👣 Noire Pilgrim: Fisterra

My life’s path led me here to Fisterra after 1400 kilometers through Spain. I began this journey in my mind. It started as a thought, dormant and always there. I just didn’t know it. Perhaps it guided everything that I did in my life, unconsciously, waiting for me to awaken from the dream. Or was it a nightmare of all the experiences that molded me from the clay of the earth? As it inevitably must, thoughts transform to solid reality and things that eventually harden and crumble to dust. Finally, it and I will join the ancestral cosmic dust cloud in the never-ending universe.

Is it the end?

No. Fisterra is simply the end of the camino and my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Not as a religious end but more as another means to observe humanity. It was the implementation of my usual “see with my own eyes” exercise that shields me from the clamor of untruths that I am urged to believe in everyday life. It allows me to resist the persistent “could be, would be, should be” clarion call of the modern world to believe anything without question.

When I arrived in Santiago, I considered myself done with the official walking on the camino path. I wanted to go to Fisterra but had no desire to walk another ninety kilometers to get there. To do so seemed anticlimactic. After spending two days in Santiago, I boarded a bus headed for “the end of the world”. The bus was full of pilgrims, who like me, lacked the inclination, energy, or time for more walking. I sat next to a peregrina from Germany who walked the camino Frances during her work holiday.

I sensed the same relief and joy of accomplishment of completing a camino, whichever one, from the other passengers on the bus. The two and a half hour ride was relaxing and strangely comforting.

We finally reached Fisterra and everyone went to their hotels or hostels. I stayed at a very nice hotel close to the bus stop. After checking into my room, I rested for a little while.

It was late in the afternoon and still siesta time in town. The market was open, so I picked up some wine, cheese, meat, bread for a quiet treat in my room.

Then I thought I would walk on to the lighthouse and the “end of the world” at the ocean today instead of tomorrow.

More walking in Fisterra

The walk was 3 kilometers uphill on a path next to the road along the coast.

It felt good to sit down at this spot.

Here is a closeup of the marker.

There were not many people there. More people arrived as it got later. The hardy ones were waiting for sunset at 10:15 that night. I wanted to be back in my hotel room before then.

The zero marker is living proof that the camino is over.

Here is an even closer look.

Day 2 in Fisterra

Breakfast was a nice buffet that the hotel laid out for guests. It was a nourishing way to start the day. Finding a meal can be difficult because, still, pilgrims’ hours and the town’s hours can be totally out of sync.

I walked around the pier for a bit and wandered down some narrow streets where there were shops. I really did not feel like shopping. Already, I changed. Traveling with a backpack with all of the clothes and supplies that I needed for almost three months showed me that I can live with less. I appreciate that. I am thinking that when I return home, I will be getting rid of a lot of things that I thought I needed.

Finally, restaurants are opening. Many people are just drinking anything cold to combat the heat and sun. It is difficult to pick a place to eat. My little trick is to walk the length of the pier and catch a sneaky glimpse at what people are eating.

Time to move on

Now, it is time to move on to many more new chapters in my life. Well done to everyone including my new friends who helped me in many ways on the camino.

And well done to me.

Being at this spot was poignant and marked the spiritual and technical end of the pilgrimage.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. 
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Next time:

Back to Santiago for a couple of days before I begin preparations to return home. 

See you there.

Baadaye and Buen camino

Shirley J ♥️

Song of the day: All Around the World by War

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This and several posts this summer chronicled my pilgrimage in Spain where I walked the 1400 kilometer-long Mozárabe, Via de la Plata, and Sanabres caminos to reach Santiago de Compostela and beyond. Read my announcement here.

My YouTube channel – Noire Pilgrim By Shirley J – features mini videos, snippets, and shorts from my pilgrimage on the camino.

♥️Shirley was here!