The first week of May 2022 I finally walked the Camino in Spain. This was the whole reason I joined the ramblers back in 2020 and discovered the delights of walking outdoors, as well as a lovely bunch of people in the Hillingdon group.

8 of us plus a doctor (overkill in my mind) walked 113 km from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela over 5 days as part of a fundraising challenge for Thames Hospice.
Having raised £2,200 I had successfully managed to raised the minimum amount we all pledged to raise, and the trip having been postponed twice due to COVID, it was good to finally get going. 

The most popular Camino route is the Frances route which starts on the French side of the Pyrenees. As this route takes 5-6 weeks, 5 days walking seemed a bit of a fraud but I topped it up with a day’s solo walking on the Spiritual route which skirts the coastline of Galicia.

Having been cold and wet for many weeks, the sun and heat settled in Spain a week before we started so we were blessed with good weather and sunny scenery. We were also blessed with a good guide, Bruno who was Belgian, and who prepared a fabulous picnic lunch for us most days.
Apart from day 2 which was mostly walking by roads and the last stretch down into Santiago, the route took us off road and through some lovely scenery. I wouldnt say it was hilly, but undulating - constant undulations so essentially very little flat ground.

The best experience apart from the scenery was chatting to others on the way and seeing the same faces every day and bumping into walkers both in Santiago and in Finisterre.
And I was not the only walker who loved her colours - a German lady with pink hair wore pink every day, as did a Swiss lady - except in Santiago when she had clearly not packed pink for sightseeing !

The trip was a fantastic experience and while I had thoughts of walking the whole route one day, I think I will be more inclined to walk parts of the various routes each year and taking advantage of the companies who move your bags and arrange your hotels.