135 Years on the Camino

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www.facebook.com/footstepsonthecamino
2015 - Spain - Camino Del Sureste - Alicante to Cape Finisterre
800+miles

www.walkforwilliam.blogspot.com
2010 - Gibraltar/Spain - Gibraltar to La Coruña
1000+ miles

www.walkforwilliam2010.blogspot.com
2007 - UK - The Thames Path - Thames Head to Thames Barrier
213+ miles

Footsteps on the Camino Robert Bobby Gomez and Ana Maria Bernin Gomez walking 1200 kms from Alicante to Cape Finisterre along the Camino del Sureste

Since finishing our walk last year we have been thinking of the next one to tackle. To celebrate my 70th birthday this year, Ana Maria and I propose to tackle the Camino de Santiago CAMINO DEL SURESTE which goes from Alicante to Finisterre, a total of approximately 800 miles. We hope to start at the end of April and finish in Finisterre on June 28th, my birthday.

We will NOT be fundraising this time - this will be purely for fun!

More details in due course

Our thanks to our friends Ken and Rene who are the latest to donate to Clic Sargent.

Many thanks to. All those who have made a donation, the latest being Charlie and Claire Prescott. Your donation will make a difference to the chosen charities.

Our fundraising target in the UK has already been exceeded and as of today we have received a total of £830. In Gibraltar gathering of pledges etc usually takes a bit longer and we don't yet have a figure to report. Too much wine and too many siestas, we reckon!

Fame at last! Gibraltar Chronicle last Saturday.

Last night Ana Maria and I were privileged to attend a concert given by the Band of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, it's pipes and drums, in the magnificent auditorium of St Michael's Cave in Gibraltar. I had the honour to serve in the Regiment for a short time when I did my military service over 50 years ago. The Regiment is celebrating 75 years of its formation. I can say without an undue sense of bias that it was one of the best Band concerts I've heard in a long time. It was also particularly poignant for me as one of the pieces they played was Mozart's O Calpe. In 1782 Mozart was invited to compose a piece for voice and piano about Britain's defence of the Rock. He started it but never finished it. In 1992 my brother William and my schoolboy friend Hector Cortes finished it and it premiered in Gibraltar that year. Sadly my brother died some years ago and Hector passed away last year. Hector was the first Bandmaster of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment Band.

Sunset over Gibraltar last night

At Gatwick Airport on our way to Gibraltar. With Ana Maria Bernin Gomez

Now relaxing in our hotel. It's so nice not to have to don our boots every morning, or wash our clothes every evening, or be in bed by 9:00pm or...............

We went to Cockburns Porto Warehouse earlier today. Robert got a bit carried away with the wine tasting, but it was fun!

Después de dos semanas cansadoras pero gratificantes ( 454,396 pasos!) llegamos hoy a nuestro destino, Santiago de Compostela. Los últimos 16.2 km los hicimos en parte a oscuras ya que salimos a las 6.30 de la mañana, caminando por rutas sin mucho tráfico y por bosques. Los últimos kilómetros fueron mayormente fuertes subidas pero el llegar a la plaza de Obradoiro donde está la catedral nos llenó de emoción y orgullo al haber logrado nuestro objetivo. Agradecemos a todos su apoyo y comentarios durante nuestro Camino por Portugal y España.

Y a todos los que han hecho una donación a las caridades que elegimos muchísimas gracias!

Habrán visto ya el video que tomamos en la catedral. El espectáculo del botafumeiro (el más grande del mundo) siendo balanceado de una punta a la otra de la catedral al final de la misa de peregrinos es también digno de ver y nos recuerda que antiguamente se realizaba para perfumar la iglesia con el incienso.

Hemos encontrado nuevos amigos durante el Camino y esperamos seguir en contacto en el futuro. Dos de ellos, Linda y Bart de Bélgica continúan su camino mañana hasta Finisterra y Muxia y más allá. También lo hacen en apoyo a una caridad belga. Los admiramos y les deseamos mucha suerte y Buen Camino! o Ultreia! como dicen en Galicia.

DAY 14 LAST DAY - DIA 14 ÚLTIMO DÍA

After a tiring and eventful fortnight we arrived this morning in Santiago de Compostela, having travelled the last 16.2km from Teo! It is difficult to explain the elation of finishing save to say that we feel immensely proud and very grateful to all those who have been following our little Camino through Portugal and Spain.

We hope that those who may have thought of making a donation to our chosen charities, but have not already done so, may like to think we have done a good job and reward our efforts. Please remember that every little counts and Clic Sargent in the UK does amazing work making the lives of children with cancer so much better. In Gibraltar Bosom Buddies Cancer Trust does great work in improving the quality of life of many people who have been through cancer treatment. Your support will mean a great deal to them and also to us.

You will have seen below a video of the famous Botafumeiro being swung at the end of the Pilgrims Mass in Santiago. No matter what your religious persuasion is, it is a very moving sight and one which we personally have enjoyed tremendously. During our walk we have made many new friends, some following us on Facebook, others actually walking the paths with us. We say Thank You to all of you who have made our walk worthwhile in so many ways.

STATISTICS: TOTAL NUMBER OF STEPS TAKEN : 454,396! Pero llenas de

In case you missed that it was ; FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY SIX!!!!!!!!!!

We hope to retain many of the friendships made on this trip and tonight we celebrated with some of those friends, two of whom, Bart and Linda from Belgium, are continuing to Finisterre and beyond and then returning walking to Porto! We wish them God speed and Buen Camino or as they say in Galicia "ULTREIA"