Camino Completion & the Camino de Santiago Anti Climax
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- What? Camino de Santiago is an Anti-Climax?
Is the Camino Blues really a thing?
Let's talk about the completion phase of your Camino.
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TIMESTAMPS (in case you want to skip) 👇
0:00 Intro
1:19 Is it a Thing?
2:27 How did that Camino Anti-Climax or Blues Manifest?
Here are Some Tips on How I Avoided That Let-Down Being:
11:50 Enjoy the Journey
12:46 Accept the Let-Down
13:15 You Need Closure and Transition
17:04 Be Grateful
18:25 Camino Concerns & Questions
20:23 Outro
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Is this something that concerns you? Don't let it. Have you experienced it?
Spot on with all your points there, Rob! I always think that the cathedral plaza is where you transform from a peregrino into a tourist within 5 minutes 😂 Enjoy the beauty and the history of the city in Santiago and then start thinking and planning for the next Camino, just like what you are doing 👍 For many, the real journey continues after you have reached SdeC.
I was planning my next one, during the final days of my first one 😊
My ambition remains - do the Camino Frances from St Jean to Santiago, on foot, without a (fixed!) companion. I am currently just starting my last series of chemo therapies and it's then full steam ahead (or as much steam as I can manage 🙃!) to get prepared.
It will, I sincerely hope, be a "religious" experience for me - my whole intent is to thank God, the NHS and, particularly, my wife for all they have done in allowing me to survive cancer - and not just survive but THRIVE!!
April 2024 is the target - just got to restrain myself from buying lots of gear and geting ahead of myself 🤣🤣🤣
Your videos are immensely helpful in making me realise what I am taking on but, equally importantly, what I am going to get out of it. Thanks Rob.
You'll have an amazing journey David. And whilst you may start out alone. you won't be lonely. You'll meet amazing people along the way who will guide you, motivate you, listen to you, want to share their own stories with you...... and you will feel 'someone else' with you along the way, I'm sure....... 😉
That's the spirit!
I'm sure you'll get tons of beautiful and satisfying experiences on the camino, make sure you prepare physically (but don't exaggerate) and psychologically, just let yourself go with the flow.
Yes, you don't need much stuff, the least the better!
Buen camino.
Right on Rob. This was similar to my experience; I just finished Camino Portuguese from Tui. This was my first Camino.
Loving gratitude for it all, before during and after The Camino. ... and Hope for New Caminos, wherever life take us.... although I am already thinking about my next!
Where to next? 🙂
The issue is all about the way, the trip, that is what is exiting that you are able to walk for hours and being able to arrive at your destination, well in one piece, that is what is exciting. Once you get there it is a feeling of great satisfaction. I find out that any trip that takes you away from your daily routine and that reminds you that you can live simpler is always hard to go back to responsibilities, work, etc…
Yes, so hard to go back to 'real life'......But many would argue, the Camino shows us what life is supposed to be like.
Hi Rob. You have a lovely way of explaining what is for sure a day of very mixed emotions. I’m a Solo walker & I have found that staying in Lavacolla the night before arriving into Santiago works for me. I then arrive into a very quite Square at Sunrise. I can then spend some private time absorbing & appreciating the moment - even shedding a tear or two (if I’ve any left that is!). Have a lovely breakfast before heading to the pilgrim office & get the Pilgrim mass in the Cathedral. I’m very fortunate that (as I’m retired & my time is my own) I then look forward to walking to Finisterre/ Muxia over the next few days. For me personally this gives a me a sense of closure to my Camino. Burn Camino
Sounds perfect 🙂
Thank you, I have been thinking og doing that ... I leave next week for my first Camino and most likely my only Camino. Thanks again for a great suggestion.
