The Long Lonely Ride

Friday, June 1, 2012

After breakfast we are on the bus to Finisterre “the end of the world.”  Lisa has indeed decided that she will stay there tonight while I return to Compostela to attend mass tomorrow then head back to Leon.   I’m really disappointed that we will not be attending the mass together which to me is kind of like closure to the journey.  After reaching town we again follow the Camion to the Cape which has become kind of an official end of the Camino.  We get lost then find our way eventually reaching the rugged cost line which once marked the end of the known world.   Pilgrims have left shoes and other personal items they have worn here to signify they had made the journey safely and it is over.  Others will burn an item of clothing for the same reason.  We did not have anything to burn or leave so we had a glass of wine and headed back to town.

This would be our last dinner together which was quite rushed as we were unsure of when the bus would leave.  We are not saying much and I see a bus pull in so I go over to see if it will take me back to Compostela alone.  It is and I run back to where Lisa is sitting grab my stuff trying hard not to cry hug her and head to the bus.  The ride back to Compostela was one of the loneliest times of my life.  I cried most of the way back trying to hide my emotions from the rest of the passengers.   There was a bit of a laugh as I listened to a Mormon pilgrim telling some German fellow about his religion but that was short lived.

I cannot explain how lonely I was that night wandering the path Lisa and I had traveled to get back to the Albergue.  I stopped in at the corner café and listened again as the local fellows began to sign.  Tonight they seemed to sense and were singing sad songs not the gay ones of a night ago.  Back in the Albergue with enough wine in me to insure sleep I laid down to sleep knowing Lisa was not in a bunk near me for the first time in a month.   So very sad and so very lonely yet again.