Finisterre - The end of the world, the end of my camino!

After 46 days and 905km of walking, I have finally reached Finisterre...the end of the world. These last few days of walking have been filled with mixed emotions. There were times when all I wanted to do was finish the camino and I would become frustrated with having to walk for 6 hours every day. But I was also sad that my camino was coming to an end; I have really enjoyed my time away from reality, and despite having to drag myself out of bed each morning at 6:15am and start walking, I have fallen into the rhythm of the camino and it will be incrediy hard to not have to walk everyday. Yesterday morning when I woke up, it didn't hit me that this was going to be my last day of walking until I saw the Finisterre peninsula off in the distance. This was it, this was the end. As I marched across the 2.5km long promenade with my head held high, sweat dripping down my face, and the sun shining high in the sky, I took in all of my surroundings and pondered my camino experience. Once I arrived in the city center, I was bombarded with people handing out brochures promoting their albergues, but at that moment I didn't care about finding an albergue. All I wanted to do was walk to "the end of the world" (the lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula) with all of my belongings that I have carried with me since St. Jean Pied de Port. Although most people leave their backpacks in the albergues, it was important for me to walk all the way to the end with everything that I had carried with me when I left St. Jean on June 3. I did however reserve a bed in one of the albergues so that I knew for sure I would have a place secured when I returned to the town. But after getting situated with my bed, I took off with my backpack and walking poles, and I walked the last 4km of my camino. When I arrived at the lighthouse, I found a quiet area away from all of the tourists and other pilgrims so that I could conclude my camino with a moment of silence. At the lighthouse it is also customary to burn an article of clothing or item of significance from your camino. But seeing how I have been unintentionally losing some of my clothes along the way, I didn't really want to burn the few remaining clothes that I had left. Instead, I had another item that had been important to me along my camino, and now that the end had come, I burned it. When I finished what I had come to do at the lighthouse, I headed back into town to receive my Finisterre compostela. Once the piece of paper was handed to me, I was officially done MY camino. Even though the Camino de Santiago was longer and I had been through a lot more during those 800km, I didn't feel anything when I received my compostela in Santiago. But with my Finisterre compostela in hand, I felt a sense of accomplishment...I did it! I walked the ENTIRE distance across northern Spain! Later in the evening I met up with Kathrin and we returns to the lighthouse to watch the sun set. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever witnessed! And it was the perfect way to end the camino.