Have a wonderful time! Hard not to......... 🙂
@@robscamino Thank you so very much 🤗
This sounds like such a good idea. Giving yourself that peace and space to experience the end without too much hustle and bustle
Hi Rob! This was a good one. Ending is different on each camino. I did 6 in my life, from 2013 till 2022. Some years felt sorry, hang around, pretending no need to go home. others I was feeling happy but kind of relief to go home. This year I did Sanabres (loved it), at the end went straight to the Office and to the Cathedral for the liturgy and run immediately to catch the bus heading mt family. Never felt sad, because, as you say, it is all about the journey and it continues when back home and you feel grateful for having your family waiting for you. 😊
Next year i’m planning a new one, starting from Braga, Portugal, and go through rough mountains national park. Portuguese way with spices 😁. Good thing: i’ll take two of my three children with me. im sure I’ll have a great ending 😎
The next one sounds great! I'd like to do it with my kids one day, but they'd leave me behind in the dust!
The last official Camino I did was about 10 or 11 years ago when I walked from Lourdes, France to Santiago ... I'm now planning a Camino before I turn 50 years old ... planning to do the Camino Catalan starting at Montserrat near Barcelona passing by Zaragoza then joining the Camino Frances through Longroño ... this is my favorite video of robscamnino ... I wont expect things but I do want to reach Santiago before my birthday lol ... yep, I'll take up on your advice to be grateful for my (nearly) fifty years on earth ... thanks Rob mate ... speaking of closure , I'm doing this particular Camino do to my grieving for my Dad who passed away last year ( the film 'the Way' inspired me to honour my Dad) . Thanks for the video mate , cheers ! good on y'a
May you have a wonderful Camino. Do you know you can get your Compostela in your Dad's name? I think the term is " In vicario pro " I have one for my Dad. Maybe my next one will be for Mum. I spend a lot of time reflecting on them and others whilst on Camino.
@@robscamino no , I wasn’t sure then if I can get a Compostella for my father . Now I know I can have it in his name if I finish this Camino . Thanks for the info. I just left Montserrat today … the first day of any Camino is brutal . Well it’s the first day but I don’t recommend the Camino Catalan to pilgrims . I got lost and luckily I got to my destination following the highway signs . The route is well indicated even after 20 kms down from Montserrat heading towards Igualada but after 20 kms the yellow arrows seem to be less and less evident .
Post trip depression is absolutely a thing...I remember a 55 day trip to Oz/NZ and day 28 was really weird...I went from having this huge trip planned to suddenly I had less to go than I had already done...and then you get on a plane and you think "this morning I was in Sydney and now I am in boring old home"...but, ironically, it's a good thing...I guarantee that if I told you to Camino for six straight months you'd be running for the airport at the end of it...some trips that hits earlier (I don't think anyone could do an all inclusive beach vacation for 60 days, for example) than others (like the full Appalachian trail) but it always hits...eventually you want your friends and your own bed...always leave on a high.
On my last one of 60 days, I was ready to go home 🙂
Another great, insightful video Rob with well thought out observations…Having walked the full CF I would simply recommend that even if you walked a “solo” Camino, if possible entering the square that last day with one or more of your fellow pilgrims you met along the way, as it allows you to process the many and varied emotions in a more positive way that if you are alone…having a dinner together that evening and/or during an extra following day and talking through the journey really helps transition through the closure…
That would certainly help Mark..... good point. Though that first one, I was totally alone. I didn't know anyone around me, as they all finished days ahead of me.
The journey 😃!!! Once in Santiago, although a beautiful and lively city, I always feel kind of sad because something wonderful and unique is finishing. But that is what makes me come back again and again every year. Thank you for all your videos!!
Indeed. It makes us want more 🙂
Thank you Rob! I appreciate your insight.
Always just my own perspectives of course, but glad it made sense.
20:39 loved the video! Think goodness I had read a post from someone else prior to my Camino about possibly feeling anti-climactic ending. I too walked my first Camino solo. And your end of Camino feelings mirrored my own.
But I was prepared mentally in case I felt that way. And I did. But being prepared allowed me it to not spoil the experience, just recognize the emotion . If that makes sense .
Yep. Makes perfect sense.
Once again you have made a wonderfully personal video of your experiences. It’s lovely if you to let us in. Your humility shows through and this is special.
I can’t wait to try the camino Frances. Since I discovered it through yours and others videos and films, I’ve thought of little else. Thank you once again for all you do.
