One of the traditions on the camino is that the walk actually finishes at Finisterre (or Fisterra if you are Galician!). As you may well know, Finisterre gains its name from being literally the end of the known land up to the times of Columbus. One can imagine standing here and gazing westward and in medieval times really believing that beyond the horizon “there be dragons and monsters”.
These days we know that Finisterre is not really the most western part of Europe, and, thanks to Columbus, we know that there are no monsters and dragons beyond that particular horizon.
But in the early years of the camino, that was the belief. It was also the belief that the pilgrim, having ended his journey also symbolically ended his old way of life by burning his clothes. These days for environmental reasons if nothing else, that practice is frowned upon. There is, however, plenty of evidence exists to show that pilgrims still burn something – perhaps a shoe or a pair of socks or something. As I have noted before, we contented ourselves with each throwing a small piece of greenstone into the sea.
Now having been finished the camino a week, we can reflect more on what te camino has meant to us. We have had some practice today in trying to explain to others what the experience has been for us and it is plain that it is not easy to convey the full impact of this walk. We will have to choose our words carefully when we get home! One of the physical things is that we have both lost weight and we are not keen to regain that. Keeping up a regime of walking and eating less will be important. The mental challenge has left us stronger and we look forward to seeing effect that will have. One possibility is to consider hiking at least part of the Appalacian Trail in eastern USA. Another is to put together a written record of the trip, made up of the diary notes, photos and the blogs. I am not that naive to believe that anyone else would actually want to read it, but it would be primarily for my own use.
The spiritual challenge has also left us stronger and I am really looking to see how that will impact on my work as I return to the team ministry I left some 4 months ago.
I apologise for an element of repetition with this message and the last. I hope that doesn’t annoy you too much.
Best wishes and God bless,
Alan
Marin, Spain.
roweallstars 