In Santiago de Compostela

First we met Giulia and Elisa from Italy for breakfast. Then we spent the day in Santiago wandering through the cathedral and visiting all the tiny shops. We went to the Pilgrim Mass at noon. And later met with many of the people we had walked with on the Camino Primitivo for a big dinner.

So many interesting and beautiful sights inside the magnificent cathedral. I am always in awe when inside the cathedral.

Arrival in Santiago

We arrived in Santiago de Compostela today. So happy to have finally reached our goal successfully.

We left Salcedo at 7:11am and arrived at the cathedral around 3pm. We took our pictures then tracked the GPS to the pilgrim office. At first we were horrified at the incredible length of the line leading to the place where we were to receive our Compostelas. We heard someone say that it might take 3 hours. But I'm glad we didn't let that discourage us. Even though it did seem to take forever, we actually had our Compostelas in about an hour and a half.

Next we used the GPS to find our way about 1 kilometer to our hotel. We were both so glad to get out of our shoes. Mine are packed away in my backpack and I intend to stay in my sandals until I'm home again in Palmer.

We found a tiny cafe and had a couple of sandwiches. Now it's time to call it a day.

Melide to Salcedo

Today was much shorter than the last couple where we definitely exceeded the pain limits of our feet! Only 17.35 miles today and we were finally at our charming little hotel in Salcedo. We were the last people out of the albergue this morning. We didn't really hit the road until around 9am. My feet were very tired and Pam's blisters were killing her. So we took our time and actually had a bit of a relaxing day for a change.

We joined up with the Camino Frances in Melide so the number of peregrinos has increased significantly. We are quite thankful that we've been able to book our accommodations all the way through to our last night in Madrid before our flight home.

We will arrive in Santiago de Compostela tomorrow afternoon. It's such a thrill to finally stand before that amazing cathedral, especially knowing you have walked there for the last 200 miles.

Lugo to Melide

Today turned into another excruciatingly long day. We figured it would be 28 miles. But we got on a wrong trail and wasted the first two miles. But the good thing about that is that we ran into Ivana, from Croatia who had made the same mistake. So we walked many hours with her. We both had very sore feet when we finally stumbled into Melide. But we had a great spaghetti dinner and drank enough wine that I had some trouble remaining in the standing position while taking a shower at the albergue in Melide.

The trail was really too long for one day, at 32 miles. But we really had no choice because every place I called was full. We were lucky to find an albergue in Melide that actually took reservations. So we're sharing with 6 other people but I suspect I'll be asleep about two minutes after my head hits the pillow. We have a short day tomorrow and another the next day. Then we will reach Santiago.

So far the trip has been wonderful, sore feet and all.

Fonsagrada to Lugo - Day 7

It has been extremely difficult to find accommodations because there are so many people walking the Caminos in August. We weren't able to book anything. So we just decided to book the same hotel we had booked for the following day in Lugo. We figured we would just walk as far as we could. Then take a taxi to Lugo, planning to return and finish the route the next morning. But we just kept on going and did both stages, which was about 54 kilometers. Our final mileage was 37.34 miles. It was well after 10pm when we finally arrived in Lugo. Even our hotel was on top of a very steep hill.

There are no words to describe the pain I am currently feeling in both feet. I don't have any blisters but they are agonizing!

It was a really lovely walk for the first 20 miles through rolling hills and mysterious forests. We passed through many little villages and enjoyed visiting with many of the new friends we have found along the way. But the last couple of hours were along a busy highway and we were very happy to finally reach our destination. 37 miles was a little too much for one day!

The Church in Vilabade

We stopped at the little cafe in Vilabade on our way to Lugo and the woman there gave us a tour of the church.

Grandas de Salime to Fonsagrada - Day 6

After a wonderful sleep in a nice private room, we took the taxi back up to where we had walked yesterday. We had the usual cafè con leche, a chocolate croissant for me and a bocadilla for Pam at the tiny cafe. Then we began a gentle climb for several hours until we finally broke out of the fog. There was a lot of climbing today but it was rarely very steep. In the afternoon it got quite warm, and the last few miles into Fonsagrada were rather exhausting. We were quite happy to finally reach the pension where we are spending the night.

We see no prospects for accommodation tomorrow night so we booked ahead about 50 kilometers to Lugo. It is unlikely that we will get that far. But we plan to try. If we can't make it, we'll call a taxi then have it return us to the place where they found us in the morning. Then we will finish the walk to Lugo and stay there again in the same hotel. We walked through town to be sure we could find the route in the morning because we're planning a very early start.

Berducedo to Grandas de Salime - Day 5

Today was a beautiful walk. It was quite hilly but at least they were gentle hills. It was very cool in the morning and we could see a sea of clouds in the valleys below. We were sure we would eventually descend into the cloud bank. But as we descended the clouds dissipated.

We could see a huge lake down below and eventually we descended down to it. We crossed over the dam and passed a big restaurant. It was only about 4 miles to our final destination of Grandas de Salime so we didn't bother to stop for some food. That 4 miles was very steep and very hot plus mostly along the road. The views of the lake were wonderful but the walk was tiring.

We were so happy to finally reach Grandas de Salime but we couldn't find the hotel we had booked. After asking a couple of people and totally not believing what they said, we discovered that restaurant 4 miles down the road was actually our hotel.

We called and they sent a taxi for us. But tomorrow we're not walking that strenuous route again. The same taxi will return for us in the morning and take us back up that long hill and drop us off where they picked us up.

August is vacation time in Europe so we are having a hard time getting accommodations.