My pleasure @Dittany Morgan. I'm a bit obsessed with the Camino so if anyone will listen, I'll talk about it! 🙂
Before we left for first Camino we were told when you get to Santiago nobody’s going to care. That being said down the road from the Pilgrim office is a place called the Pilgrim House. It was a great place to meet and talk to other Pilgrims, hear their stories and share ours. The people who work there were amazing and very helpful.
Great point. Are Faith and Nate still there? They do a great job! I think next time, even though I'm not really that Religious in a formal sense and not a Catholic, I will also attend Fr Manny's English language Mass, and the sessions they run above the Pilgrim Office. I think all of that helps us 'come back down' to reality and process what we've been through.
They had go home for a few months because of the visa laws but they are back.
Great insights Rob, as always. I think your feeling when you reach the end will be directly related to your reason for walking the Camino in the first place. You may not even know the reason consciously, but are searching for something. The Camino can’t give you the answers, the answers are in you and the Camino may help you find your way to them. But your Camino doesn’t end in Santiago or Muxia or Finisterre, it goes on. Once a pilgrim, always a pilgrim. At the Albergue San Miguel in HospitaL de Orbiga (a great albergue) there was a book called Returning From Camino by Alexander John Shaia. It was a fascinating little book that is worth a read if you’re interested in this stuff. Buen Camino!
Must look out for that book! I think you're right. Most of us are walking a Camino are searching for something. I was. But I wasn't sure what. After about 10 days I knew what it was. And after another 10 days or so the answer started to emerge....... The Camino is such an amazing place.........to just think. 🙂
Thank you Grant and Rob. I’ve dreamed of the Camino since I was in my twenties, now in my early 50s. I heard a friend went with her church group and something inside me said you need to do this pilgrimage. Now and then I would find myself reading about the Camino getting inspired and then life and responsibilities dims aspirations. Within, the dream is still alive and I hope to experience it one day. Robs video helps a lot! Definitely gives me courage.
May 22, CF completed after “failure” in Sept 21 only as far as Sahagun!
Loved almost all of it, but rundown from Arzúa was busier and busier, also became detached from the regulars.
Final day solo, raining and feeling a little glum.
Into Santiago; too touristy and then a message asking if I’ve arrived yet and giving the location of the bar. Spirits lifted, food and company enjoyed, Compostela done.
Best day, of many, Castro Jeriz and the hill after, topping hill for sunrise absolutely stunning.
It’s a pregnancy thing; I’m never doing this again, no absolutely no chance. As time passes it starts to feel like it may be a good idea to have another, so 4 months later I’m starting to plan my next walk The West Highland Way, only a week.
Thank you for your Chanel and congratulations on reaching 5000. Enjoy VDLP.
So glad you are doing another walk Bob 🙂 The Camino can certainly be an emotional roller coaster at times. I actually have come to enjoy that! 🙄 Because I have this feeling we are 'tested' in order for us to see something or learn something 🙂
I always stay in San Martin Pinario and, over time, it has become a kind of coming home. The lounge is full of other pilgrims, as is the dining room. I would recommend it to any pilgrim, as a way to ease into the return home and a place where one can rest and absorb what completing this camino feels like and means. I also like mass in the pilgrim chapel by the pilgrim office.
That's a great tip! We went there for the Pilgrim dinner last time, on recommendation of S Yates I think, in that amazing dining room, but never stayed there. I'll make I do next time.
Thanks Rob I agree with you as we say in Ireland 🇮🇪 you are a man after my own heart I've been so lucky to have walked seven cominos i now believe that you're comino will never end no matter where you are the rest of your life will be your comino thanks again for your blogs lionel Ireland ps my thoughts are with the people of spain and Portugal because of the fires
Seven! That's great. I'll be doing as many as I can, while I can.........
