From Lourdes to Fisterra

After hearing a lot about “El Camino De Santiago”, I decided to undertake the journey myself in the spring of 2010. I wanted to do the most popular camino route, de Camino Francés. I aimed to do at least a 1000 km and therefore decided to start in Southern France. I came up with the idea to depart from “Lourdes”, and thus walk from one famous pilgrims city to another.

Because of my chosen starting point, I crossed the border with Spain over the mountain pass of Somport, at 1632 m. Because I started my journey rather early in the season it was still very cold at this hight in the Pyrenees and there was a fair amount of snow. To illustrate, below are two pictures: One of Somport in the high season and one I made during my walk.

More than six weeks after my departure from Lourdes I arrived at the cathedral in Santiago, where I was entitled to receive my Compostela.

However, the actual goal of my journey was even a bit beyond that: The original end of the pilgrim path lies at Fisterra. This cliff was named 'Finis terrae' by the Romans, which means 'end of the world'. This is where I arrived, after having walked around 1060 kilometers.

Here you can find an overview of the stages I walked and the hostels where I stayed.