Another Long Walk: Day 44: The End of the World!!!!

Oct 30: I woke up and hit the trail by 8:00. I was happy about not having to wait around until 9:00 like I usually did while waiting for the sun to rise. With the time change, I could hit the trail at 8:00. I know it was completely a mental thing for me since the sun has no idea what time it is—it just rises when it rises. But the artificial constructs of time had been problematic for me at times when hostels pushed me out before sunrise and opened far earlier than I had any use for. Now the sun was better synced with my internal schedule.

It was another pleasant but warm day of walking. Not really much to report. I chatted with a few new people on the trail I hadn’t met before, but just the usual topics about where we started the trail from, where we lived and how long we’d been out on the trail.

I arrived in the town of Fisterra late in the afternoon and checked into a private hostel. It was a wonderful hostel, but I didn’t linger around long. I headed out to grab dinner at around 5:00, but was thwarted multiple times when every restaurant I tried told me that they weren’t serving food until later in the evening. Why is it so hard to find food at 5:00 in the afternoon?!

I wound up eating some snacks and a Coke instead.

Before sunset, I walked the last few kilometers to the lighthouse at Finisterre—often called the ‘end of the world’ because before people could accurately measure longitude coordinates, it was believed that this point sticking out into the ocean was the most western land in Europe. It isn’t. In fact, most of the Portugal coastline is further west than Finisterre, but without an accurate way to measure longitude, they didn’t know that for thousands of years.

I was a little discouraged upon reaching the end of the world, however, because the place was packed with people! Hundreds of them! Not just pilgrims, but tourists of all types. Cars and busloads of people spilled out everywhere. There’s a tradition that pilgrims burn their clothes here, but I wouldn’t do that. And everyone likes to watch the sun set at the ‘end of the world.’ It had been a beautiful, clear day—and the skies were still clear—but a thick layer of fog shrouded the horizon. I definitely wouldn’t be seeing the green flash, which I had hoped to watch for.

Shortly before sunset, some of the fog pushed up the mountainside and enveloped our lofty perch. The sunset was a bust. Most people left at this point, but I lingered around longer letting them clear out. I didn’t feel like walking back into town with those hordes of people.

I left as the sky quickly grew darker and most of the walk back to the hostel was in the dark, which I found a pleasant change of pace. People say the ‘end of the world’ like it’s a bad thing, but really, it’s quite pleasant—despite the crowds. =)