Thank you for sharing these thoughts about the end of the Camino. It's been a week since I finished Valença do Minho - Santiago (small route, but it was my 1st and solo Camino, I was scared to do it alone and the distance seemed unattainable), I've done solo, and arrived at Santiago on a very busy Sunday. I cried a lot arriving at the cathedral, tears of joy and relief. After getting my Compostela and a much need bath at the hotel were I would spend the night (the next day would catch a bus to return home) I wondered through the streets of Santiago feeling overwhelmed, really sad and lonely for not having no one around to share my feelings. Came back to Lisbon and shared briefly the experience but I don't know anyone who knows what the experience is like. A week after, I dream every night that I'm walking the Camino and greeting all the anonymous familiar faces I met. I can't wait to return. This was a powerful experience for me. Once again, thank you for sharing this video.
Indeed, it sounds like a wonderful experience. If you want to share the experience with others, go where most of us go.......... there are even weekly Zoom chats. 😉www.caminodesantiago.me/community/
@@robscamino thank you so much. 🙏
I'm really enjoying your videos. Your voice is so relaxed and easy to listen to and I like the way you present the information. I'm fascinated to hear all about the Camino. Thank you from Cornwall UK.
Glad to hear you like them. 🙂
My first time reaching the plaza was very emotional. I walked from Porto alone and never really believed I could walk that far until I made it. I was happy and cried. The next year I arrived on a very busy Saturday and almost hated it. I'd walked the Inglés and was walking on to Muxia and Finistere. So it wasn't my end either. Finally sitting on the rocks at Finisterre I had time to just sit and be. That was my finale. I'm soon off to walk the CF from Logroño. I've no idea how my ending will feel but I do hope to avoid a weekend in Santiago again. I am looking forward to seeing the Cathedral in all it's glory and being able to walk through the Holy Door, God willing 😊
I'm sure your next Camino will be all you want it to be 🙂 Good tip, not to arrive on a weekend........
Thank you, Rob! What a lovely video. So well and wonderfully explained. I will definitely keep this in mind when I arrive. I leave for the Vía de la Plata in March 2023. Maybe I'll meet you there! 🙂
See you on the trail Traci 🙂
Traci and Rob for someone who has always had the desire to go, but not much courage for a solo trip, are there groups or church groups that i can connect with? Ive thought about it here and there for more than 20 yrs.
Thank you, Rob--very insightful and thought provoking. I have thought about this a lot as I look toward my first Camino. I have had a somewhat similar feeling at the end of long backpacking trips--but that is more the wilderness/civilization transition versus the Camino, where I think the transition/climax/ending is different. You have been part of a Camino society, along with nature, and that experience coming to an end is very unique. I have thought a lot about going out to Finisterre after Santiago (even by bike just for something different) and having my own end-of-Camino ceremony there. Or even having some Camino-ending act in the square in Santiago--nothing too public, mind you. I am a very sentimental, traditionalist, even a bit superstitious person (though not religious) so some final moment, some final action, will be very important to me.
A suggestion. Wait till you get there, and do what feels right at the time. You might have a Plan B up your sleeve. For me, in the absence of anything else, it will always be to take a day trip by Bus to Muxia (not Finisterre). To sit by the chapel on the rocks overlooking the Ocean. And gives thanks. Thanks for being able to undertake the journey. Thanks for the lessons I learned along the way. Thanks for opening my eyes to things I might not normally see. Thanks for the people I met along the way. Thanks for all that I have. And a promise. That I will never take things for granted. That I will always be grateful. And that I will try to be a better person for having undertaken this journey. Something like that, anyway. I'm usually in tears by that stage. 🙂 Then I'll sit quietly a while...... and reflect in the knowledge and the feeling, that a 'higher power' has led me all the way to this point. Because I felt it, so many times...... For those who have not walked a Camino yet, this may sound strange or a bit crazy. For those who have walked a Camino, I think it might make sense. You kind of 'have to have been there' to get it 🙂
Thank you Rob. My departure day is coming soon and your insights are greatly appreciated. As you suggest and because I will be doing it by myself, I am removing all expectations and take the time to take it all in instead. I do however expect to go on to Muxia & Finisterre with a friend who will be joining me in Santiago then return back to Santiago, spend the night there before getting the train back to Madrid where we will be spending 5 days with a few day excursions to Segovia & Avila before returning back home to Calgary.
