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Reaching the Cathedral Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain is the goal for those walking the Camino de Santiago. Vista's Leola Powers, left, and friend Christie Pickel of Asheville, N.C., arrived after a six-day, 72-mile hike from Sarria, Spain. Pilgrims must walk at least 100 kilometers (62 miles) to qualify for a Camino certificate. Courtesy photo
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Walking with a purpose along the Camino de Santiago

One route. Two journeys.

That’s how MiraCosta College professor Leola Powers describes the six days that she and longtime friend Christie Pickel spent walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

“We had seen the ‘The Way’ and said, ‘We should definitely do that sometime,’” Powers said, referring to the 2010 film starring Martin Sheen, who walks the Camino after his adult son dies. “That was 10 years ago, and we finally did it in April.”

Camino de Santiago (translation: Way of St. James) is a network of trails traversing France, Spain and Portugal (the longest is 500 miles) that meets in the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.

A mix of legend, religion, politics and Hollywood has made the Camino a destination for pilgrims since the Middle Ages. Wayfarers come to contemplate, meditate, make decisions, embrace, let go, remember, forget, accept, reject, feel fulfilled and find answers.

Leola Powers, left, and Christie Pickel often encountered rainy weather during their six-day hike along the Camino de Santiago in northwest Spain. The Camino has attracted pilgrims since the Middle Ages and became a popular destination after the making of the 2010 film “The Way.” Photo by Leola Powers

“My main reason was to help me heal from loss of my daughter in 2019,” Pickel said in a phone call from her home in Asheville, N.C. “Erin was 18 and special needs and the best teacher we ever had. Her impact on people was amazing.”

Powers walked the Camino to support Christie because “I felt she really wanted it and needed it. My goal was to find focus and let go of the unimportant things – to get rid of the clutter in my life. When you’re walking the Camino five or six hours a day, it’s just you and your thoughts. You get lost in your mind and in the countryside.”

Powers and Pickel met as students at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro 35 years ago and have remained close despite the distance between their homes. They decided to use a tour company to set the itinerary and transport their luggage each day from hotel to hotel.

“I didn’t want to sleep in a tent,” Pickel admitted.

The women began their Camino journey in Sarria and walked 72 miles in six days.

“The first day was the longest,” Pickel said. “Fourteen miles. The weather was atrocious. High winds, pouring rain, mud and muck. We giggled and laughed and made our way through it.”

“I took photos of all the surfaces we walked on,” Powers added. “Asphalt, concrete, creek, dirt, grass, gravel, pasture, pebble and mud – lots of mud.”

But there also were the picture-postcard villages, scenic mountain country, happy and helpful people, and animals – lots of animals.

One of the hundreds of signs that mark the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) as it winds hundreds of miles through the French, Spanish and Portuguese countryside. This is a contemporary version of the scallop shell, which represents the journey to Santiago de Compostela because pilgrims once collected these shells along the way as proof of their journey. Photo by Christie Pickel

“We were walking into Lestedo on day two and a farmer was moving his cattle from one field to another,” Pickel said. “A few Camino pilgrims on bicycles came through and spooked the cattle. We helped to guide the cattle to the other field, which was directly across from our lodging for that evening. I grew up raising cattle, so it was absolutely perfect for me.”

The next morning, the women walked out of their hotel as a flock of sheep came through.

“We walked in with the cattle and out with the sheep,” Powers said.

The longtime friends covered some of the miles together and some alone. They arrived in Satiago de Compostela Plaza separately, but soon met to celebrate their accomplishment and talk about the experience.

Pickel made a donation in daughter Erin’s name to the Pilgrim House Welcome Center, “a place for pilgrims to find respite from their walk and take time to reflect… on their Camino, on life and…on what may lay ahead.”

“For anyone even remotely considering walking the Camino, do it!” Powers said. “It will not be what you expected and more than you could’ve imagined. Everyone’s experience is different. There is no right or wrong way to experience the Camino.”

For more discussion and photos, visit www.facebook.com/elouise.ondash.

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