… As if, all along, you had thought the end point might be a city with golden towers, and cheering crowds, and turning the corner at what you thought was the end of the road, you found just a simple reflection, and a clear revelation, and beneath it another invitation… and the road still stretching on.

~ David Whyte from the poem, Santiago

And so we arrived in the beautiful city of Rome today. The last 7km was through a park with a view over the entire city and the grand dome of St Peter’s Basilica. I phoned my Mom and Dad to show them the view. They shared our emotion. The walk through the green park was symbolic of all the footsteps, all the wanderlusting through the wild of Switzerland and Italy. A last reflection. A last holding on to the passing of such incredible happenings, and beauty and lushness of life that flowed through me for days and now wept goodbye. I walked out of the last green and into a city, holding onto my rock and dearest travelling companion, Sylvie. This would be where I would re-enter real life and leave the seductive wilderness of foot-stepping behind. Now that I’ve done this crossover once before, as I did last year, on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, I feel better able to move on. I can wrap it in bows and slip it inside my heart where it will remain intact, and not bleed its drug overwhelmingly. I am happy for it to sometimes seep and flow, and pulse at me, urging: remember, remember. Because I always will. And it will be an invitation to go on magnificently.

🍃 Thank you to all of you who have followed me on my beautiful Via Francigena journey and been a part of it. You have added extra special energy to my soul stepping. May your own journeys continue to be full of love, wonder and discovery.