Cessnock woman Maureen Hamilton publishes book on her Camino Frances pilgrimage

In 2017, Cessnock resident Maureen Hamilton became one of those pilgrims.

Aged 69 at the time and recently retired, Maureen walked 600 of the 800-kilometre route in 42 days, and kept a diary of each day's events which she shared with her family and friends via a Facebook group.

That diary has now been turned into a book, titled Day by day by day: Maureen's Camino, which will be launched at Cessnock Leagues Club this Sunday.

The book is an expansion of the diary, referring to things that have happened in Maureen's life along the way; a bit of history on the Camino, and comments from Maureen's friends who encouraged her throughout her journey.

There's even a recipe for the Tarta de Santiago, a 'Camino specialty' almond cake that Maureen treated herself to when she finished the trek.

It includes 27 pages of photos, which were culled from more than 2500 images Maureen captured along the way. She has also compiled a video that will be shown at the launch.

Like many others on the Camino, Maureen did the trek for religious reasons. "I went to thank God for my life," she said.

The Camino starts in the Pyrenees, which Maureen says makes our local mountains look like "anthills".

It was an unusually hot May when Maureen walked the Camino, but it was worth it to see the dancing fields of wheat, which would have been harvested had she gone later in the year.

Time constraints prevented her from walking the entire 800-kilometre trek (she had to catch a flight), and Maureen hasn't ruled out returning to Spain one day to complete the route.

Day by day by day: Maureen's Camino will be launched at Cessnock Leagues Club this Sunday (September 11) at 1.30pm. The book is also available via Amazon Kindle.

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