in style. A different feeling to the early weeks, when the sense of community was so strong as we all faced this intense experience together. Now it often feels like we old-time pilgrims have merged with some perky holiday campers and the sense of pilgrimage is very different. But there are many ways to walk the Camino, so good on them for being here. And if they experience even a small part of the wonderful journey we have had, they will be very lucky too!
everydaysparks 