Sounds like a wonderful plan! Don't miss the Tapas market in Madrid! mercadodesanmiguel.es/
@@robscamino Ahhh, great suggestion
Yes it was such a weird feeling - a mixture of satisfaction mixed with a high degree of anticlimax also. The cathedral was covered in scaffolding and we just stood and stared for ages. Some of it was down to the fact that I didn’t realize that the walk into Santiago was so long so I was tired and frustrated when I got there.
Yes the walk along the streets seems to take forever doesn't it....... Just looking at the guidebook, it's about 5 kms from Monto de Gozo to the Cathedral. Sometimes it seems longer 🙄
In 2019, when I did "the whole enchilada" SJPP to Santiago, my first thought when I got to the plaza was "Thank God this is over!", "I will never, ever, never, ever do this again", "Absolutely never, under no circumstances".
I think as time went by, it slowly dawned on me that my Camino was the most epic journey I had ever taken. Then the nostalgia hit (made worse by the 2020 lock-downs), and by 2021 I was ready to go back (but in smaller increments). Logroño to Leon 2021. Leon to Sarria 2022 (was supposed to be Leon to Santiago, but got walk ending sick first day out of Sarria). Haven't got the urge to go back 2023 yet, but I wouldn't bet against it...
Not that I have ever gone through Childbirth but, for the sake of the human race, I'm told Mother's forget what the pain was like......... I reckon the Camino is the same 🙄
What time of year did you go in 2021, 2022
Rob, I love your videos and they are so helpful as I prepare to go on My First Camino in May. I wonder if Pat may be interested in sharing her experience. I am walking solo, but I am hiring a sherpa service and hotels. 1st Camino from Tui and then, all is possible! I need to know how my body responds. My heart is ready. Buen Camino to all of us! with gratitude,
Silvia
I’ll see if I can get Pat onto a video. A ‘Sherpa’ service? We’ll that’s a First 🤔
@@robscamino Santiagosways transported my luggage from town to two as I have medical limitations and can carry minimal weight. They also arranged accommodations which was truly helpful. It was the experience of a lifetime. I travel solo... What I felt was that "El Camino Calls you..." and for me this was so powerful that I never felt alone.... Nature, pilgrims, locals, weather, all in synchrony to make me feel welcomed and embraced. On another note: your double socking secret+vaseline were fab! With gratitude for all you give us though your experience, Silvia from Argentina, living in NYC.
Hello Rob, I thoroughly enjoy all of your posts and videos. They have been extremely helpful and very insightful. I think I’ve seen them all at least two or three times. Can’t help it I’m OCD. I’m a 75-year-old male in Fairly good shape. I wanted to start my first Camino from Sarria. I believe I saw somewhere when traveling from Sarria in order to get your compostella at the end you could not take any rest days. Is that true thank you?
Hi. No not true. You can take as many rest days as you like, and walk as slow as you like. Take a month if you want to! But....... If you want the Compostela. (1) You must walk all the way and not skip any, or take any transport. (2) you must collect at least 2 stamps per day to show your progress. Always good to check the 'rules' here. oficinadelperegrino.com/en/pilgrimage/the-compostela/ I see on reading it, that you can do it in 'stages'. I don't know anyone who has done that, but it seems to imply you don't need to do it all in one go......... I would double check though.
@@robscamino Thank you for such a quick turnaround. It answers my question and I appreciate you looking into it for me. I will continue to enjoy your videos.
The entry to the Plaza via the stairs and having to turn the corner to the left is such an poor entry to a magnificent place and journey’s end!!
I actually quite like it. It's almost like a 'surprise' the first time, as you appear out of the 'tunnel' into the Plaza.......
Thanks Rob, I love your channel.
I am planning to do the Camino in May. How do I prepare my body to walk the Camino.
Do I have to walk and do physical training every day for months before I start the Camino.
An impossible question LOL. Some people do. I don't. I don't train at all. (But I should......a bit at least) Depends on your current level of fitness, how far you plan to walk in total, how far you plan to walk each day.......
