Some journeys are measured in miles. Others are measured in the parts of yourself you meet along the way.

This spring, two women with Rome-area ties—Katie Wimberly Smyth and Christine Swanson—laced up their shoes, shouldered their packs and stepped onto different routes of the Camino de Santiago, the centuries-old network of pilgrimage roads leading toward Santiago de Compostela.

Katie began in Porto, Portugal, following the Portuguese Way north. Her first walking day carried her from Porto to Póvoa de Varzim, beginning a journey that would unfold through coastal scenery, unfamiliar towns and the steady rhythm of placing one foot before the other. Her later reflections celebrated new friends—both human and animal—a beautiful waterfall and the deliberate choice to rest rather than simply push ahead.

That may be one of the Camino’s quiet lessons: progress is not always about moving faster. Sometimes it means pausing long enough to notice who has joined you, what surrounds you and what your body and spirit are trying to say.

Christine chose the Camino Francés and walked roughly 500 miles to Santiago before continuing toward Muxía and Finisterre, bringing her journey to approximately 560 miles. She reached Santiago on Memorial Day, writing that she had not planned the timing and believed God had orchestrated the journey—one step and one prayer at a time.

Along the route, Christine found companionship in unexpected places. She wrote that on the Camino, a person is never truly alone, even when it feels that way. There were new friends, open church doors, moments of worship, a wine fountain, borrowed kitchens and simple comforts that became small celebrations. After reaching Santiago and receiving her Compostela certificates, she continued toward Spain’s Atlantic coast, where the road seems to meet the sea.

In Muxía, standing beneath a cross overlooking the water, Christine realized that the Camino had never been merely about finishing a long hike. It was, she wrote, a deeper walk with God. She later received her Muxiana certificate and reflected upon the forks in the road—not only the marked paths between Muxía and Finisterre, but the choices that shape an ordinary life.

Christine Hai walked the Camino as an awareness for our Veterans and a fundraiser for Let’s Be Friends Community’s ( local grassroots nonprofit) “500 Miles, 500 Stories, One Mission” initiative to honor and encourage our veterans while advancing the organization’s mission of combating loneliness to likely to help reduce suicidal rate and reminding people that no one should have to walk alone. Along the way, she discovered that while she set out walking for others, God was also transforming her own heart with the extra miles . Those personal reflections have become the inspiration for the book she is now writing, Found – Walking the Camino: The Way Home.

Katie’s journey and Christine’s were not the same. They followed different routes, covered different distances and carried their own reasons for walking. Yet both discovered what generations of pilgrims have learned: the Camino gives back more than scenery and sore muscles.

It offers strangers who become companions. It turns meals, showers, churches and places to rest into gifts. It strips life down to what can be carried—and then asks what is truly worth holding onto.

Eventually, every pilgrim comes home. But home does not always receive the same person who left.

The trail ends. The walking, in another sense, does not.