Leaving Santiago de Compostella

Midnight. Our dorm room window was open and provided the perfect frame for Santiago's cathedral, luminous against the night sky.

This cathedral, a symbol of hope for so many pilgrims, was now loudly counting down the hours on what has been the most incredible experience of my life.

I had a restless sleep and heard the passing of each hour announced mercilessly by the gonging of the cathedral clock.

Time to rise, I packed my things into my rucksack for the last time, and Martine and I set off for the bus stop,

She would be staying another day and leaving tomorrow, so this was another goodbye, and the hardest.

It was still dark and we walked quietly together through the streets.

I began my Camino journey with Martine, leaving St Jean with her on my first walking day. It felt like we'd packed a lifetime of friendship into only six weeks, and now we'd come full circle and I was to be taking the final steps of my adventure with her as well. There could be no better way to end.

What can I say about Martine? She is a gift. A gift to me and to everyone she meets. She casually makes her way around the world making people feel good, making them smile, making them laugh and does it all like it's nothing.

She brought our Camino family together and became our leader, even though that is the last thing she'd ever set out to be. She has strength that goes way beyond being able to walk really fast and she brings energy and light to all places and all people.

How can you say goodbye to someone like that? A hug on the corner of a busy street isn't enough, but it's all we had.

The bus began its journey to the airport and I was alone; alone for the first time in many, many days.

Alone with tears streaming down my face, alone with my thoughts and alone with my memories. Except of course, I wasn't.

Such an experience means you are never alone; there are fourteen people living across the world who know what it was like to walk the Camino as a family in the Spring of 2017.

In all the reading and research I did about the Camino de Santiago, not once did anyone mention that it doesn't end on the day you pack your bag for the last time.

The walk is the stone dropping into the pond but we'll feel the ripples for the rest of our lives.

We'll always be forever on the trail.