2/6/13 Muxia ➡ Finisterra 30km

2/6/13 Muxia ➡ Finisterra 30km 

Interesting day to end my Camino.

The Albergue  last night was fantastic.

I have to say it was so calming and relaxing a real chilled out place to be.

The last couple of days have been a little stressful on reflection and loosing Fernando at the last 5 km was a little unexpected.

Anyway, I was lucky to meet a wonderful French couple who were leaving at the same time as me, so I ask them if it would be ok if I walked with them.

We made great time and had a break at about 3 hours. Another French guy that I had met the night before joined us and we had a nice little break. It was then on with our packs to hit the trail once more.

As we were setting off Fernando came blustering down the trail yelling and waving his stick at me. Initially I thought nothing of it as he was a little hot headed anyway. Well he starts yelling at me waving his stick at me and making out as if he wanted to hit me with the stick. From what I can make out from his Spanish and gestures and one of the french guys translation, was, that he had waited for me at the Albergue for 40 mins. I said to him that we had never made that arrangement and that I had told him I was leaving at 6.30 and that i would see him on the Camino and not to wait for me. I also explained to him that he had not listened to me and that it was his problem that he had wasted his time. I also explained to him that he had done the same thing the day before when he had chosen to walk the carretera and not the Camino. 

We started walking again as I was over all the yelling when he started to yell at me again. The lovely French people all scattered and I was getting pretty upset by this stage. I finally told him to leave me alone as he was really upsetting me and that I would see him in Finisterra. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding that has not been resolved as Fernando ignored me as much as I ignored him when we arrived in Finisterra. 

Once I removed myself from that unpleasantness I resumed my walk with the lovely French, also bumping into the Italian Chicas. We had a great walk into Finisterra where I managed to get my certificate from the municipal Albergue. The scenery and terrain was great today and my feet only hurt a smidgen compared to the previous day we made great time arriving around 1.30.

I arrived at the Albergue where Brigitte and Jacques were and settled in. I took myself out for a celebratory late lunch of pulpo, prawns, potatas fritas, vino tinto and a great view.

When I returned to the Albergue I caught up with my amigo/amiga and we planned the evenings activity.

Watching the sun plunge into the ocean at the end of the earth is a must in Finisterra. Brigitte had bought champagne and nibbles and we were off after a light supper.

We had the best time and it was a superb way to finish off our journey. 

We missed Cristy and Janet from our little group but we had a toast for them.

51 days of walking in 2 months 2/4/13 ➡ 2/6/13

8 solo 43 with Cristy.

St. John Pied dePort ➡ Pamplona 76km (4 days )

Seville ➡Santiago 1000km (43 days )

Santiago ➡Muxia ➡Finisterra 119km (4 days )

My feet are now happy as I will be catching the bus back to Santiago.

I am officially a tourista now !

1/6/13 Olveiroa ➡ Muxia 30km

1/6/13  Olveiroa ➡ Muxia 30km

Ouch, my feet really hurt today, hate to think how they are going to feel tomorrow afternoon.

I had a romantic notion of walking back to Santiago, but after today there is no way I would do it.

Enough!

The walks over the last 3 days have been so different.

I raced yesterday like a lunatic and got a blister. 

Today I think I visited every bar on the way took my time and boy, did the time drag.

Are we there yet ??  It was the longest 30km I have done. My feet bitched the whole way. Not really looking or ward to another 29km mañana. 

Terrain was good today, some blacktop but a lot of Camino through tracks. The weather was crappy though, misting rain most of today, had to use my poncho. The scenery would have been spectacular if there had been no fog, rain, low clouds and the mist. Hopefully tomorrow will be blue sky's. it had defiantly cleared this evening so it's looking good for a sunny day. Hopefully the wind this evening will blow the rain clouds away.

Tomorrow I will reach Finisterra and meet up with Brigitte and Jacques. They have reserved me a place at the Albergue, so at least I know I will have a bed. 

