Amazing lighting and perfect timing to capture it

Lars and us at the 100 km marker

Woohoo!!

We have passed a huge milepost today- we have less than 100km to Santiago!

This morning we had gorgeous views! God had his paintbrush out, and the sun provided us with amazing moments.

As we walked, we were happy to be greeted by Lars, who we met in Villava. He walked with us for most of the morning, and we took our pictures at the 100 km marker.

Entering Portomarin we were able to see the old Roman bridge, and a lot of the remains of the original Roman village. Due to the construction of the dam, the remains can only be seen during the autumn in times of drought.

Tonight a young woman asked if we wanted to share a washing machine load of laundry. After I agreed, she told me she looks for people that she won’t mind that her laundry is co-mingled with. She asked where we started; When I told her St Jean- (where she started) she said it may sound horrible, but I am frustrated with the people that just started today in Sarria, and are complaining about how hard today was!   Everyone’s Camino is different…

After dinner we attended the Pilgrims Mass at the Church of St Nicholas.

A dilemma! Which way? When you get to a fork in the road, what do you do?

This morning we had a foggy start. It wasn’t long before our climb changed to sunny skies above the clouds. Most of our uphill walk was once again on wooded trails. We walked up 140 flights of stair equivalents on our 11.75 mile walk today.

Our walk took us through several (stinky) small villages – again, most of the streets are littered with cow and horse manure. I wonder if they get used to the smell!

We have noticed almost every house in these small Galician villages has a small building called a Horreos. These are stone boxes raised on pillars with ventilation holes along both sides. They are used for drying corn in summer and winter storage.

Another observation:
There is a dramatic change in the Camino atmosphere. There are a lot more people, most are not walking with loaded backpacks, just small day packs. There are a lot more buses. People are dropped of at a location and can choose to walk around the area or walk to the next drop off point. There are lots of groups of people, and they are noisy. The quiet, reflective walks may be in our past.

We are both on the walk!

Today we left the sleepy village of Eirexe in the fog. We were hoping to have breakfast in the next village about 45 minutes away. But they were also sleepy, aka closed- as was the next village.

We were finally able to warm up with a cup of coffee in Brea after walking for about 2 hours.

Steve was hoping to have Pulpo (octopus) in Palas de Rei- but at 11:30 when we got there the restaurants in the square were not open yet.

Our village last night was not in a ‘popular’ destination. This turned out to be a good thing. We were not part of the ‘wave’ of the Camino, and we were able to enjoy the solitude for almost 3 hours before the crowds started to catch up to us.

We ran into the local farmer herding his cows in the Main Street. The ‘black sheep’ in his herd was a white cow that had a mind of her own. She wanted to go on a different route, and the townspeople had to help get her back on track.

Tonight we are in an Albergue about 1.5 km off the Camino. I think we are their only guests tonight. It is run by a very friendly family. We hope to be out of the ‘wave’ tomorrow as well.

We have less than 65 km to Santiago. Only a few more days of intensive foot care!

Octopus prep at Pulperia Garnacha

Our walk today is supposed to be out of the Northern Spain mountains. That doesn’t mean we don’t have any hills to walk up and down. Our 11 miles today included 90 flight of stair equivalents.

Most of our walk ‘between villages’, was on wooded trails, up the hill, only to come back down and repeat, and repeat again!

We have seen tractors pulling manure spreaders most days. Today we saw one in use. While relaxing on the patio we have seen more than a dozen drive past us. There is a need for all that manure we dodge daily.

Steve was happy to get Pulpo (octopus) for lunch. We found a place in Melide known for Pulpo, and watched it being prepared in the front window.

I hit a wall about 3/4 of the way today, all of the up and down hills took their toll!

Our Albergue was a very welcome sight. We are now relaxing on the patio watching the steady ‘Pilgrim Parade’, and thankful to be done for the day!

We have less than 45 km to Santiago. Just 3 more days of wearing the backpacks all day!

A patch of flowers in the forest

Today our day was much like the past several days; small villages, and walks along wooded paths. We started out with mostly sunny skies, but by mid morning the clouds had moved in. It wasn’t long before it was misty, and we needed to put on our rain gear. We walked in a light rain for our last hour.

