- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2017 Camino Frances,
2019 C. Portuguese (inland).
When we started the Camino it seemed impossible to walk so far, all the way to Santiago and then onto Finisterre. I couldn’t comprehend covering such a distance on foot. But we did. Some days tired from lack of sleep. Some days hungry. Some days sad because we argued. Some days lonely because we saw no one else, not even each other. Those days were few. We saw blue skies and walked through thunder storms. We saw wildflowers and fields of bright red poppies. We saw forests and factories. Cathedrals that lifted you to heaven because they spoke of human hope and of faith in something greater than us. We saw villages that spoke of generations of toil and celebration and ceremony. And towns built for men and women, not for cars and trains. We met people who talked of home but spoke of the world with their eyes. We were with pilgrims, themselves cathedrals of love and pain and grief and joy and humanity.. Touched by their smiles, their shyness, their delicate demeanor, I learnt from them how to live a better life. It was the people we met, the memory of them, that was the greatest gift of all. I wish I could remember all their names. Fortunately their smiles are still with me, their stories and their poems and songs. I’m sure that they know who they are. I hope they do and I hope too that they remember me as well.