Today I walked all the way with Fernando, but lost him at the last 5 km as he took the carretera and I took the Camino. The morning plan was to take the Camino, but i guess he changed his mind. As a result we have ended up in different Albergues. 

He was wandering past my Albergue which is at the beginning of town, as there was no way I could walk another step, we saw each other and then went to the mass at the Church. I have photos of the church from last time and as it was closed it was actually nice to go inside. I even got a stamp.

 

31/5/13 Negreira ➡ Olveiroa 35km

31/5/13  Negreira ➡ Olveiroa 35km

Ouch my feet hurt!

Big day today, so many pilgrims. The race was on for beds.

Some of the pilgrims get up at 5am, banging and crashing down the metal steps.

It's pitch black outside but I guess that ever elusive bottom bunk calls to them. 

Surprise, surprise I have a bottom bunk. 

The only draw back is, is that the shower and toilet are across the road in the other bunk house. God help me if I need to pee pee in the middle of the night!

 Got a small blister on my heel today so I am quite annoyed, but it should be ok it's not in to bad a place and I have burst it so I hope that it dries out quickly and doesn't make a pest of itself. 

I have a new Spanish friend called Fernando.  He is 72 and a bit of a speedy Gonzales. We stopped and had a bebida at lunchtime, so now we are best buddies. We are in the same bunkhouse tonight with a million blankets but no heating. This could be interesting. 

I think I am going to have to wear everything I have to keep warm. 

Good terrain and scenery today but a lot of blacktop walking which is hard on the feet, hence the blister, me thinks.

Haven't really been that inspired to take many photos so far, as the weather is just holding but grey and overcast so the contrasts aren't that great.

Will need to decide which way I am going tomorrow. Fernando thinks I should go to Muxia first with him, and then it will be one more day to Finisterra. Will see how the pies are in the morning and make my decision then I think.

Just returned from a great pilgrims dinner with the Italians, French and Spanish. Mix of languages but so much fun. It's taken me a while to feel comfortable on this mini Camino, I haven't really enjoyed it until this evening. The race for beds is a real distraction from the walking. Will take it easy mañana and go with the flow.

It's almost complete, my walk across Spain.

30/5/13 Santiago ➡ Negreira 24km

30/5/13 Santiago ➡ Negreira 24km 

Oh it was awful when the alarm went at 7am this morning. What are you thinking of doing I could hear my feet saying. 

Walking to Finisterra and back, I told them. 

Well lets just see how you go walking there before you start talking about walking back, ok I thought!

Up and out by 6.30 am, poor Cristy last day and we woke her up. Hopefully she went back to sleep and had a lazy last day in Santiago before her trip to Cyprus.

I walked out of Santiago with a lovely guy from Ireland, Owen who had done the Camino Frances. The walk today was lovely and not too hard. A couple of hills only. 

I managed to get to my destination by 1.30pm, visit the supermercardo and have a plate of ensalada mixta, then score the second last bed at the municipal Albergue. 

Sweet ! Gone are the wonderful bottom bunks that my speedy Chicas secured for me and hello to living on the top bunk for a while.

Spent the afternoon obtaining information about the next leg.

Will need to decide which way to go, either Muxia first or Finisterra to catch Brigitte and Jacques, hopefully they will have a longer stay in Finisterra.

I now have 2 big walking days, so it's bed time for me and my pies.

28/5/13 - 29/5/13 Santiago No Kilometres !

28/5/13 - 29/5/13 Santiago No Kilometres !

Wandered around Santiago for the last 2 days, had a bit of a sleep in both days and did a bit of souvenir shopping.

We walked out to the big department store on the outskirts of town as each of us needed a few clothes for the next part of our trips.

I didn't find anything as I was not in the mood for clothes shopping and I still have awhile before I need anything, so it was good to have a look around.

We caught a taxi back and I must say it was weird being in a car after so much walking. 

Let me just say my feet were very happy !

