You may have realised that I have not been posting much either here or on my Facebook page. I am tired and after a day’s work, I find it takes great energy to write a piece especially when I am not sure when my next Camino will be. Our Level 5 restrictions will end at the end of the month, but I can see them being extended until care home residents are vaccinated, which is the end of March.

I am currently only able to walk 5km from my home. I try to keep the chin up but I long for the days when I am able to walk my favourite walks in or outside of Dublin. Maybe I will post again then.

I look forward to my next Camino always, but I look forward to seeing my Camino friends and walking my favourite walks.

Mind yourself folks and Buen Camino!

First of all, I want to wish you all the best of wishes for the year ahead. While covid-19 is by no means in the past, the future looks promising. I can see myself walking in Spain this year and life can get back to normal now that vaccines have been approved.

On Thursday evening, I was watching the Television de Galicia YouTube channel (like most pilgrims). The Holy Door of the Cathedral in Santiago was reopened following renovations to the Cathedral. 2021 is officially a Holy Year as St. James Day falls on a Sunday. The last Holy Year was in 2010 and large crowds flocked to Santiago and the Camino in general. A much smaller ceremony took place in the renovated Cathedral with specially invited dignitaries socially distanced. Here are the highlights below and you can click here to watch the full ceremony.

The Botufumiero was swung after, bringing back memories of my times in Santiago. I look forward to returning again. The renovations really look fabulous and the Cathedral looks as good as new. But the surprise of the night came at the end. The envoy of Pope Francis, the nuncio Bernardito Auza, read that the Holy Year is to be extended until the end of 2022 due to the special circumstances of the covid-19 pandemic. This is good for Galicia, this is good for pilgrims and this is good for the people of Spain.

We were treated to a musical celebration hosted by Carlos Nunez and guests. It was great to see folks from all over the world make an appearance, as well as our own Glen Hansard and the Naomhog. The 20 minutes or so is well worth a watch.

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I have been working through my previous Caminos, creating content for my YouTube channel (plug, plug!!) and I have just finished creating a video from my Camino Finisterre in 2016. I can’t believe that was 4 years ago. Fun fact – I actually planned to walk this in May 2016 but I broke my toe the previous November which caused me to postpone my flights for a few extra months. And this was the first time I walked in September – I haven’t looked back since.

Even though it is such a short Camino, it is beautiful in it’s own right. Many pilgrims walk to Finisterre in 3 days and myself and my brother did this in 2019 (although 4 days is probably more advisable). In 2016, I walked over 5 days as I wanted to stretch the experience out.

The highlight of the Camino for me was reaching the plateau before Cee. I had climbed for almost 20 minutes and was beginning a desent of 1000 metres. I arrived at Finisterre the next day and watched the sun set that evening. I received nothing but friendliness, smiles and good wishes from the Galician people.

Please watch the below video and consider subscribing to my channel as I will be uploading more content in the future.

Read my daily dairy from the Camino Finisterre 2016 here

I’ve always liked Andrew’s videos and how he tells a story. This video is part of a series of 8 and the rest of the series can be found on YouTube. This video also features 2 Irish pilgrims. I wonder what the future holds for Andrew. His Camino journey isn’t over.

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As I have not had the opportunity to walk one of Spain’s great pilgrim’s paths this year, I’ve been reeling in the years by looking over photos from previous Caminos. I must say it has been quite enjoyable, even though I prefer to make new memories. During the two years of 2014 and 2015, I took a number of photos and videos from Spain and they are saved on Google Drive. I recently bought a licence for an app called Movavi (although there are many others that do the same thing) and I found some royalty free music. So I started putting together some clips from my previous Caminos.

The first thing that hit me was I have changed physically. I suppose we all have changed a little bit in 5/6 years. I really enjoyed these two years as I met some great pilgrim friends, some I am still in touch with today. In 2014, I walked from St. Jean Pied de Port to Belorado, I had 2 weeks available and it was so tough saying goodbye to my pilgrim buddies. It always is. In 2015, I walked from Belorado to Molinaseca – slightly more eventful, covering the awesome meseta (which I hope to walk in September) and the León hills.

Back to reality – Over the course of the next month, I will be uploading video clips from the next 5 Caminos from both Spain and Portugal. I would love you to subscribe by clicking here.

Thanks a million and Buen Camino!