Although we had planned to walk to Muxia first, we decided to stick with our new youth minister friend, Molly, since it will be just Luke and I in Fatima, and company is always a joy. It was a last minute decision to go to Finisterra first with her, but it was a good one. The Catholic company was refreshing and the sunset, stunning.
I’m not sure when the tradition of walking to the coast, after Santiago, developed. It is sort of the after party to the Camino. We just walked 30 days, so what is 3 or 4 more? It is also really cool to be able to say that we walked the entire length of Spain, from the Pyrenees to the Atlsntic. Fisterra comes from the Latin (finis terrae) meaning “the end of the world” since it is a peninsula that juts far out into the ocean.
Here are two screenshots of Google maps, I’m facing West both times.
The hike was difficult with a lot of elevation changes, which made for a long day. Although we’re kind of used to the length, I’m looking forward to our last day of hiking tomorrow to Muxia. From there we will take a bus back to Santiago on Wednesday and another to Fatima, hopefully on the same day.
We’ve been experiencing a lot of ends lately. We finished the Camino proper in Santiago. Today we’re at the end of the world, and tomorrow is the last day of hiking. I’m looking forward to Fatima where I’ll hopefully have the time to further process some of these experiences and to share some more in depth reflections.
– Michael