Details from your pilgrimage! Pix if possible!
Kit!
I have returned! It was an incredible journey and an amazing adventure. It's so hard to boil down an experience that took 7 weeks into something you can post in a few words or paragraphs. I'm not even sure I've really processed it myself yet. We experienced some wonderful things, but also some really difficult times too. I guess you have to have both to have a true adventure!
We saw a lot of beautiful terrain --- crossing over the Pyrenees, through the river valleys, the pastures and farmlands, the vineyards, across the plains, through medieval villages, into major cities, then back into the mountains. I really felt like we crossed a country.
The towns and villages we walked through were so special. Some of these places have stood since the Roman times or even earlier. We walked on Roman road and crossed Roman bridges. You can really feel the history in these places. Sometimes the Camino passed directly through a ruin.
We met people from all over the world. The Camino is the easiest place I've ever found for meeting people and making friends. Everyone is on a common journey, and there are hundreds, probably thousands, of peregrinos on the Camino at any time. Everyone recognizes a fellow peregrino, and it's the most natural thing to start a conversation, whether there's a common language or not. There were so many people, peregrino and otherwise, who went out of their way way to be kind and helpful to us. And there were many opportunities for us to be kind and helpful to others too. It's the kind of thing that can renew your faith in humanity!
I'm not a person who is particularly religious or even spiritual, but there were some very profound moments for me on the Camino. I can't really relate it all here, but there were times and places that were very meaningful to me. I'll tell you all about it when I see you.
And I did not forget to bring you a stone! I've got a small stone from Muxia. Tha Camino traditionally ends in Santiago de Compostela, believed to be the final resting place of Saint James. But even before the discovery of the relics of Saint James, people were making the pilgrimage through the region and out to what was believed to be the "end of the world" at Finistere. But Muxia, just up the coast from Finistere, also claims to be the end of the Camino, and apparently ancient pilgrims used to go there too. Muxia is much nicer than Finistere, so your stone is from Muxia.
I do have pics, but unfortunately, I have around 2,000 pics! Let me trim that down a bit and I'll post some or post a link to something I've put together about our pilgrimage.
I'm looking forward to seeing you at a launch and telling you all about it!