As I was reading your post, I thought in "the Way", the Spanish Camino of Santiago. There was a beautiful text written in a wall that said:

"Santiago is only the end of your first etappe, not the end of your camino. Keep on walking, you are not alone"

Definitely with that faces in the wall, the cats and the curious stones you weren't.
And most surely, arriving to the temple will not be the end.

Regards!