Camino de Levante Photo Journal
Santiago and Finisterra

By the time I got to Avila I had already decided to stop walking there with 365 miles (600 kilometers) under my belt. It was raining. I was cold. I had some stomach flu that had me peeing every hour. The weather forecast called for another week of heavy rain. I was ready to stop walking, at least for a week if not for good.

Beyond that, time was getting tight. It was already the 28th of April as I left Avila. My brother was beginning to walk the Camino Français in a week. I wanted to walk with him for a few days. And then I had a wedding to attend in late May in Germany.

Beside my money and plastic, the pickpocker in Madrid had stolen a week off the pilgrimage leaving me with not enough time to walk the rest from Avila, if I had wanted to walk. So I got on a train that 28th of April and headed for Santiago. The train followed the route I would have walked. It rained heavily and often. From Zamora forward the Camino de Levante joins the Via de la Plata. The train follows the same route. I saw many places we walked through in 2005.

Santiago and Finisterra are still on this Camino de Levante. Just because I changed to wheeled transport does not mean I have ended the pilgrimage.