Wow, today we did it! We trekked 24 miles (39 kilometers) on the Camino to our goal and finish at Santiago de Compostela! 
 

We had not planned to finish today and had originally planned to trek less than twenty miles and stay at an albergue just outside of town. We were then going to finish the short distance in morning and parade into Santiago de Compostela and go to the pilgrim’s mass given every day at noon. 

However, we started out our day with a beautiful morning with clear skies and warm weather. As soon as we started on the Camino we were rewarded with a view of the beautiful moon still visible in the sky over a low layer of fog in the valley bellow. What a great sight to start, and in the end, finish the Camino de Santiago. 

Well, I have to say it really wasn’t all fireworks because admittedly we both dragged a bit from mid morning to early afternoon. We both felt tired, Monica’s ankle hurt, and the bottom of my foot felt tired. Yes, I think it was part psychological knowing it might be our last day. Really, twenty-nine days on the Camino and no real foot problems and now on the last day my foot is bothering me! 

Being tired? Well, we did go five hundred miles, so I guess I could feel tired, but why so much now?! I know, it’s all part of that let down. 

The scenery was still very nice throughout the day. The few steep uphills that we climbed today seemed huge, like Mount Everest. Our plan was to limit our stops, but we stopped a lot at every other cafe for a cold drink as it was hot and in the low eighties. 

Later in the day it actually went fairly well and that is one of the reasons we ended up finishing today. As was fairly typical each day, we met a young man, Matt, from England, and then near the end, a young man, Dan, from Slovenia. Both were fun people to walk and talk with, and that always makes the time and day fly by. And in this case, after Monica and I got over our psychological mental block of being tired, we realized we were almost there. It was actually a surprise to all of us. 

We all walked into Santiago de Compostela together with a happy stride. Dan had trekked on the northern coastal Camino Norte route that drops down and intersects with the Camino Francis we were on. He’d been on his pilgrimage for ten days. Dan started four days back and was one of the newcomers. It really didn’t matter because everyone does their own Camino and any one that completes what they set out to do should be congratulated.

One of the inspirational persons we saw on the Camino that I forgot to mention is one that I take my hat off to. This pilgrim was probably in his late twenties and must have had polio or some birth defect as he had short legs and he was walking with crutches and carrying a smaller backpack. He had a female companion that was also carrying a backpack. I don’t know how far he was going because we saw him a few days later and we never went less than fifteen miles a day, so that was very inspiring! 

When we first enter Santiago de Compostela it wasn’t very exciting because I expected banners and fireworks, and instead it looked like a modern city with lots of traffic. Where are all the pilgrims, the visual rewards and celebration for the pilgrims? Not on the outskirts of town, but as we got closer to the usual old downtown city center, and near the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, you could see and feel the excitement. 

Once on those narrow cobble streets near the cathedral there were people and obviously pilgrims everywhere, hundreds. There they were, the trekkers, bicyclists, car, and tour bus pilgrims. Not to say they were really any different, but the longer distance pilgrims that had just arrived stood out by their little more disheveled look, generally dirtier boots and not tennis shoes, and by the size of their backpacks. Getting too close to them and you could smell them too.

Dan left us to find his booked albergue and Matt had a hotel booked and arraigned one for us as lodging is in short supply nearer the cathedral. It was the nicest hotel but it was great to know we wouldn’t be running around looking for a place to stay, especially since it was late in the afternoon. Though it was an old hotel, it overlooked one of the main walkways near the cathedral and it was fun to watch the hundreds of people walking by. The owner was like so many people we had met that was very nice and helpful to us 

Before we went to our hotel we sat down at a cafe to celebrate and ran into Alex who had arrived a few hours earlier. We saw several other pilgrims that we had walked with over the last thirty days and it was great to congratulate each other. There are pilgrims that started with us that finished before us, and over the next few days I am sure we will see more as they finish too. Everyone has a Camino experience at their own pace.

Today it was too late to get our Compostela (certificate of completion of the Camino) or go to the pilgrim’s mass at the cathedral. The mass is at noon every day at noon and several different times in the smaller chapel within the cathedral in different languages. The noon pilgrims mass is open to all pilgrims whether Catholic or not, whether religious or not, for all. It is the celebration shown in the movie The Way.

Tonight I will still sleep in my wonderful Sierra Designs down quilt that I have used every night since I started. I won’t be using my silk sleeping bag liner that I used many times on the beds in some of the albergues were I felt a little uncomfortable about cleanliness, or stuffed their pillows into the liner’s built-in pillow case. And of course I’ll still use my same blowup pillow that I have been using every night too. My fleece towel, well maybe I’ll use the ones supplied by the hotel tonight? The albergues never supplied towels, except a few with the private rooms. 

The guide book states it is five hundred miles, or eight hundred kilometers, from Saint Jean, France, to Santiago de Compostela, but I think it is a little more. At first I logged my daily treks on the walking program and came up with additional mileage because the guide is from center points of a city and didn’t account for your actual starting points or side trips. However, the mileage really doesn’t matter as it was the experience of the journey that mattered. 

I have to admit again that I expected the Camino to be much easier and instead it turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought. The terrain and surfaces in many places were difficult with the Wheelie and may have been easier with just a backpack. The weather was a challenge at times too. Many people asked me if it was easier with the Wheelie, and that wasn’t really the reason I utilized it, but rather because of my bad back. It was however a great conversation piece and I probably had over a hundred people ask me about it and maybe had sixty plus people take pictures of me with it. I think Radical Designs, the manufacturer, should give me some type of reward or referral fee. Ha ha! 

Tomorrow we will enjoy the day and get our Compostela and go to the pilgrim’s mass. Then we might look around the city and spend a few days contemplating what we will do until July 6, the date we have our flight back. 

Tonight and for the next few days I will have to adjust my sleeping habit as my body clock will surely tell me to get up at 5:00 to 5:30 AM, so we can get ready to start trekking for the day. It will be nice to sleep in, but honestly, I will miss trekking and what the new day will bring.

Best wishes,

Ted 

The morning on the Camino with the moon still in the sky and the fog on the ground 

A peaceful Camino morning 

The Camino 

The last few miles of the Camino 

Approaching Santiago de Compostela. Matt an English pilgrim and Monica

Santiago marker before town 

Almost there

We are in Santiago de Compostela 

Santiago 

We finished! In front of the cathedral Santiago de Compostela, which is under repair construction  

Finished!  

Rod our pilgrim walking companion (20 years old) from Mexico and me. 

Our celebration. From the right, Alex (24) from Italy, Monica (23), Matt (32) England, and me (the young guy).