Alone but not Alone

There is a saying here that goes,

"You are never alone on the camino"

There is another that says,

"You walk your own camino"

These link two very separate concepts that I have realised through my own walk and through watching others. I have had the pleasure to start my walk on my own, then be joined by my sister and my boyfriend. Dan is about to leave tomorrow and we have just finished our last walk together into Sarria. I start from here, the last 100 km to Santiago on my own again.

In Santiago to get the Compostela and the free ticket into heaven you have to walk the last 100km under your own steam. Sarria is just over 100km away and a lot of people stuck for time start from here. I am 5 days away from that cathedral, from the end of the Christian pilgrimage and the start if the pagan one to finistere.

Dan initially joined me as my support, as a tag along, kind of just to see me, but by the end he had been totally head over heels been converted to a peregrino, in mind, soul and body. He had changed from being there for me, to being there for himself. It was amazing to see the transformation, so quickly from that to this.

I think you can tell by how often people start to smile and greet others, of your growing affection for the little hamlets and fields and sudden unexpected revulsion of the big city. How time becomes monitored in kilometres, coffee stops and foot pain. And how amazingly fast twenty kilometers gets eaten up by your own two legs.

I guess what I'm trying to say was that even though you may come to the camino with someone, it becomes your own. Only you can experience the pain, the pleasure, the views of breathtaking brevity, the wonderful love of lying flat for long periods of time and how amazing octopus can taste in front of a fire on top of a mountain.

You walk it on your own, nobody can make your legs move for you, (well you could get a bus but PLEASE, ugh) you carry your own pack, you walk as far as you can, or want. The people who you choose to walk with are just that, a choice. So I thank you Dan, for choosing me.

Now that he is gone, I walked from Sarria to Portomarin on my own. However I have met twelve people today who I have met before, the lovely Marcella who I shared a coffee stop with, Claire and Reina who chatted about life and counselling, a few I only bumped into once or twice in hostels or hotels or albergues. I just met two German girls Dan and I met two nights ago and I have been invited to dine with them tonight. I'm sharing a room tonight with a woman I met with my sister in Astorga who told us to put panty liners in our shoes to help with slipping and blisters. And I have been invited to a showing of a documentary on the camino in Santiago at 8pm on Wednesday the 5th if June.

So many people! So many things! So never alone, ever on the camino.

Plus it was a gorgeous day and I only got accosted by cows twice.

Bittersweet start, fantastic middle, sleepy end.

Buen camino my people!

Ps- This blog is for Dad because he won't stop harassing for more. Xx love you!