Pilgrims from all over joined the journey of Oliver and Juanlu
The trailer of road without limits it's three minutes long, and it's practically impossible to watch it without getting excited . At the beginning, Pilar appears, the mother of Juanlu and Oliver, who says: “My son, the eldest, Oliver, is doing it pushing the wheelchair of his brother Juan Luis”.
What Pilar's children "are doing" is the Camino de Santiago, but not by road -the most accessible way of doing it and the one recommended for those with reduced mobility-, but by the paths that run through forests and villages, that is, by the traditional route. It includes particularly difficult sections, such as the climb to O Cebreiro, a pilgrimage of 1,300 meters until reaching the top of the mountain and, with it, Galicia. The documentary Path Without Limits is articulated around her, a film that emerged by chance.
“In the middle of our adventure, we were lucky enough to meet Joan Planas , a filmmaker and then a pilgrim who, after learning about our project, decided to accompany us for several days and document one of the most difficult stages we had to face: the climb to O Cebreiro”, Oliver tells Traveler.es.
THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE
“Easter Week 2014, Juanlu and I went for a few days to do a small section of the Camino Frances de Santiago. We loved that experience, and we promised each other that one day we would return. Two years later, at a time when I was considering a solo trip without a return ticket, we felt that the time had come to get back on the road. Without thinking too much, we started planning the adventure. We adapted a disused wheelchair that had been given to us , we launched the project Limitless Path and we set out on our way that September 13, 2016, without knowing very well everything that would be waiting for us”, recalls the older brother.
“The adventure consisted of travel the 800 kilometers of the Camino Frances de Santiago with my brother, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, with the idea of living a great journey together and raising awareness of our limits, both physical, as is the case of my brother Juanlu and that of so many people who are in wheelchairs, and the mental ones that we all face time to embark on a new path in life, to dare to pursue our dreams or to make that change in our lives come true that scares us so much and that ends up paralyzing us”, he also explains.
During the route they were not alone: his mother decided to accompany them in a van to take care of the logistics every day of the 40 days that the adventure lasted , and in which they spent the night in multiple pilgrim hostels. There, Pilar ended up being, a bit, the mother of all: also of those who, excited by the spirit of Oliver and Juanlu, decided to join her feat.
The journey was not always easy...
“On the way there were people who helped us at specific times, who accompanied us for a few days and even pilgrims who decided to leave their path aside and make our project their own Camino . People whose true purpose was transformed when we met and became to give everything they had so that my brother could achieve his dream of reaching Santiago, thus forming the famous Camino Sin Limites family”, recalls Oliver.
All of them tell in the documentary how they lived the transformative experience, which Oliver told live on YouTube and with which they achieved raise more than 10,000 euros . They were donated to the association The Accessible City , from Granada, "who fights every day to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities", details the adventurer.
FEARS AND CHALLENGES
All those who undertake a journey like the Camino de Santiago have fears and doubts, including Oliver and Juanlu. Your biggest fear?: uncertainty. “I strongly believe that Uncertainty and the fear of the unknown are one of the biggest fears we all face at different stages of our lives. In our case, we hardly had references about the Camino de Santiago nor did we know other people who, in a situation similar to ours, had achieved our goal before.
To all this was added both his lack of training and the discouraging words of friends and acquaintances, "that once in a while they made us doubt if all this made sense or not ”. But, in the end, his desire was stronger than everything else: "We were clear that, if we faithfully believed in our dream and gave everything to make it come true, the universe itself and life would end up rewarding us in due course, no matter how much we things could go wrong."
The traditional route is not recommended for wheelchair travelers
Along the way, they had to deal with difficult situations, such as the breakage of Juanlu's chair -which broke down more than once-. Added to these problems was the physical and mental exhaustion own of the Way. “There were times when we came to consider our entire project. However, the biggest challenge of all was staying true to our idea. Get up early every morning and walk, day after day, whether it was cold, hot or caught in a storm. Perseverance and hard work were, without a doubt, one of the keys to our success”, analyzes Oliver
The other was, according to the older brother, to focus on the present: “When facing our fears, we had something very clear: we would only take them into account when they were close to becoming a reality. With this in mind, our attitude was closely linked to living in the present moment, to go through each stage at our own pace, day by day, without thinking too much about what would come in the future . Only worrying about possible problems when they appear, and not before”.
The attitude taken by the brothers not only served them well on the Camino: it also made them realize that, in Oliver's words, we overestimate many of our fears. “In the moment of truth, every problem is accompanied by its solution , although on many occasions we do not know very well what it is and it is our job to find it”.
THE HAPPIEST DAY, AND THE SADDEST AT THE SAME TIME
In the end, all the effort was worth it: “Without a doubt, the moment we remember with the greatest affection was that October 22, 2016, the day we achieved our goal and arrived in Santiago. We lived that date as one of the happiest and saddest moments of our lives ”, He remembers.
“The happiest because, after 40 days walking and hundreds of moments lived, finally, we had achieved it. What we so strongly dreamed of became reality. But on the other hand, it also meant the saddest day. It was time to say goodbye and leave everything behind. Say goodbye to our new family, to the Camino de Santiago and to the lifestyle that had accompanied us during those 800 kilometers . If there is a word to define that day, it would certainly be emotion”, he highlights.
The good thing is that, thanks to their meeting with Joan Planas, they can remember whenever they want that journey that marked them forever. “Both my brother and I, like the entire Camino Sin Limites family, have a special affection for this film because of the great job that Joan did in immortalizing a good part of all the magic that we live there in a feature film. It is a film that everyone can freely watch on YouTube and that, in the future, we will be able to share with our children and grandchildren”.
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