Oct 9, 20178 min read

Day 35: the end… of the world

Updated: Sep 10, 2022

Day 35: Oliovera to Cape Finisterre. 38km. 10 hours

And that’s that. Ive walked across Spain.

35 days. 887kms. Laughs, tears, pain, smiles, screams and everything in between.

I cannot beleive it. I did it. Its taken me two days to write this because i dont really believe that its over. Or to be quite honest, i just couldnt be bothered writing. I need sleep and about 5 weeks of it.

It is the most overwhelming, calm, relieving thing ever. I almost cant put into words what it was like to sit at cape finisterre lighthouse and watch the sun go down and as the last speck of sun went over the horizon, that was it. My camino was over.

It was like the last 5 weeks didnt even happen. As if it were a dream. It doesnt feel real. Yet the utter exhaustion my body feels tells me otherwise. The look of my feet and my ombre tan lines are an ugly reminder too.

I feel like ive exited a bizarre social science experiment, crossed between a rehab program and an intense personal training torture session.

I feel im part of an elite group of people who are just crazy to even think of walking across a country but can now say they have. Should have really chosen a country like samoa or something and been done in 2 days.

–>–

But for austerity here goes.

The day started at 730am. One last dark start. Only this time no sunrise. It was so foggy and humid. I knew we had 38km to walk today and it was incredibly hard to not get ahead of myself and celebrate making it because after 34 days, 38kms is a long walk!

This morning we met the most interesting character. A 77 year old man who has been walking for 14 years. 14 years?! I went to say hes crazy but i stopped myself and just thought ‘thats sad’. Why? What is he walking from? Does he have family? I have so many questions. Today was his final day too… for now.

We stopped for breakfast at a cafe and because there was literally nothing the next 12kms, i may have eaten close to 10 peices of toast and a pan au chocolat. The lady at the cafe thought i was making a mistake with my spanish but anna jumped in and said yes she does really want another serving of toast. But you know what, i dont care in the slightest! May as well go out in style. Fit but fat.

Pretty sure i went into a deep state of regret 10 minutes later when i had a break down in the toilet telling myself that im utterly done, cant walk another step and since im pretty much there i should just call a taxi. Close is good enough right. B’s get degrees.

Anna, grappling with the revoulting stench of her pack straps (‘can you smell that?! Sniff it! Im a mess!’), pulls me out of it and tells me we can do it!

So before leaving the cafe we buy ourselves each an aquarius (the electrolyte drink i have an unhealthy dependency on now thanks to that fateful day) and said we will walk for 2 hours and stop and treat ourselves to our aquarius before continuing to walk the rest of the way to the next town. Away we go.

For the first time in 2 weeks, today i didnt feel the need to listen to music. Im not sure whether it was me savouring the sounds of birds, the breeze, or even the sound of silence at times but i just didnt want to listen to music. It was a day of reflection. I went through nearly every day of the camino in my head. A highlights reel. And oh boy, a lowlights reel. I would go through all the people i had met. Vividly remembering their faces and wondered where are they now? Did they make it to santiago? Did they stop? Did they get injured? Did they find what they were looking for? Were they happy?

I hoped my sweet irish man Shermus, had made it. I imagined he was now home with his wife and telling his grandchildren camino stories by his fire.

I dont know why but i have a strong sense of assurance that my cranky little blue man made it to the end. I hoped that he would find joy in his life. If he would just let people in.

What were my adopted australian dads up to back home? Will I get that lexus i have been promised on my return?

Did the beautiful south african surgeons Dennis and Megan enjoy the rest of their walk? And then I remembered the look they would give us. A look of wonder and amazement.

Did Nicholas my bunk buddy from night 1 complete the Camino Norte?

Have those 60 pilgrims i took on an unnecessary hour long scenic walk that morning taken home a lesson not to just blindly follow the crowd?

Did that fat rude american man get lost? I hope so. (Kidding. Jess & anna might say otherwise but im not that mean).

So many questions and it all just ends and you leave without answers.

Anna and i make it to the 2 hour mark and just find a patch of shade next to the track. It had been 30+ degrees, full sun now since 11am. We lie down, we open those cans, cheers and then notice the bit of used toilet paper in between us at our feet. ‘Maybe it was just used as a tissue…?’ I say. The look on annas face says otherwise. But its just too much effort to move any more. We stay.

We carry on and not far ahead come over a hill and in shock we see the sea and realise we are looking at the lighthouse. Cape Finisterre. The end of the world. Or at very least the end of the camino!

It was some sight! I jumped and squealed like a girl.

Down a steep forestry road we descend to a coastal village where we stop and buy one more fresh jamon and queso bocadillo to take away. We head to the park and with our shoes and socks off enjoy a well earned break. Both falling asleep on the grass. I told you we were tired.