We heard that the guide books said something like ‘enjoy your walk through quaint villages nestled in the river valleys’. I have decided that really means ‘be prepared for steep up and downhill climbs as you approach the small villages!’

Our 11.5 mile walk took us up and down 108 flights of stairs.

We have less than 30 km to Santiago! We will be there on Thursday.

Saw this on the wooded trail. We are trying to find out what it is!

Our departure from Salceda this morning was very similar to the past mornings.

After breakfast we came upon a group of pilgrims with their guidebooks and maps out. After we got closer we saw what the discussion was all about. There were 2 monuments with conflicting directions. After the last time, we learned to follow the arrow with the km, not the c. complementario, unless you want a longer walk. The metal plates with that information had been pried off both of the monument markers. We have seen that information stolen on so many markers. Why??? With Steve’s app we determined the best way for us to go.

We also came upon a rock with a gold shield painted on it. It was unusual, and also one of the few monuments along the Camino that has not been defaced. We are going to try to find out it’s symbolism.

Near the Santiago airport we came upon a Santiago monument where we had another pilgrim take our picture.

Tomorrow we have a short day- about a 10.5 km walk into Santiago! Almost there.

We have arrived!

Woohoo! After 3 months (OK 1 plus portions of 2) we finally arrived in Santiago.

Today was the day we have been waiting for.

This morning our walk began as a very long steep uphill climb. After about an hour we entered into outlying Santiago. We were hoping for a great view of Santiago and the cathedral after we reached the top of our climb. We were disappointed.

We finally got our first glimpse of the cathedral through the buildings lining the street.

We walked around the city to get oriented, took a few pictures, attended a Mass with a youth choir, then got in line (that took about 1.5 hrs) to get our Compostela (the certificate that we walked the Camino) You must present your credential that you have had stamped along the way to get this document.

Tomorrow is our first day to take our time, relax, and walk without our packs!

Impressive Botafumeiro at Mass at the Cathedral

9 Priests concelebrating Mass

Today was much more relaxed. We had planned to go to the morning English Mass, but ended up in the wrong place, and participated in an Italian Mass. There were 9 priests concelebrating, and 2 were actively taking pictures of everything going on. Since there were several tourist groups, I figured they were with them. That also gave me hope that we would get to see the Botafumeiro.

Right after Communion, the 8 monks came in and headed to unfasten the ropes. It is quite an impressive experience!

Our apartment here has good news and bad news- the bad news is it is on the 6th floor with no elevator. The good news is it’s a great place in a great location with great views!

Tomorrow we go to FInisterra and Muxia- on a bus ? as tourists! Yes we are going to be total slugs.

Below is a video of the Botafumeiro ceremony at the October 7th mass at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela , as seen from our pew. For additional information on the Botafumeiro, please take a look at our Menu, Resources, Botafumeiro page.

At Finisterre

This morning we were prepared to be Tourigrinos all day, and met our bus at 9:00. (Tourigrino is a popular slang on the Camino for those that take buses or taxis to the popular sights, rather than walk to them as a perigrino or pilgrim does.)

Our first stop was Puente Maceira. This city is actually on the Camino- if you should choose to walk to Finisterre. Here we crossed an old Roman bridge to see the old mills on the water.

Our next stop was Paxareiras, for a great mountain top view. This overlooks fishing villages along a dangerous coastline. There were also lots of windmills lining this mountain, which unfortunately interfered with the amazing panoramic view.

The fishing village of Muros was our next stop. We walked up to the church which has an interesting holy water font; it has a snake carved in the stone, signifying the power of the holy water to conquer sin. We also walked along the piers admiring the views.

The Rio Ezaro is the only river in Spain that flows into the ocean. We stopped to view the waterfall. Due to the very dry summer, the water apparently is not falling as abundantly as usual, but we still thought it was beautiful.

Next we headed to the ‘end of the earth’ – Finisterre. It is one of the the ‘ends’ of the Camino, (Santiago is the traditional end, the other is our next stop of Muxia).

Our last stop was Muxia. It has a very rocky coastline with waves constantly breaking and splashing over them. It also is a very picturesque setting. This location was one of the closing scenes in the movie ‘The Way’.

We had an easy day! Only 32 flights of stairs and 4.75 miles.