In 2025, a Jubilee Year, I have been one of the many Pilgrims of Hope. A pioneer of walking the entire Camino Maltés, from Malta to Santiago de Compostela, which gave me immense strength and hope. It is hard to assess what it takes to walk for 90 days, 2,500kms, every day, carrying a „cross” (a 60l backpack), in camino-spirit, “unplanned”. The journey taught me to trust, whatever comes, is for a reason, and everything has its beauty or a lesson from it. To live life to the full really one has to step out of the box, leave behind old routines. On the Camino Maltés I have found myself, more than ever, left for the elements, impressions, feelings, meetings with whoever were meant to cross my paths. Forever grateful to XirCammini and James Portelli, for opening my eyes on the Camino Maltés.
The Malta segment is well known to many, on its own is full of history, of over 1,000 years, which we walked as a XirCammini event on Easter Sunday, with a handful of friends. From the day after, I followed the entire route of the Camino Maltés, by land and sea, through Sicily, Sardinia and the entire Spanish peninsula. Living on the camino was my only „full time” engagement. Though being a seasoned solo pilgrim, the Camino Maltés turned to be the most complex route I have ever walked. The most unique, variety of hard terrain, some segments noone in modern era has ever walked. I aimed for a solo camino, intentionally avoided building a ‘camino family”. In 6 weeks, in Sicily and Sardinia, I only met one pilgrim, from Norway, in the heart of Sardinia. For a week, a month after my leaving, a soulmate broke my solitary pilgrimage, Phyllis Azzopardi. I turned to 55, on the Day 33 of my pilgrimage, on the 22 May, so she walk alongside on my birthday week. Otherwise, I mainly met animals, pastors, priests, nuns, accomodations-related, volunteers, and locals. Some dear human encounters were 1) in Granon, at the parish albergue, I met „by accident” the lady responsible for the volunteers, my mentor during my hospitalera-fortnight in 2016, 2) in Hospital de Orbigo, meeting the 87yr old priest, Don Manuel, who was my superior when serving in the albergue parroquial in 2017, and I also met two Hungarian volunteers, who later joined for the Cammino di San Giacomo with XirCammini, and 3) staying in Ponferrada when on my Day 70 I reached a great Maltese friend, Giovanni Camilleri, while him serving as a hospitalero. I also built lifetime memories with a handful of dear pilgrims along the way. I must mention the weekly radio calls, for short updates with Campus FM in Malta, organised by XirCammini – these framed my sense to time, from Friday to Friday. I also blogged every day, with photos and dear short stories.
I praise again XirCammini and my good faith in accomplishing my dream of a camino from home to Santiago. Ultreia, All.
