Arzua to Pedrouzo

We were two days away from Santiago.

Yes, I was now planning to walk on to Finisterre, but for me Santiago was the original end point, and more importantly, it would be where we'd be saying goodbye to Janne, Don, Abdal, Magda and Rick.

There's no denying that being on Camino has been the most intensely emotional experience of my life, every day brings fresh joys and challenges and sometimes it's easy to feel completely overwhelmed.

As someone who lives alone and enjoys their own company, living in community as I had done for the past five weeks was a new, beautiful and eye-opening experience, but I knew that before I got to Santiago, I needed some space and some time alone to reflect on what it was this journey meant to me.

So I devoted this day to Claire.

Claire had a great day. An important day. A defining day.

I had walked by myself in the early days, but my focus was always on just reaching the hostel alive before it got dark. By now, I was a badass walking woman and so all I had to concentrate on was enjoying the trail.

I spent the day soaking up every joy the Camino had to offer - the food, the sun, blue sky, green woodlands...best of all, I did it all to a soundtrack that can only be described as 'Claire's feeling powerful today'.

I danced through the woods like no-one was looking (even though they were) and my body and my mind felt light and free.

And that's when the sobbing started. I was marching along to Pulp's Common People, feeling every inch a completely awesome person, and I thought, 'I wish 15-year-old Claire could see me now'.

I spent the next 20 minutes sitting on a rock, crying and mildly alarming a nice French couple.

We've all had things to deal with in our lives. Some scars heal better than others, but right there, in those woods, I realised how much the Camino had done for me.

I wanted to go back and tell 15-year-old me that her life wouldn't quite go the way she was planning, but it was going to be an amazing life, filled with incredible experiences and awesome people and that at 32, she'd realise nothing could ever stop her from leading the life she wanted.

I know I'll always remember my time on the rock as the moment I realised the Camino had changed how I thought about myself for good.

That night, Sueon cooked us a delicious Korean meal and gave us all a beautiful gift - a little card with our name on, on which our friends could write a message to us.

After dinner we all sat scribbling away. True to form, I took to writing short essays for people and took the longest to finish.

My orange card, filled with gorgeous sentiments, encouragement and memories from my Camino family will be something I treasure forever. Being gifted it on what was an incredible day for me made it all the more special.