I'm looking forward to being disappointed in just a few more days! I think that I'm "only" doing Sarria onwards will make that easier. Rob your guidance has been invaluable...and this time next week my pilgrimage from Sarria begins! On earlier videos you said you "overtrained" on your first one....I seem to have unfortunately taken the exact opposite approach!! 😆
At 55 years of age I am as excited as a teenager going to their first disco!
You'll have an amazing time! Just make sure to enjoy every step of the way. It's not about the destination 🙂 (secret. I no longer 'train' prior to a Camino) Maybe a bit of static bike, couple of kms walk a day. I might do a little bit closer to departure, like up and down the stairs in the local car park........that gets the legs burning. I just start out slow and build up.
We expect a full report on your return. Maybe an interview 🙂
Are you taking your Guitar? 🙂
@@robscamino I seriously thought about it (for about 10 mins)!!!
@Gerry Kane You'd be very popular ! And not the first 🙂
Aftet the whole way alone, at the last 93km (in Portomarin if I remember correctly) I decided to do it in 2 days, one of 63 km and a last small day at 30 km, but because it was a last challenge (I did a bunch of 45/50km on the way but never over 60km) I was a bit more proud of myself but I still struggled to feel any real pride or sense of accomplishment when I arrived in santiago (which is pretty sad but I'm working on it Hahah I'm still a young girl so I have time to build this ;) ). Anyway nice video (like always) ! :D
Wow, that's a huge finish! I think the most I have done in 34kms and I could barely walk the next day 😳 Maybe if you do it again, take the opposite approach, and slow down and savour the final days? See how that feels..........
@@robscamino But you say that you walk for long hours, I'm sure you could do it! I did the 63km in 11 hours (including meal time and small pauses) but if I had more time in the day I would've continued (and more importantly if I knew if the next few villages had opened albergues! I was also a bit scared as a young girl to be alone on the path later in the day...), I felt great the next day but I also think it's because of my nutrition (I only eat fruits, fruitarian and vegan on the camino was the best I could've ever felt! So much stable energy, not feeling heavy and great sleep). But I should have trained before going, I really didn't do any exercises for more than 2 years prior to do the camino, I think I could have done better if I trained before :/ I don't know if for my second one I'll go with someone but it will probably either 1. Slow me down and make me enjoy the calmness of it all or 2. Motivate me and make me set some new personal records ;) But I'll take in mind your advice ! ❤
@@hirondelle398 LOL. 63 kms in 11 hours. Let me explain why that would kill me....... 😊 (1) You are young, I am 65. it makes a difference! (2) You are fit, I am not. Though I'm working on it. (3) You are probably not vastly overweight. I was/am, but reducing fast..... (4) Due to all of the above, on 3 previous Caminos, I now have chronic injuries to my knees and tendons. Walking any distance over about 20 kms hurts, and usually requires painkillers to some degree. Walking over 30 kms in a day, hurts a lot! And will often enforce a rest day. (5) Due to all of that I walk quite slowly. Plus I like to walk slowly anyway, to savour the journey. So 63 kms in 11 hours with breaks included = 5.7 kph. My speed, breaks included is about 3.3 kph. 🙄 So the questions are. (a) Could I walk that far that fast? No. No way. (b) Would I want to? No 🙂 But hey, we all walk the Camino in our own way. Am I just a bit jealous of your abilities? No. Of course not. Not even a tiny bit? OK , OK, YES 😀
a good friend of mine is French Canadian. The first time he went to France he was shocked at how they spoke LOL.
