What did Yogi say years ago?

 “It AIN’T over ‘til it’s over”

The great Yogi Berra is credited with this witty word of wisdom.  In the same vein, but running a distant second in the “I know that saying” contest is the title of my last post a couple days ago: “Don’t underestimate the end”. 

Different views of the Catedral in Santiago 

Different views of the Catedral in Santiago

Different views of the Catedral in Santiago

Tonight I’m here to tell you that when talking about the Camino Primitivo, “it AIN’T over till it’s over, AND don’t underestimate the end”. 

Before I go on, this is not a plea for pity. It is not a appeal for “I’m sorry you had to go through this.”  (My mother’s job is to say and think those things and she’s still able to do that all by herself! And quite capably!)

This is just an attempt to be real, and let you in on the struggles as well as the triumphs of an undertaking like this. 

FYI - in case you forgot- the Camino Primitivo is consider by many as the most difficult physically of all the Caminos. It starts in the mountains of Asturias in northern Spain and makes it way 320 km west to the city of Santiago de Compostela. In this 320 km you will encounter 9000 meters of uphill and 9000 meters of downhill. I’m going to estimate that 70% of the elevation changes happens in about 35% of the distance. In other words the central 35% of this route is very challenging. 

Different mountains on the way 

Different mountains on the way 

Different mountains on the way 

But this post is not about that physically demanding portion. I knew those facts  before I left, and was fully expecting the struggles and challenges I wrote about earlier in this series. 

My mistake was in expecting that the end would be easy. You see, I had done this last 50 km section twice before. A couple days ago my brother wrote and said “enjoy the walk in the park”. And to all intents and purposes that’s what it should have been. 70 km broken into three 20 km days and a 10 km finish stroll!  Minimal elevation change on any of those days. Feet were (presumably) healing well. 

Who knew that since the “bad foot” was healing so well and no longer an issue, that the good foot would mount a campaign of envy and cry out, “enough is enough!  You’ve paid attention to bad foot long enough, and I now demand equal time.”  

Two things for you and I to both be thankful for here:

• 1. good foot started too late to get as bad as bad foot, so couldn’t mount a strong enough campaign to become truly equal
• 2.  I’ve got good enough sense to not post pictures. 

But there’s more. In addition to good foot trying to become bad foot, good stomach decided to become bad stomach. We both encountered a stomach bug two days ago that has not been easy. I was up all night on night one with multiple “visits to the facilities”, and it hit my granddaughter as we started to walk the next morning.  We WERE able to finish on schedule yesterday morning, and we both are truly on the mend but these last two days have been less than stellar.  Much less

But here’s the good news. 

It was a struggle, but we are here!  

A great blessing  on the wall at
Terra Nova Pilgrim House 
(One of my go to places in SdC)

We, at two totally different stages of life, have completed a huge challenge together. She’s beginning her working career (actually has a job interview the day after we return to Canada), and my public ministry career is barely a blip in the rear view mirror any more.  She’s wondering about family and life and perspective - and I’ve raised 4 beautiful women and now enjoy 11 wonderful grandkids.

In many ways this was three caminos - Hers, mine and ours. But the beauty is that all three of these caminos were down TOGETHER,  and to this grandfather that is a huge privilege. I’ll not say anymore about that now so I can devote an entire blog to it later. 

So for now - rejoice with us. We have arrived. Tired (both of us) beaten up (me) but triumphant and happy. 

Tomorrow is another slow day in Santiago de Compostela, and then we have lightened the schedule for the next week before returning to Canada. 

I’m still prayer stepping for those of you who asked for prayer. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the totally non-Protestant thing I did on your behalf today.  I hope you don’t disown me!