From Finisterra

June 19 - Finisterra - Day 43

40 days and 40 nights of actual walking and it is done

Stops since last update: Negreire - Olveiroa - Cee - Finisterra

Distance walked so far: 948 kilometers - 588 miles

View map of the Camino.

This part of the walk from Santiago to Finisterra was by far the most intensive. There was a very long day and a lot of emotions the whole way. After two days in Santiago I almost ran out to get on with the walk and make it's proper end at the ocean side, the source of all life. [This update adds larger pictures and cleans up the smaller ones. Click on any picture or on the "Click here to enlarge" link to enlarge any picture. Use your Back button to return to this page. I have also did some minor changes to text and added a picture or two.]

I was not even out of Santiago before I noticed a new flower along the road. This yellow beauty showed up time and again along the way to Finisterra. One of our scollop shells, our trail markers is here too. They were very faithful this part of the trip--the long lines always pointed in the direction we were going. Earlier, that was not always so, making for some ambiguous turns in the path. We followed these shells and yellow arrows across the country.
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A beautiful Galacian path.
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I spent an hour in mid-afternoon the first day sleeping near this dam after washing my feet. It was a pleasant stop.

A bridge I walked over before coming down to the dam.
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The Galician countryside. I walked down the path between these trees only a few minutes before taking this picture.
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A Galacian corn crib and grain drier.
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Our refugio in Olveiroa (the second day) was half hotel and half working barn, a demonstration of traditional housing. The cow and pig smells permeated the hostel half, much to the displeasure of some fellow walkers.
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On the third day a particularly friendly dog gets a pet at a bar on the edge of Hospital.
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Another Galacian path, this one along a wall and a eucalyptus forest.
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Three horses stand quietly together.
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This ancient altar with crude statues is at the church of Nuestra Señora das Neves in the middle of the country side. It felt like a holy place, so simple, so different from the cathedrals in the cities. I suspect the objects on the altar were holy to the Celts and that the Christians only baptized them. It was an inspiring stop on the third day.
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Another path, this one near Cee near the end of the third day.
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The Atlantic at Cee, only 14 kilometers to go from this point of the last night's stay.
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Fellow travelers, Petra and I, walk across the beach at Cabo Finisterra within site of the end.
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The last shell points down saying, "This is the end."
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The shores of the deep blue Atlantic end our long walk. As we have suffered the pains and joys of its so many miles, so we have in our own lives. As the walk now ends at the Atlantic coast, so our lives end at some unknown shore. I could feel it. I let its emotion flow through me. Beautiful towns nested on hillsides hide the fact that all ends. As all has begun, so it ends, often on some obscure shore. This is clearly the end of my walk from Rancesvalles. The walk was not to see the box of bones of some long dead icon. Rather it was to feel the sting of the highway, the cold of the mornings. the heat of the sun, the disquiet of the wind, the lack of privacy in the refugios, the friendship of so many wonderful people. And now it ends--we are here to feel all this and much more and then close the door gracefully and let go. At the same time we open it to the next life with all its joys, sorrows, and possibilities.

I made it to the end. The Camino is now over. The life of the Camino is done and a new life has begun. We have returned to the ocean, the source of all life, to end one life and to begin another.
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In an ancient Celtic tradition, we burn some cloths used on the long walk. My socks and those of another burn as friend, Ian from England, stands behind.
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We all prepare to watch sun set in the west, our final communal act on this epic walk.
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Although this was the 43^rd day of the walk, I had rest days in Bergos, Leon, and Santiago. So I had 40 actual walking days--that magic Biblical number. And, though not all on the actual trail, I have walked 948 kilometers (588 miles) since I arrived.

Is this just a long walk? Or is it more? Yes, it is a wonderful long walk? And it is so much more. It is also an exercise of the mind, the soul, the body, and the heart as well. It is a search into and an experience of and with our very existence.

As the sun sets, we sit silently in our emotions and thoughts. A life is over and a new one has begun. Long live life.
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I'd enjoy hearing from any of you at any time as you move through your new lives. Please feel free to or just click Contact us on any menu on my web site. I'll even add your name if you remind me that I have forgotten it.

Now I am on with my life......