Carmel walked the Camino in October 2016, the French route.  She is from Israel and was walking on her own.  Her main camino lesson was to learn to spend time on her own and to build courage.  After just three hours she was not on her own.  Hear her spiritual journey, especially the one with an encounter with someone who had passed away.

QUOTE: If you truly believe in the way, YOUR WAY, then things will fall into place.  The Camino Will Always Provide.

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. We start to conversation with a talk about spider bites and bed bugs.  Carmel has some great tips to help with bed bugs.
2. Can you believe that she was carrying 30llbs on her back.  Yep, 14kg!  How crazy is that? She soon found that shipping half of this weight to Santiago was the right things to do.
3. What was your favourite part of the Camino - The Meseta.  It was where the healing began and the proper thinking time.  Find out what sort of things Carmel thought about on those long days of walking this vast area of open, flat land.
4. Food - Carmel is a vegetarian and found it quite difficult sometimes to find food that was catered for veggies.  Especially in the Galacia region.  She lived on bread, cheese, rice dishes etc.  Carmel does not eat fish either.  Find out more detail in the video.
5. Carmel bought food in supermarkets along the way.
6. Are you a religious person?  No.  Carmel is Jewish so the christian part did not appeal to her, but the spiritual part certainly did.  Walking is so powerful.  Carmel believes that the Camino has a special energy about it. 
7. Did you know that the churches along the Camino are built on energy balls.
8. Did you think of the Camino in the way of the Afterlife?  Yes, I had an encounter with someone who had passed away. I do believe in souls and that they are walking with the pilgrims.  We then discussed “Thin Places” where the spiritual world meets the physical world.
9. How did you feel about Le Cruz De Ferro?  It was a really important part of Carmel’s camino.
10. If you watched last week’s show, then you will know who Bubba is.  He gave Carmel a viking stone to leave at the cross.  It was a special moment for her.  This was one of the most spiritual moments on the Camino - a burden was released.
11. What do you tell people when they are you about the Camino?  She tells people that they won’t get it until you have done it themselves.  Only people have done the Camino can understand the camino. 
12. Carmel has no regrets - everyone should do it!
13. How was Santiago? We wanted to walk in the morning, so we had a short day.  It was the only day on the Camino where I did not speak to anyone all day.  I came on my own and wanted to finish on my own.  It took 4hrs, and I took my time.  I just had the day for me. When I walked into Santiago I thought I would be overwhelmed but I felt disappointed.  I didn’t feel that it was the end.  I felt more closure when I got to Fisterra. 
14. At Fisterra Carmel had the feeling that she was restarting.  It was a fresh new start. She had pressed the reset button.
15. What advice would you give to a new person thinking of walking the Camino?  Just do it.  And bring another pair of shoes.
16. Carmel shares a few stories about the Camino - her favourite moments, and we have photos to accompany the stories in the video.
17. Carmel got a tattoo of the Camino after her journey - like many other people.