I have just completed my fourth camino, this time the Primitivo and nothing compares to the feeling I had when I finished my first, I'm not ashamed to say that I got a bit emotional, it's aftwards when you start to ask yourself what now? I totally agree with you about Muxia,in my opinion it beats Fisterra hands down. Fisterra for me was a real anticlimax and it was only when we reached Muxia that I got that feeling of "closure"
I tend to agree. The first is very special. 🙂
Much as I love the Frances, I realise it's time to break out a bit. So VdlP next. Then I'm not sure if I'll manage another long one. Time and health. Primitivo maybe. But lots of the shorter remoter ones appeal. Like the Sanabres, Salvador, Vadiniense and others. And Pat can join me on those....... And then there are so may others......... and so little time. 😳 www.gronze.com/#todos
@@robscamino For me the Primitivo was the most physically challenging camino that I've done so far but visually also the best so I would recommend it. I'm also thinking of more remote caminos as I found the walk from Melide to Santiago a bit crowded 😁
@@stephenreid_66 Yes, having done the final 100 kms on the CF now I think I'm 'over it'. For anyone who has not walked it..........it's great. Don't misunderstand me. But after 3 times I'm happy to try other 'final stretches'.
@@robscamino last year we did the Portuguese and it was nice to come into Santiago from the other side
Yes, I found it a massive anti-climax. I didn't know anyone in the square. I also felt excluded by the unscientific mask rule at the cathedral which I didn't want to go through the pretence of and I gave that a miss also because the sight of everyone in masks would have only increased the feeling of anonymity and loneliness. Instead, I got a massage with a physio that revealed that I had a lot of muscle tightness on the verge of turning into cramps. Then, I went to a karaoke and sang a load of songs. That allowed me to turn it into something a bit more memorable and uplifting at the end. Next year, I will probably do a long distance trip by bike instead through Scandinavia.
It was my second camino, I started in Faro (Portugal), then went to Lagos and then up along the coast, taking in the Fisherman's way, highly recommended, then across a spit, with 2 ferries got to Lisbon, and took the Fatima route, then onto Porto and the coastal route.
Sounds like a great Camino. Sorry to hear of the ending. But it's all about the journey isn't it? Those are the memories we treasure. 🙂
Sound like a great Camino!
@@joanbelmont5450 There was one day I had where I left with a 500ml bottle of water and soon discovered that there wouldn't be another access to water for 24km! This wasn't flat ground either but had multiple hills, each of them challenging. The temperature out was in the early 30s. The one time I did find a tap outside a private house it was guarded by an alsatian, who wasn't on a lead and there was no fence. He wouldn't let me near it. Thankfully, I reached a town with water just in the nick of time. That was a close call but one of my favourite days on the camino because the countryside was epic and I felt it was truly testing myself to the limit, even if that hadn't been my intention.
I think the religious peregrinos found the arrival much more joyful ... if you are not religious is like , OK is a cathedral and a square... but you need to search your soul.... and you'll find so much there.
Indeed. Without getting into the whole thing about Religious intent v just hiking......... I think anyone with an ounce of Spirituality would find the whole Camino a 'Religious Experience' to some degree. And hence find the Cathedral, the Mass an emotional experience. Without that.......and you'd have to be fairly immune to it all. I'm not sure. Is it just a nice Hike? It's the reason I don't hike anywhere else. Not even at home. For me it's got very little to do with Hiking....... I digress. Yet again!
The only people experiencing an anti climax at the end of the Camino are the non Christians, who think it's a long walk.
Waste of a long walk, (not golf) imo.
on the last day I went to Mass in the cathedral and prayed near the traditional burial place of saint James (aka, Santiago).
For us Catholics, that's the climax.
Plus, if so, you missed the astonishing beauty of the newly renovated alter in the cathedral itself.
And the tomb of Santiago is beneath that, which you can visit after Mass.
I'm not sure its that simple....but an interesting perspective.
Even as a Catholic, I found I had mixed emotions as I entered the city. I was so happy to go to Mass and to celebrate. At the same time, I was disappointed by the touristy feel of the place. However, I think my feelings of disappointment actually started after Sarria as the way got more crowded and noisy. I really enjoyed the quiet meditative parts of the Camino in the first 3/4 of my walk and the opportunities for prayer at the many churches along the way. It was after I got back home that I could see (as Rob said) that my Camino wasn't over and that God was still teaching me.
Thanks Rob for reminding us that the Camino is different for each of us and that it is best to just enjoy "your Camino" as it happens. I hope anyone who wants to walk the Camino gets the chance to go. I changed my life.