10 kilometers left. I just assumed the path would meander alongside the coast. Nah, kill us with a few more steep hills and a forest until finally 2 kilometres out from Finisterre we stop at a beach kiosk/bar for an almond magnum. (Im going to put 10kg back on quick smart if i keep this diet up post camino). We justify everything. We order a beer. We earnt it. We sit there and then both looking out to sea, look back at each other and say lets go in. So then and there we strip to our underwear and run straight over that beach and dive right in. We had made it to the Atlantic. We were stoked! Others watching may have thought we to be out of our minds but why change our reputation now?

We werent even finished the camino. Still 5km to go! So we put our clothes back on, socks and sandals and backpacks back on for one final walk.

At 630pm we stroll into Finisterre, pick up wine, cheese, chorizo a baguette and a couple of blocks of chocolate for sunset. After checking in to a private room with a bathroom (Hallelujah) we both laid on our beds in disbelief. We only had 2.4km to go to the lighthouse. We were pretty much there.

2.4km uphill to the lighthouse. We walked like we were free. No packs. It was as if we hadnt already done 33kms that day or the 887km before. And then there it was. The 0.00km sign. Just sitting there. No reference to the kilometres you had done. Just 0.00.

We hugged. We smiled. We laughed in disbelief. We. Were. Done.

We took a photo up at the cross, while the dirty old french man we had asked to take the photo just shouted ‘Naked! Naked! Naked!’ We ask him what his name was – ‘François’. And anna and i laugh because at dinner with Gino the other night he told us and i quote ‘i have met the worst human in the world. His name is François!’ Francois fits the description… the camino provides one last time.

I couldnt walk any further. Figuratively and literally. I would have been off the cliff and that wouldnt have been a great end.

We find a rock to sit on to watch sunset. Open our wine and enjoy the most well deserved, rewarding sunset of my life.

Made even better by all the couples dotted around sitting kn the rocks cuddling. Meanwhile single anna and i are stuffing our faces with rolled up pieces of cheese and chorizo, alternating with swigs of the wine bottle because we arent classy enough for glasses. ‘Cheers to us!’ We say.

As the sun set I felt so at peace. I got goosebumps and such a sense of pride and i just felt overjoyed. I sat smiling in awe.

As luck would have it we struck a full moon. So as the sun set, the moon rose. And as fitting an end could be to our camino, we forgot our headlamps so like every other morning we stumbled our way home in the dark under the moonlight. Only this time we didnt get lost. There was no way in hell i would do any extra kilometers today!

We hopped into bed and both sat there devouring our blocks of chocolates. Because after all we had just walked 887kms. We earnt that luxury.

Tomorrow there would be no alarms. No huge sighs of ‘whyyyyyy?’ As you wake up. No packing of bags. No walking.

–/–

These 5 weeks have been the longest 5 weeks of my life. In the most satisfying way. Im so enriched having met all these different people, learning about other cultures, watching how different people interact and I have been incredibly blessed with the people ive met, who have cared for me, looked out for me, loved me.

Im amazed and in awe at the human body. What it can withstand and also what it cant handle. Im fortunate to only have had blisters and a sore back, it could have been so much worse.

The camino was never about walking. It was always the people. And the two most important people on this journey… Jessica and Anna. Together we were the three amigas, kindred spirits, blister sisters, nathans honeys, the crazy ones, the camino chic socks and sandals rockers. Those girls are two of the most beautiful souls i have met and this camino would have been a completely different experience without them. Every step of the way they were just the purest form of themselves and it enabled me to just be me. We successfully laughed across Spain. We had deep thought provoking conversations. We shared terrible jokes.. (knock knock…) and other times we questioned why… why did we do this. All i know is that their love and positive attitudes got me through.

I have re-realised just how easy it is for me to make friends, to break down walls with strangers. Ive come to realise that this is a gift and i need to use it. All through this walk the words ‘show love’ have been in the forefront of my mind. And that’s what we all need to do. Show love.

I question why we arent so bold in our everyday life to speak to strangers like we do here on the camino. Within 30 seconds you know the persons name, where they live, why theyre walking and an honest answer of how they are. And then when you run into them again days or weeks later, when asked ‘how have you been?’ they dont answer ‘good’ or ‘busy’. You get a real answer, an answer that conversation can stem from, not one that shuts conversation off.

I know i feel my happiest around people, helping them, walking alongside them. But in thiz Ive also learnt that i aneed the time to take care of me too.

I only hope that the people i met on the camino, were some way touched by the love i showed them. All i wanted from the outset was to make their journeys more enjoyable.

So for one last time… ‘buen camino!’

R. X