Steffen. Germany
23 January, 2020

I started travelling the Camino in June 2010, after a moment of personal crisis. I was ruined financially and my girlfriend had thrown me out of her apartment. I had a car and slept in that by the river, in Hamburg. I had no more than 500 euros left, I had lost everything, one life. At that moment I thought: what can I do? Should I throw myself into the river?

In the end I decided to go to Lourdes, in the south of France. I was there for 3 days, with less and less money … Someone had left me Paolo Coello’s book, an audio-book, and I knew the Way of Saint James so I decided to look for the beginning, that place called Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. I arrived there and looked for a place to park the car and, with a promise made in Lourdes, I decided that I would walk to the end and reach Fisterra.

When I arrived at Puente la Reina I had no money left, then I thought I could not go back, the lack of money also did not allow me to move forward but my desire to reach Fisterra was stronger, I had to continue. I remembered that my ex-wife – 20 years before! – had taught me to do massages and decided to offer them to the pilgrims in exchange for some money to cover my expenses … It worked, I could continue walking for weeks.

Finally, on July 9th I arrived in Santiago and on July 12th in Fisterra. I was loaded with a backpack of 38 kilos, 32 at the end of the Camino. And as the backpack was losing kilos as I progressed, so too was my body was losing weight. I felt much better at the end. He finally got money through a credit card and was able to return to Germany, with what I had achieved I knew that I could start my life there again, although at the beginning I had to return to my parents’ house.

I started a new job with an organization that helped older people with their documents and bureaucratic procedures, to pay their insurance, fix their pensions, wills … There were always problems because some institutions were trying to hinder our work and I thought it was a good time to return to Road.

It was 2012 when I started my second Way, again the French Way. In my first Way I was depressed, but not now. Now I could live a very different experience. I thought about joining my Way to a cause, it was the year after the privatization of water in Spain and that cause for  water touched me. I thought it was a good cause to claim the right to free water for all. It was in support of that cause that I walked from my house at that time in Stuttgart … and then I kept walking for that cause. I thought about walking from the North Cape of Norway, but everyone told me: Impossible! But it was not impossible, I did it in 2013.

I started on June 28th, 2013 from the tip of the North Cape and on December 22th I arrived in Fisterra. And as soon as I finished I started thinking about another adventure. I did not want to stop walking, so I continued walking roads, for example in 2016 I travelled the St. Martin Road in Germany, a part of the Camino de Santiago and then the Via Francigena, from Stuttgart to Rome, and there, in Saint Peter’s square, I could take a selfie with Pope Francis! It was amazing, he approached me because he saw that I was a pilgrim and we talked about the green encyclical, about climate change …

Back in Germany I continued with my projects and, as I had a lot to do with water, I decided to do something in Africa linked to that topic. I launched projects related to ecology and decided to walk again to obtain funds for the donation of an engine for a water source in Egypt. This time I walked from Fisterra to Istanbul through roads of Santiago and roads to Jerusalem, raising money for the fountain and its engine …

Life went on and finally this Christmas came, a very special Christmas that I spent on the Camino. I arrived exactly on December 31st in Santiago and now I will go to Fisterra where I will spend time organizing my future life … Because my idea is now clear, I want to live in Fisterra, finally come to Fisterra and settle there, create a business and buy a flat there. With all the journeys I have always taken, I finish up in Fisterra and I have realized that it is there that I feel at home. I found it on the Way, I have found another possible life, I don’t need any more.

Fundación Jacobea
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.