THE lesson (in 150 words).

I don't know what I was expecting from this final leg; not exactly fanfares and trumpets, but not far off. The reality has been very different. The stench of manure is ubiquitous in Galicia. Dwellings are astonishingly humble for a modern European country. The descent into Santiago was singularly disappointing. But THE lesson has been reinforced: this journey has been made worthwhile by the encounters, experiences and occasional moments of clarity along the way, not by the destination. Fixating on a destination is the same as fixating on the future - a pointless exercise. The future is a mental construct; we never experience it directly, and when it becomes the present, it is never how we imagined it. 'Our time is here, is now'; if we can't be happy in the present, we will never be happy. I still slip up most of the time, but at least I have become more aware of it.

Galician shepherd.

Descent into Santiago de Compostela.

The cathedral, mostly hidden by scaffolding.

Main entrance to the cathedral.