Reflections

We are back in Ireland reflecting on what was our seventh Camino. It was most enjoyable although there were times when the aches and pains made the final kilometres of the day rather difficult. As usual that was always forgotten by the following morning.

The route was much more crowded than our 2011 walk up the traditional Camino Portugues but we never had any trouble finding a bed for the night, and it also meant that we met and interacted with more fellow peregrinos.

Every Camino brings us to attractive towns and villages that are worth a visit in their own right. This time we were particularly impressed with Viana do Castelo, with its hilltop basilica, and, in Spain, with the small village of Oia and the town of Baiona.

We are already talking about our next Camino, not so much about which one but more on how, at our age, we should approach it. We are thinking that we probably should plan for shorter stages and take much more time over it; maybe even include an occasional rest day.

Back in 2010, on our first Camino, we were aware of many other peregrinos who were older than us. We were all impressed with Mary from San Francisco who was aged 72 and suffering badly from blisters. She eventually reached Santiago, as everyone expected she would. There was also Bruno from Germany who refused to divulge his age but was thought to be at least 80. He just kept up a nice easy pace with frequent rests and arrived in Santiago a day after us.

With the passing of the years we think that we did not come across anyone older than us on this Camino. I am sure there are people older than us arriving in Santiago every day but we were sufficiently rare for people to ask us our age on two occasions.