FOREWORD: I completed the El Camino de Santiago – an 800km spiritual pilgrimage across Spain in late Summer of 2009. I journalled and photographed my trip, and as a final completion I agreed to publish my journal and pictures a year to the day of my journey.

STATS: Walked 27kms (16.7 miles)

9:27am I left mum to catch the bus this morning at 7am and have walked 8kms this morning. It is great. It is so nice to be back at my old pace. It is amazing how the whole dynamic has started to shift as we get close to the end. The sunrise this morning was completely breathtaking and as I write this I know that it is doubtful whether I will remember it and with that realisation I know that life is about being jazzed and exhilarated in every moment and to live my life in a consciousness of that. Much peace in my heart.

10:29pm A truly beautiful day, and such a beautiful walk and my knee pain has finally completely cleared so I did the 27km with ease and grace and was finished by 3pm. Met mum at the hotel that we agreed on, and she had had a 3 and half hour massage and was very happy. We bought her a knee brace, which was a hilarious experience. I have to share. So we walk into the chemist, and the way they do things in Spain is very different to how things are done in all the other countries I have ever been to in the world. For example it is considered extremely bad form to touch or fondle fruit in a fruit shop or super market. You know how we go up to the avo display and pick up a few avos, inspect a couple until we decide on the one we want. In Spain that is just unheard of, they have gloves provided or the shop keeper will do it for you. Well I guess chemists are a little the same, but we didn’t really know that. So mum and I start going through the boxes of elasticised braces and start trying them on. I knew we were asking for trouble but I plan to just feign ‘ tourist’ if we got in trouble. Anyway, mum find one she likes, and slips it on her knee to see how it fits. It was a little tight but we were ok with it. Next thing the boss man Chemist comes over to us and is so peeved and upset that he cannot speak. He starts to go red in the face, and storms off mumbling in Spanish. Turns out he couldn’t speak English and was summoning his English speaking assistant to come and deal with us. The lady comes over and starts to explain that we cannot do this, and then ever so politely points out that my mother currently has an elbow brace suffocating her knee. Well mum and I were in hysterics at this point, and tried to keep it together as we removed the elbow brace, and allowed the lady to sell us a knee brace, while we suppressed our fits of giggles. We could not stop laughing the whole night.

We had a lovely dinner on the river bank and laughed and laughed.

There is a service on the Camino were taxi drivers will courier your back pack ahead to the albergue or hotel in the next town for a small fee of three or four euro. It is controversial and because it is relatively cheap it is a huge temptation. When I think about it and the potential damage I have done to my hips and knees by walking with this heavy pack for so many hours for so many days, it seems really like only a really stubborn die-hard person would not use this service. But in the spirit of the Camino it is quite frowned upon. With mum’s sore knees we decided to send her bag ahead, and booked accommodation as well. It was just easier that way. So we are slowly settling into a routine. I am looking forward to tomorrow. We only have about 5 days of walking left, divine and a huge completion. I am feeling ready to complete, and out of everything I just feel so calm in my mind. I see how just as I used to have the emotional stories that I would tell myself, that crippled me, I also have the mental stories that keep me in my limitation and I am now conscious and free of them.

I also realised that I want to really pick up my service to MSIA (my spiritual group) as a key component of my life decisions in Sydney and I know as long as I have that as the corner stone of my life I will be fine. Thanks be to God.

Today at lunch, there were a couple of us who had gathered. We all sat on separate tables and minded our own business, but we are like a little family. One of the ladies who had been in our loose group, Ingrid, was suffering really badly with feet trouble. SHe had put in a mammoth effort, shuffling along today, and she made the decision at lunch to get a cab the rest of that days stretch. As she got in the cab we spontaneously applauded her. It was so touching. I am not sure if the applause was for her mammoth effort she had put in or the courage and bravery to call that cab. It was poignant moment, and I was honoured to witness it.

Along the way today I came across this beautiful house and inside it was a British artist. This man, Art Lowe had walked the Camino a few years ago and was so touched by the experience he sold up everything bought this little house and was selling his art. I was touched. We all have these romantic ideas and few of us act on them. My dream is to buy a farm house and make a little bar. I passed the site on about day 5. Took pictures and everything to show my architect! Ha ha…dream on!

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