Dave and I are thrilled about our upcoming Camino, which promises to be a unique adventure. I’ll arrive 24 days ahead of Dave to serve as hospitalera at Refugio Guacelmo in Rabanal del Camino from September 1-15 with my friend, Janine from Australia. I have to admit to feeling nervous about travelling alone, but am sure the butterflies will settle down as soon as I see Janine’s smiling face. We became friends during COVID when walking “Camino For Good” Virtual Caminos starting in January, 2021. Travelling to Spain wasn’t possible at the time, so we did the next best thing and walked Caminos at home, logging the kilometres we walked at home onto the “Camino For Good” app and imagining we were over there in Spain.

Janine and I have never met in person, but finally will at the Madrid airport on August 24th. From there we’ll make our way by train to Leon and walk for four days (73 km) to get ourselves into the “pilgrim groove” before arriving at Refugio Guacelmo in Rabanal del Camino. This is where we’ll meet Nigel from Britain who will serve with us. We’ll have one day to learn from the three volunteers who leave on September 1st when we take over.

Refugio Guacelmo is in the charming little village of Rabanal del Camino, with a population of about fifty people. Run by the British Confraternity of St. James, it’s known as one of the most welcoming and comfortable places to stay on the Camino Francés and is many pilgrims’ favourite place. True to its British roots, the shelter offers a traditional 5 o’clock English tea, complete with cookies, scones, or cake, etc. The shelter stands beside the beautiful Church of Santa María, a 12th-13th century gem where you might hear Gregorian chanting in the evening – a very special experience Dave and I enjoyed in 2015.

The American Pilgrims on the Camino (APOC) website perfectly captures the essence of being an hospitalero: Many walkers on the Camino carry a strong sense of being part of a stream, a stream of humanity or even a flow of history, moving ever westward. As an hospitalero (volunteer on the Camino) you become a rock in that stream. The rock stays in place and a drop of water hesitates briefly and then moves on, leaving the rock to interact with the next drop and the next and the next. You provide the resting place where fellow pilgrims can stop and renew themselves in body, mind and spirit.

During our time at Refugio Guacelmo, Janine, Nigel, and I will bid countless pilgrims farewell as they continue their journeys after one night’s rest. Friendships are made quickly on the Camino, so we’ll be sad to see them go, but on September 16th, Janine and I will join them. We’ll hike 7.5 kilometres to the highest point of the Camino Francés at Cruz de Ferro, 1,504 metres above sea level. The Cruz de Ferro is a simple iron cross that stands atop a weathered pole that has become one of the abiding symbols of the Camino de Santiago. Traditionally people pause here to reconnect with the purpose of their journey before adding a stone or other token of love and blessing to the great pile that is witness to our collective journeying.

At Cruz de Ferro I will leave a little red rock which holds deep meaning. In May, 2022, my son and I were both facing serious health crises, uncertain of what the future would hold. During that time, our family (Lorne, Tania, Dave, and I) spent precious moments together at Island View Beach before Lorne returned to Toronto for urgent medical tests. We each selected a rock that Dave and I would place somewhere on our journey in Spain a few months later.

We carried these rocks for over 300 km that autumn along the Camino del Norte and discovered the perfect spot for them in the hills between Mondonedo and Abadin. The view from there, looking back on our journey, symbolized a fervent wish that our health crises were behind us. I photographed the rocks before leaving home and then again at the beautiful place where we left them. Later, while comparing both photos, I realized the little red rock was missing. It wasn’t until we were unpacking back at home, that I found the rock buried at the bottom of my backpack. I’ll leave it at Cruz de Ferro on September 16th, feeling huge relief and gratitude that the health crises my son and I had are a thing of the past.

Janine and I will then tackle the steep descent from Cruz de Ferro to El Acebo where we’ll stay a night before carrying on down to Ponferrada. It’s in Ponferrada that Janine and I will, sadly, part ways – not before paying our respects to Ivanhoe and Sir Lancelot, of course. She’ll continue walking the Camino Francés to Santiago de Compostella while I travel by bus to Porto to meet Dave on September 18th.

Dave and I will spend our first full day together in Portugal cruising the beautiful Duoro River Valley with its terraced vineyards from Porto to Regua and returning to Porto by bus. The next day we’ll begin walking the beautiful Camino Portuguese from Porto to Santiago de Compostela, and on to Finisterre/Fisterra, a distance of just over 300 km.

Arriving at Fisterra is both simple and profound, even when arriving by bus as we did in 2015. There may be an even bigger impact when arriving on foot. It is thrilling to stand on the rocks of the cape, gazing out at the sea where it’s no longer possible to walk any further west—a mythical place once considered the End of the World until just 500 years ago. We’ll watch the sunset over the ocean, reflecting on the weeks of travel that brought us there. The Camino is now an inseparable part of who we are – definitely a good addiction!