The Way of St James leads to Santiago de Compostela 23rd May

05.24.2014 by Trish // Leave a Comment

As soon as we walked out onto the Camino you could feel the excitement. There was a spring in the step of the pilgrims streaming into Santiago. Even the rain and the last few hills could not dampen our enthusiasm.

The tables and chairs of the last few bars were empty – we all just wanted to get to the Cathedral. We came across Phillipines, we met him on our first day, we were so glad to see him on our last.

There was a brief stop with 5km to go

And at last, our first glimpse of Santiago de Compostela

More stairs of course,

Then the final push

Hand in hand we walked through the old town to the Cathedral – 37 days, 780 kms and we were there!

Pilgrims relaxing in the Plaza del Obradoiro, the meeting place for pilgrims

Waiting in line to receive our Compostela

The Pilgrims Mass signifies the end of the Camino and we were lucky enough to see the Botafumeiro swing.

And so these two pilgrims have followed the Way of St James to Santiago de Compostela. Each pilgrim’s journey is different and I can’t begin to express how I feel now, here in Santiago, so I am not even going to try. Thank you for sharing the Way with me.

Today the skies opened – Salceda to Lavacolla, 22nd May

05.23.2014 by Trish // Leave a Comment

And it rained and rained and rained. The first 10 minutes were ok and we were hopeful that it may just threaten like yesterday.

But no, it bucketed down. Some people donned ponchos and raincoats that covered their packs so they looked like strange camels of the Camino.

While the fields turned to mud the track was mercifully quite easy to walk, although the pungent smell of wet cow dung was a constant challenge.

Only 20km to go, and then the next marker, less than 20 km to go!

It was a relief to find a bar and warm up with tomato toast and D2’s favourite, Cola Cao.

Miraculously when we emerged from the bar the rain was gone and there were patches of blue sky. An unspoken thought we had both had this morning that we may push on to Santiago today was washed away by the rain and we decided to walk to about the 12 or 13 km mark and look for somewhere to stay.
The walk was gorgeous. Tomorrow we will be heading into Santiago and I am not expecting too much countryside, so I enjoyed a long walk through the small villages and the fields and flowers for the last time.

Wild mint

I love the places they find for their vegetable gardens

We found a hotel at the 14km mark where we had spaghetti and finished drying off

It was very pleasant in the sun and we were very tempted to stay. But D2 had found out there was a hotel 5 or 6 km ahead, and lulled by the flat terrain of this morning, and the thought of an 8 km stroll into Santiago tomorrow, we were persuaded to move on.
And what did the Camino throw at us? Hills, long steep hills. D2 went on to look for the accommodation and I trudged up , cursing the Camino for tricking us into leaving the sunny comfort of the previous hotel.

A solitary walk through a forest of moss covered trees and ferns restored my spirits, not a soul around, just the birds for company.

Eventually the track emerged from the bush and there were the outskirts of Santiago

I was just heading back onto a woodland path when I received a phone call from D2. The hotel was full! My heart sank at the thought of walking too much further today. However, the good news was that they could get a car to take us to a hotel 15 km away, then bring us back tomorrow to finish our journey. Done deal! We had a very pleasant stay at the Pazo de Adrán which was quite posh and more than we intended to pay for that night’s accommodation. But the meal was delicious and the white robes made us feel so luxurious and pampered. An early celebration!!

10 kms to go! Hopefully we will make it to the 12:00 Pilgrims Mass at the Cathedral.

Today we are going to enjoy our walk – Melides to Salceda, 21st May

05.22.2014 by Trish // Leave a Comment

Today we decided we were just going to walk to enjoy it until we felt like stopping. With 3 days to do the final 54km there was no pressure. Our German friend had given me some cream which worked wonders on my toe, and also told us the weather would be fine from 8:00 – 10:00, after which their was a 90% chance of rain.
And enjoy it we did! D2 made sure we took the right direction through the first village

Some of the houses in the bigger villages were amazing

And we even came across a fairy tale wishing well

Soon we were out into the woodlands

And into the 40’s

At a small roadside stall where I bought cherries, we met Asian lady. She will probably never know how happy it makes us just to see and hug her, and how much her gentle determination inspires us.