We went to the pilgrims mass again on Wednesday. Brigitte had left for Finisterra and I hope to catch up with her there. Our Dutchman Rian was singing at the end of the mass so we really wanted to see and hear him. As it turned out the Military were there for a special pilgrims mass. The day before a number of them had arrived in Santiago after completing the Portuguese Camino and we had seen them arrive so it turned out to be a really good mass to attend.

The day was dreadful as it did nothing but rain so we were all terribly lazy. The sky decided to clear around 6 pm so we took a walk back to the Cathedral and got some more shots and then found a fabulous little restaurant for our final Chicas dinner. Then it was home to bed as we had early starts in the morning, Janet to the airport, me back on the road and Cristy a lie in ( hope she got one, as Janet and I were up and gone by 6.30am) her train to Madrid wasn't until the afternoon.

Hasta Luego Santiago, I'll be back in about a week.

27/5/13 Outeiro ➡ Santiago 17km

27/5/13 Outeiro  ➡ Santiago 17km 

Up before the alarm this morning for the last leg.

Good Albergue last night, really good sleep.

Terrain good and scenery lovely.

So many ups into Santiago, why do they build church's on top of a hill !

The yellow arrows dried up on the way into Santiago, so we just followed the church spires when we could see them.

We had a crowd to walk in with today the Dutch, the German's, and the Australian's woohoo. 

I simply cannot believe that we have walked a thousand kilometres. 

It was so exciting seeing the spires of the church in the distance as we knew we were getting close.

As we found our way to the square and the front facade of the church we saw Janet and the squealing and cheers began. We saw Boje who had arrived the day before and he was our main paparazzi dude. 

All the tourist groups were then taking photos of us as well and one young girl couldn't believe we had walked the kilometres that we did and she had a photo with Jan.

Wow, what a sense of achievement I still cannot believe that we have finally finished and we have made it.

After our photo session we found our accommodation and dumped our bags to run back to the cathedral for the pilgrims mass. The botafumeria was up so that was an extra treat.

Cristy and I then went to pick up our packages that we had sent on from the trail, only to find that the office was unattended so we were stuffing around with what to do when out of nowhere we were reunited with our lovely Giovanni from the beginning of our trip. he was with his daughter and son who had met him in Ourense and they had had a family walking trip. We were so excited as we didn't think we would see him again. 

A yummy lunch of calamaries and cervaza rounded out our pilgrimage nicely.

Around 7 pm we all met up at the pilgrims office for drinks and tapas, it was quite a crowd. As the Via de la Plata is not as popular as the Camino Frances the chance of seeing the pilgrims you walk with is quite slim. So we were so lucky that a lot of those pilgrims we had walked with were still actually in Santiago. Great night, great tapas, great fun.

I will be walking to Fisterra and Muxia in the next few days, so giving the pies a bit of a rest then it's back on with the backpack for a little more walking.

26/5/13 Silleda ➡ Outeiro 25 km

26/5/13 Silleda ➡ Outeiro 25 km

Awoke to a foot that was much better. 

The 100mg voltaren tablet had something to do with that though !

Yesterday's meltdown a thing of the past. 

It was on to the outskirts of Santiago, do or die.

Good Camino today, small amount of blacktop, but mostly track.

Beautiful scenery and back through what I call medieval forests. If you are a watcher of Game of Thrones you will know what I mean.

I can just imagine wearing one of those long flowing dresses, Maid Marion style, through Sherwood Forest. Oops think I've one a bit loopy after so much walking!

Anywhoo, last big day of walking and it was a biggy. Down a massive hill, then up the other side. 

The Albergue, of course, was at the top of the hill and we knew in advance that there are no shops around, so we needed to bring food in for dinner. We each carried an ingredient to share the load and it was delicious. Pasta Atun ( tuna pasta). 

Our room is almost full and we got a lovely surprise when our Dutch Amigos just arrived after a huge leg 34 km.  So we will definitely be partying tomorrow night in old Santiago Town.

 

Think I will turn the iPad off and have an early night as we have an early start and so much excitement in store mañana.

Tomorrow we will have walked the 1000km from Seville ➡ Santiago in 45 days.