Camino de Santiago Portugues - Day 23

Daily Overview

• Summary of the Day: All Of the Camino routes all over Spain and Portugal converge and end at Santiago de Compostela. Sort of. There is a long standing tradition for pilgrims who arrive in Santiago (if they are able) to continue their pilgrimage onward to a place called Finesterre. Before the discovery of the Americas, Finesterre was the furthest most point west that anyone could travel to, hence it’s name “the end of the world”. We had discussed walking to Finesterre in the early stages of planning our Camino but it looked like a stretch to do it. It’s another fifty miles through some pretty mountainous terrain. We decided to take a bus from Santiago to Corcubion a town about eight miles from Finesterre and do this as our final walk on the Camino. Walking over the mountain to the coast and along the coast to Finesterre was stunningly beautiful. The pictures below barely touch it. We were wanting to eat something early when when got here but we went to the grocery store and got bread and cheese to eat instead because of course all the restaurants stop serving food promptly at 4:30 in Spain and don’t open again until 7:30. Hey is it Ok for me to come here and eat wearing my pajamas? We wanted to eat early because after that we walked a couple miles to the lighthouse at the far tip of Finesterre to watch the sunset at the end of the world.

  It was the highlight of the day. Watching the sunset set with a 180 degree view of the ocean. Unbelievable.

  
  

• What we planned to do: Catch an early morning bus to Corcubion and walk the remaining eight miles to Finesterre (the end of the world) and watch the sunset there.

Moments and Images

• Images from the Way Today: 

  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  

  Notice Jonathan kneeling beside the only Camino marker with 0.0 km - there’s no place left to go at the end of the world

  
  

• Beautiful Spot of the Day:

  

  A view from the Camino with Finesterre in the distance

• Spiritual Meditative Moment: Sitting on the cliffs at Finesterre watching the sunset with probably fifty other people from all over the world. It was sublime.

  
  

• What Church We Visited: 

  

  A church in Corcubion

• People we experienced: This farmer we encountered on our walk to Finesterre. He was standing beside his John Deere tractor. We’re dedicating this photo to Bill Simmons. I guess John Deere lovers are everywhere. Even at the end of the world.

  

• Unexpected Surprises: While we were waiting for the sunset to arrive out at the lighthouse there was a lady maybe twenty feet away trying to set up her phone on a rock to take a picture. I told Jon to go over and help her with her pictures. She was very appreciative and a little while after that she came over and gave us each a little piece of candy as a thank you. We found out she was from Austria.

  Also when the sunset finally ended and the sun disappeared beneath the horizon there was a wave of applause from the people present. Like after a fireworks display. I hope you heard that God.

  
  

• Animal/Nature or local life: 

  So you sit down outside to eat some bread and cheese and all of a sudden every bird in the vicinity wants to be friends.

Reflections and Learnings

• Reflections from Today: 

  Walking the Camino has been one of the most challenging, inspiring life altering things we have ever done in such a short amount of time. Where these alterations will lead is still to be revealed but one things for certain, when you come to the end of one world there is almost certainly another to be discovered and explored. We’re counting on it.

  
  

• "Well, that was hard": Purchasing bus tickets for Finesterre and navigating the whole bus system in Spain was challenging for us. Jon downloaded the tickets on his phone but a glitch with google translate named the button that brought up the ticket CANCEL. Great the only way to bring up your ticket on your phone is to hit the cancel button. Plus when we bought the bus tickets to Finesterre for a little while we couldn’t figure out how to get tickets back to Santiago because all the buses were full (of pilgrims no doubt)

  

  
  

• "What helped me today": The numerous people who offered to take pictures of us for us together. It’s the kindest thing.

• "Something I learned": Legend says that a sunset at the end of the world opens a portal to another realm. After today I don’t doubt it.

  

  
  

• "Insight for the day": What if God isn’t interested in grandiose displays of spiritual discipline and great theological understanding? What if things like generosity to strangers or kindness to those who can’t pay us back, or genuine appreciation for the smallest expressions of grace are a bigger deal.

  
  

• "Mystical occurrences": At one point walking through the woods to Finesterre the trail seemed to extend right into the sea. It was very strange.

  

Camino de Santiago Portugues Video of the day

A panorama of the bay from Finesterre

Daily Conclusion

• Gratitudes (1–3 things I'm thankful for):

  This hotel we’re staying at has a breakfast buffet in the morning. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  Thankful to see what it feels like to ride a bus instead of walking, turns out it’s a lot faster

  Had a chance to talk to Heidi and Chester (our dog) on the phone

Thanks to each of you for following along with us on our pilgrimage and for all the prayers and words of encouragement you’ve sent our way. This will be our last post from here at the end of the world - our prayer for you today is the same one that was prayed for us on our pilgrimage

May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, may the rain fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of his hand

Jeff & Sandy & Jonathan