After a break we headed out into the countryside through lots of pretty little villages. D2 was staying on a bit longer at the bar we had morning tea and I left my phone charging with her. So I had no camera when I went through a village that looked like it was built for a TV cooking show. Quaint white houses covered with rambling pink roses, complete with vine covered areas outside, a couple of which had long tables under the vines. I would have been only slightly surprised to see Antonio Caluccio emerge with a large steaming bowl of spaghetti to feed an expectant family seated around the table.
The rain held off, although my spirits were dampened mid-morning by a couple of big hills

By lunchtime we had reached Arzúa, our original destination from yesterday. We were both happy to walk on, the only problem being it was 13kms to the next town we knew for sure had accommodation, and the skies were looking very threatening.
Full of Camino determination we decided to push on. D2 as usual went ahead to check out the accommodation situation, and as the kilometres passed without a phone call from her it became evident we would be doing the 13 kms

I was still enjoying the walk, through villages and countryside, past the gentleman who was sitting on a wooden stool weeding the spaces around the cobblestones.

The rain had preceded us, and just as D2 called to say she had a room it started to sprinkle.

The signposts had just made the 20’s, and my feet and legs were beginning to complain when she turned up to walk with me.

The albergue at Salceda was lovely and modern and D2 had managed to get a private room. And whoever built this albergue knew how pilgrims felt by the end of the day…..a lift to the first floor, just in case you couldn’t manage the 13 stairs. I took the lift!

The rain came down and we were grateful we were sitting inside drinking hot chocolate

I had heard about Galician octopus stew so when I saw Pulpo on the menu I ordered that. And that’s just what I got, a plate of pulpo. D2 was grateful she ordered the ribs!

We had an early night, snuggled up warm in bed listening to the rain. We had actually walked 25kms, and we had done what we set out to do, walked to enjoy it, then stopped.

The spirit of the Camino speaks – Palas del Rei to Melides, 20th May

05.22.2014 by Trish // Leave a Comment

When I woke this morning my sore toe had become alarmingly bright red and swollen. Despite this we had a goal to reach Azura, almost 30 kms away, so I administered Betadine to my toe , put on two blister pads, took some painkillers and we set off.

After a few kilometres of increasingly painful limping I knew that 30 kms wasn’t going to happen. We passed the 63km marker and I wondered how many more I would pass that day.

As we chatted to people along the way it seemed that a malaise had infected the long time pilgrims. So many said that like us they were hoping to get to Azura, but they were struggling. Melides, a mere 13 kms from Palas del Rei, seemed the most common destination. I was still hopeful we would get further and after our first stop for the day D2 and I decided to meet in Melides and take it from there

I was not much in the mood for taking photos but who can resist a ‘tunnel’ photo opportunity.

The track was dotted with signs for taxis, and outside one village a line of cars looked out of place, someone told me they were unregistered taxis.

I have now developed a nodding and smiling relationship with many of the newcomers, a French gentleman yells out “Courage, Madame, courage ” every time he sees me.
I unexpectedly meet D2 at a bar a couple of kilometres out of Melides. She is enjoying a hamburger and beer…..so this is what she does when we aren’t walking together! It was so lovely to see her.
We held a morning meeting over chips and beer. D2 said that her body could go on but her mind couldn’t let her go any further today, so we decided to stop in Melides.

We met up with our Brazilian friend, she also was stopping in Melides.

We made it into the Albergue in Melides where D2 slept and I had coffee and pastries with a German guy who started on the same day as us. We looked at each other’s photos and reminisced about the last 5 weeks. It was when he said “I am going to slow down and enjoy the last few days”
that I wondered, is this what the spirit of the Camino doing? Telling us all to slow down, your time is almost over, just enjoy it. I like to think so.