When Mooliabeenie neighbours Robyn Edwards and Sonja Taylor stepped onto the famed Camino de Santiago trail on 18 September, they joined a centuries-old pilgrimage walked by people seeking challenge, clarity, or simply the adventure of putting one foot in front of the other.
Their journey began at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France, the traditional starting point of the Camino Francés. From there, they walked over the Pyrenees — a notoriously tough opening stretch — before descending into Spain to begin the long path west towards Santiago de Compostela.
By the time they reached their destination on 29 October — 790 kilometres later — they carried not only pilgrim passports filled with stamps, but a lifetime’s worth of stories.
For Robyn, the idea began in perhaps the most Australian way possible: during a summer swim at the Gingin pool. “I had watched the film The Way with Martin Sheen, where a bereaved father takes on the trail, and for some reason mentioned to Sonja as we were swimming, ‘What do you think about walking the Camino?’”
Sonja already had a connection to the trail. A few years earlier she and her husband had visited León — one of the cities along the Camino — where she met a Dutch family cycling nearly 2,000 km from Amsterdam to Santiago with their ten-year-old child. She was immediately on board.
Training began almost a full year before they set off. Farm life meant Sonja was already walking more than 4 km most days and was adequately fit. For Robyn, it was a different starting point.
“I’m not a very fit person — I swim in summer and do Tai Chi all year round, but no walking at all,” Robyn said. “I started walking a couple of kilometres a day, slowly increasing until it got too hot and I went back to swimming. Over winter Sonja and I tried to do two long walks a week, between 10 and 15 km.”
Despite the training, the trek pushed Robyn to her limits. “It was very tough and challenging, especially going over the mountains and steep hills. Once you go up, you must come down — and coming down over rocks, trying not to fall or break something, was the hardest.”
The early days tested her resolve, though Sonja’s practical support and quiet encouragement helped keep her going. “At some of the toughest sections Sonja gave me a push up, which was great. In the end I was obviously getting fitter because I found going up was the easy part!”
If you were in any doubt as to the hard terrain of the trail — in medieval times, criminals were sentenced to walk the Camino instead of serving time in prison. “It took me well and truly out of my comfort zone,” Robyn said.
Sonja had a different experience. “The walk was not a challenge at all for me,” she said. “I was lucky to have no problems with knees, feet or back like so many walkers. There was never a moment when I thought, ‘Oh no, not another 5 km’.”
Along the way, they embraced one of the Camino’s most universal traditions: greeting fellow pilgrims. As Sonja explained, “Whenever anyone passed, or saw a pilgrim, we would say ‘Buen Camino’, which I suppose means good journey in the context.”
Their days soon adopted a steady rhythm: “We started with a good breakfast, began walking, met people from all nationalities, had a good night’s rest — and repeated it all the next day,” said Sonja.
The pair said the scenery was constantly changing — steep climbs, sharp descents, and the long, flat stretch of the Meseta plateau. “What we may call a mountain in WA was considered a hill over there,” Sonja laughed.
Autumn cooled the trail as they progressed, with only a couple of rainy days near the end, and the historic towns left a strong impression. “I had never travelled to Europe before,” Robyn said. “Seeing the old buildings and staying in some 13th-century accommodation was wonderful — apart from the stairs at the end of the day! Burgos was my favourite, with its river and beautiful parks.”
Stamped pilgrim passports marked their progress — a ritual shared by all who walk the Camino: stamp, eat, walk, sleep, repeat. Both Robyn and Sonja say the people they met along the way were a true highlight.
“The best thing about walking the Camino is meeting all the other pilgrims and hearing their stories,” Robyn said. “I’m glad we did the walk. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Sonja’s help and encouragement.”
After 42 days of steady steps across France and Spain, the pair have settled back into the familiar rhythm of life — but with a shared achievement that will be hard to top.
