Dave's Travel Blog

This was the last day of our Camino. For me, Ruth and Jim, it was the 35th day of our journey, and over 500 miles of walking. I think our bodies were ready for this day to arrive, but it was still a bit bittersweet to come to the end of our Camino. We left our apartment at 6am to beat the crowd into Santiago. We walked the first hour in darkness. This was the first time we walked in the dark and needed our phone flashlights in places. There weren’t many people out, which was nice. There were more hills than expected, but it turned out to be a nice quiet walk into Santiago. I had some emotional moments along the way, thinking about many things and the scope of what we had done in the last five weeks.

We reached Santiago and had a small celebration. We also encountered several friends we had made along the way, including Robin, a minister from northern England. He is as nice of a person as you could ever meet.

So, how do you celebrate walking 500 miles across Spain? Answer: with one of the best Italian lunches I’ve ever had, including more beer and wine than anyone should have in the middle of the day.

This is certainly one of life’s grand moments. I am very grateful to have both the health and means to do it.

I hope I remember how to drive a car.

Some pics from today:

Day 33 was one exhausting day of walking for all of us. It wasn’t the terrain, it was the distance…a little over 18 miles. On day 33, we left Palas de Rei around 7 am and got to the midway town of Melide around 11 am. There was a highly Google recommended restaurant called Casa Alongos in Melide that didn’t open until 11:30 and since the Camino is all about eating and drinking, we decided to head to a local tourist trap to order drinks to wait it out the 30 minutes. One of the best decisions we made since Casa Alongos made some of the best scratch food we had on the Camino. Almost everything had the Galician stew, which was exceptional. I had the Hamburger which was also great…the 2nd best I’ve had on the walk (the best was in Pamplona).

The rest of the day was a mental and physical challenge to get to the town of Arzua. We finally made it to our apartment, I headed out to rage local church to get a pilgrims cello in my credential, and then we all went out to wash clothes. On the way back, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner, which was slightly above average and then waited an eternity for the check.

Today, we had a relatively short walk to Pedrouzo…20 kilometers. It was a rather boring walk with nothing notable. We checked into our apartment and found out there was no hot water. The company let us use another apartment to shower. We are now at an Italian restaurant eating pasta and pizza.

Only one more day on our Camino…hard to believe.

Some pics from the last two days. Not many pics because not many opportunities.

Another 7:30AM start, but this morning we had one of the rare bad weather days since we started. The weather did not get above 50 and it was misty and foggy all day. The roads were crowded…mostly with new peregrinos that started in Sarria. I assume the next few days will be the same and I am not looking forward to it.

We ran into our new French friend, Ombeline, at one of the rest areas and bought her lunch. Afterwards, she and Troy lagged behind us and walked together for over an hour. It looks like Troy’s dream is coming true…lol. Ombeline did not walk as far as we did today and she will be arriving in Santiago the day after us. But, she has an excuse…she is carrying a pack that weighs over 30 pounds…maybe 35 pounds. She was definitely one of the good ones that we met along The Way.

We landed in Palas de Rei mid afternoon and had a difficult time finding a decent restaurant. Finally, we found a place where pizza was our only option and we were a bit skeptical given how the place looked. However, it turned out they made a stellar pie.

Another long day tomorrow…I think 16 miles. Only three days left on our Camino.

Some pics from today:

We started our walk at 7:30 today…the first as a group of five. Since Sarria is the primary starting point for the majority of Peregrinos, the path was crowded…much too crowded. It took away from the experience. Troy and Joann did much better than I expected and we made the 24k hike to Portomarin without too much trouble. The walk was harder than I anticipated, however, with more elevation change than I expected.

After we each had a shower, we walked across the Ponte Nova Portomarin bridge and had lunch at a restaurant called !Slurp! We sat in the back of the restaurant where the only other customer was a young French girl named Ombeline who told us she was hiking the Camino by herself and she started in St. Jean just like us over a month ago. She was eating an ice cream sundae and then went on to order a chicken finger salad and a large plate of garlic fries. She ate it all and I’m not quite sure how she did it. She told us that she hopes to become a comedian and it seemed that she had the personality to pull it off. I think Troy met the girl of his dreams, but alas…but we still have four days to go, so who knows.

We are expected to finally get some rain tonight and the weather will cool significantly. I can’t wait.

Some pics from today:

It’s hard to believe that this is day 30 of our Camino and the day we meet my sister and nephew in Sarria. A lot of planning went into this trip and everything had to work out perfectly so that we could meet up on this day. Thankfully, we didn’t have any health issues or delays and everything worked out. Their train arrived in Sarria just as we were walking into town. The timing couldn’t have gone any better.

Our day started in Triacastela as we had to make a quick decision concerning the two route options. The longer route was through the town of Samos, where one of the most famous and largest Spanish monasteries is located. We decided on this longer route and the path ran mostly through very small towns and along rivers and streams. The downside was there was no food places open along the way. We did get to stop at a place in Samos, but there was nothing else until we arrived in Sarria.

The monastery was very large and the murals on the walls were fantastic. We had a 30 minute tour (in Spanish so we didn’t learn much) and then made the two hour and a half hour trek to Sarria.

We were starved, so we found a local pizza place and ordered three large pizzas, beer and wine and ate it all.

Pics from today: