I start my Journey from SJPP I will have 41 days, and that must include getting to Madrid and home Mid morning on the 21st of June. I am trying to plan my journey a bit, leaving the Camino spirit to guide me a little. Is it worth the extra time to walk to the Ocean? I live in Washington state and can go anytime. Is it just a youe person party excuse? I'm thinking i would rather spend some extra rest days in the beautiful towns and villages along the way. Also, I don't want to carry poles. I have never used them, I have good knees and ankles, and it will probably drive me crazy. I like my hands free and like to swing my arms. Am I crazy?
Maybe you are crazy, dear Joodle... I don't really know you well enough to say!
But I could talk to you for at least an hour about the magic and wonder of Fisterra (aka Finisterre). I'm from Nova Scotia, Canada, so I'm next to the Atlantic Ocean. But it's always amazing to me, and fun, to go and touch the other side of the Atlantic and wave to my family from Spain. I never get tired of the power of the waves, and the beauty of the sunset and sunrise, and looking for pilgrim shells on the beach. It's also meaningful to me to talk to pilgrims at the end of their (our) Camino, sharing insights and ideas about what we've experienced. As someone else said, it's also a beautiful way to transition from having been walking every day, to going back to "the real world". I know that your experience of it, if and when you go, will be uniquely your own, and there's no way for you to know how you'll like it until you get there. For me, it's a place of deep wisdom and rich beauty.
The first time I walked the Camino in 2010 I ran out of time (because of knee trouble I developed along the way, and also the death of my father), and took the bus to Fisterra. It was lovely. I hardly saw any of the town and got to Langosteira Beach without much time before the return bus trip (I didn't go to the lighthouse, and I didn't even know Mar de Fora Beach existed), but I could feel the energy of the place and I knew I'd like to return. The next year, I walked there from Santiago and it was amazing. Those three extra days felt like a Master Class in Camino walking, a mini review of everything I'd experienced in the weeks previous. And I loved being in Fisterra so much I stayed for three weeks.
In 2012 I walked there again, and only then continued to Muxia for the first time (I'd planned to go in 2011 but realised that my Camino that year was perfectly finished after I arrived in Fisterra). Muxia, for me, has a very different feel. I know people who love it there best. I appreciate its beauty and eccentricity and energy, but for me, Fisterra (eccentric and beautiful in its own way) feels more like home. Walking there again last year was like coming home.
Whatever you decide, there is no right or wrong answer.
As for poles, my first year I bought a set in Puente la Reina because of my knee, and used them to the end. It was very difficult (awkward and frustrating) to manage a camera with the two poles! But they helped me a lot. The second year I was completely healthy and didn't need poles and wanted nothing to do with them. And then I was given a walking stick by a farmer about three days before Santiago, haha! It was ironic. But I walked with the stick to Fisterra, and it was a journey in and of itself. I haven't used poles since, and I think if you're reasonably healthy and feel stable and secure as you're getting ready for your Camino, they're not necessary. I won't take them this year either. I also like to be as free and unencumbered as possible. But if you feel like you need or want them when you get there, you can buy a pair pretty much anywhere along the way, or find a walking stick of your own as you go.
Buen Camino!
Rachel
