Starting El Camino (Ferrol)

by marjasisu, posted in Reflections

Sisters, walking. That’s what this is — but so much more.

The challenges of walking El Camino (“The Way”) in Spain began even before our first step. So we got a head start on the “resilience” part. 😄 Now, with the start and first mile behind us, we look forward. One step at a time. The story in photos and captions below, as oldest sibling Ginny (79) and youngest Mary (67) begin El Camino.

Our plane left Madrid (Spain’s capital) through random clouds after an 8-hour delay. It was a long and tiring travel day — 2 planes and 2 taxis (and subsequent natural irritability) — to reach…
… the port city of Ferrol on the northwest tip of Spain. (See blue dot.)
Ferrol is home to a Navy base. (I have an urge to visit. I worked with many countries while in the Navy, but never Spain.) It’s also home to…
…our first overnight accommodation on El Camino, this modest but clean hostel. We arrived here after 1 a.m., glad for a private room with two beds and a bath. (Some accommodations on El Camino involve shared baths.)
Ginny’s friend, Peruvian-born Maria (left), set up this trip. This is her 4th walk, and she regularly volunteers — for example, checking in pilgrims at the finish. Even now (late October), at least 2,000 pilgrims a day finish some part of  El Camino. (You must complete at least 100km, or 62 contiguous miles, to receive documentation for a “completion.”)
From here, it’s 112km to Santiago. This route is called Camino Inglese (English Way) because the original pilgrims from England tended to start here, being the closest spot (by sea) to the U.K. This was our first sight of the yellow arrows we will follow for the next week.
We’re excited to start, even veteran Maria.
I like the old fashioned signs more than the colorful new ones. You know that thousands have passed by this very spot, over hundred of years. ( The first pilgrim walked in the 9th century.)
We found our way to the office to check in and get our first credential stamp.
This is “Kilometer 0” of Camino Ingles.
Just outside the office, this mural of walkers without facial characteristics reminds us that differences disappear while walking “The Way” because it’s a universal experience.
We received our “pilgrims credentials” by mail before leaving the U.S.
Inside the office, we received our first of many stamps. (Sort of like a passport.)
The first stamp looks like this.
As soon as we got our stamp and left the office, we were “walking the Camino.” How do we know? These yellow arrows, on buildings or on the ground. As it turns out, our 1-mile walk back to our hostel was “on the route.”  So, we’ve already begun! Yay!
We will follow the arrows for the next week. I hope they’re easy to find because I expect to walk alone quite a bit.
After checking in, it seemed appropriate to stop into the first church we encountered to offer prayers for those we are taking along in our hearts, and to set an intention. (I will be praying along the way for two close friends with cancer. And for myself, as I adjust to unwanted changes. I’m sure more prayers will come to mind.)
This painting in the church represents purgatory and struck me as disturbing but instructive. I wasn’t raised Catholic, so the concept remains unclear to me. But I can relate to feeling in limbo, or between stages…a work in progress!
This flag in the church honors “pilgrims of hope,” the English-speaking people who crossed the sea to this spot to seek redemption or insight (or both) on El Camino. So we’re joining a big club.
Ferrol itself was a mixture of unkempt structures and ornate ones like this.
As it’s nearly Hallowe’en (originally, “All Hallows’ Eve”), candy storefronts had some interesting displays, including these “saints’ bones.”
This fellow — I assume it’s a man — apparently represents penitent monks. The peeked hood and robes naturally reminded me of the Ku Klux Klan. Notice how our own culture colors everything we see?
If this represents the kind of food we will eat in Spain, I’m all in! Scallops, like I’ve never had them before. Yum.
Tomorrow we begin to walk in earnest… nine miles for the first day. (Many pilgrims do 15 miles a day.) We begin at that blue dot. If you keep following our journey, you will see us eventually arrive in Santiago de Compostela – assuming no mishaps. But as we often said on the personal-boat journey called The Great Loop, it’s not the destination that matters but the journey. Onward!
May the oldest and youngest of Harold and Lempi’s seven kids each find what they are looking for in the walk ahead, even if they don’t know exactly what it is. Or, especially if they don’t.  One recommendation when walking  “The Way” is to put aside expectations and remain open to what comes. Yes.

3 thoughts on “Starting El Camino (Ferrol)”

  1. Very cool Mary!

    Can I sharing something?

    Often when I start on a trip I’m communicating often with others back home about what I’m seeing – it’s habit-… but then I realize I’m missing something. Sharing it too soon, robbing myself of deep and private reflection. Something about sharing it too soon for me drains off some of the energy that is better used for my own reflection. And continuous sharing makes it seem like I never left home, like the traveling is just an extension of life back in the states.

    We hope to be changed by our travels, let ourselves be grasped by the experiences (which comes from not labeling or narrating them, in my experience), and come back a different person- at least I do. And I find the likelihood of that is increased when I cut back on communicating outward and instead use the experiences to dwell inward.

    Unsolicited sharing, not advice. But I felt moved to share it.

    Enjoy, Steve

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  2. I think sharing your experiences is part of who you are…so I’m grateful when you do, and I trust that you know when it’s time for you to do so.

    Thanks for this awesome beginning, and much love,

    Terry

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