It is the last night before I reach Santiago de Compostela, a journey of 126 klms if you only count the time on the Camino. My watch app tells me I have walked over 200,000 steps equivalent to 160 klms.

I have walked through little villages that I had only read about as I followed other Pilgrims journeys over the years, dreaming of when I would someday be here. I have slept in hamlets where it is so quiet I could hear my own breath and I have slept in cities where the noise of people has been overwhelming. I have followed the paths treaded by many before me and been in awe at the thought that I am walking on the path carved out by others so long ago.

Galicia was formed in what is called the Copper Age around 4,500 to 1,500 BC. This was the first great culture to inhabit Galicia and their strength was in construction and architecture.
The Bronze Age came next when a new importance of metals led to intense mining for production of weapons and ornamental bronze and gold objects and jewellery.

The Galicians were originally a Celtic people’s prior to the arrival of the Roman Empire in 19 BC to 410 AD. The influence of both the Celts and the Romans is evident today in structures still standing from centuries long gone now.
I have sat in chapels built in the 12th century and that are still used today. It is so humbling to know you are in a place where for centuries people have found comfort in handing their troubles over to a higher power. This part of the country is such a contrast to the throwaway world we live in. It is hard for me to grasp what it is really like for people who live here.
I expect like most places there are people with more financial means than others but it seems to me that when the cost of food and accommodation is so cheap then it follows that wages also must be low. I pass by homes that have been beautifully restored and where it is clear there is some wealth and I wonder what it is like for the average workers. Things like electricity infrastructure appear to be quite primitive with overhead wires crisscrossing the streets and running through trees, although on the train from Madrid to Sarria I saw large solar farms and I had several days of walking toward big wind turbines.
I have spent 10 days and evenings with a group of beautiful women from other parts of the globe, supporting and encouraging each other as we journeyed through our individual Caminos not just the physical actions of walking the up and down hills but possibly some of our internal Caminos. It seems to me that the internal journey is the more important one, we can all walk, we have no disability stopping us, it is the other that we come here to achieve. Some, like me, have been grappling with the idea of retirement and what will be next. I know now that I am ready for the ‘what next’ part of my life and that excites me.
Life is a journey not meant to be lived in one place. So Carpe Diem and remember, if you get it wrong, you get a chance to try something different tomorrow.