Buenos Dias! We have walked for 14 days continuous from Leon, without a rest day, we ate grapes, apples, pears, berries and greens growing along the way and had cafe con leche, tortilla de potatas, bocadillo, cerveza, vino tinto and blanco, delicious soups, stews and pan, the wonderful crusty bread, and Charlie will certainly not forget the bedbugs, so….Yeah…we are very happy to be in Santiago. After arriving at the Cathedral de Santiago our fellow pilgrims and us congratulated each other and then we visited the pilgrim office to get our Compostela and checked into a HOTEL. In the evening we walked the old city and celebrated with having a nice dinner and a bottle of wine.

The next morning we went to Pilgrim Mass. It was very beautiful and moving, they announced each country and the starting point of the walk for the pilgrims arriving the day before. After mass we boarded the bus to Finisterre. It turns out, we were very lucky with the weather while walking, except for the day we had to go up to O Cebreiro, we had excellent walking weather. It is raining heavy non stop since our arrival here. Some people had planned to walk to Finisterre, another 90 km, but opted for the bus also because of the really heavy rain and cold wind. We stayed for one night in Finisterre, it wasn’t to much fun…rain, wind, tired and no beautiful sun down at the “End of the Earth”.

We are back in Santiago since we could not get a place on the train to Madrid until the 4th. One more day to check out Santiago and it’s history…….

Thank you for fallowing us on “The Way”.  Hasta Luego Amigos!

Just before Pilgrim Mass – someone took a blurry picture of us….o well

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela

Finisterre

Happy Halloween!!!
We arrived…Llegamos….mir hams gschafft…jsme dorazili….

Hello Amigos! 20.7 km/12.5 miles to Santiago. Starting out I wondered how it would feel to be at this point…..well, it feels pretty darn good.
The morning was quite cold ….we could have used gloves. Then the sun burned through the fog and soon we had to take our jackets off. Nice dry day. The terrain continues to be rolling and we walk up and down through Eucalyptus forrest and farm land. We encountered all the people we met over the last 13 days of and on at rest stops, on the trail and in the evening. Everyone is very interesting to talk to….some have more time and will walk the three more days to Finisterre, but the majority goes by bus.

They were so, so close……

Buenos Tardes! 43 km/26.2 miles to Santiago.
Rained last night again…the day was cloudy with some sun and cool. The trail led more through the country again rather then next to the road…much more enjoyable. There are bigger farms now and newer houses. We passed through a city called Melida, there evidence of the collapse of the Spanish economy is visible in the many deserted construction sites. This is the case for Arzua as well. It is the last major town before Santiago, has a pop. of 7000 and is known for cheese.

The sights of the day:

Que pasa! We met a lovely lady, 71 year old Mary from Silver City, New Mexico in the Albergue yesterday. She has been layed up for five days because of her knee, but will be able to continue tomorrow, some of it with bus and we should see her in Santiago again. Anyhow, we really loved talking with her. The majority of people on the trail now are the Spanish doing their yearly thing. Traffic has increased greatly and I can not imagine doing it in July and August from Sarria on to Santiago. Life in the Albergues is quite calm……no more naked people….he…he…he.

A cloudy, cool day today. It rained during the night, so everything was pretty wet. The vistas are now less exciting and we walk mostly next to the road.

Palas de Rei – pop. 4200 and once home to a kings palace has little left to remind of it’s colorful past.

Only three more walking days to Santiago…Yeah!

 Beauty of the Forrest

The view today

He is doing his job guarding – this is how cows should live

Look what comes down the road

He has to work hard

One step at a time….

Farm house

Town Hall of Palas de Rei

Hello there! Another nice day for walking through the changing countryside ….rolling land, fields and meadows lined with stone fencing. The villages consist of small dairy farms and it is evident in the air as well as on the trail.

Portomarin – pop. 2000 and located on the Rio Mino. In 1960 the river was dammed and the village had to be relocated. The most historic buildings were moved brick by brick into the new town. The 12th century Romanesque Iglesia de San Nicolas being one of those buildings were each brick was numbered for rebuilding.

Blessed morning

“Hola”  amigos

100 km marker

Oak trees

Galicia

Memorial

Rio Mino

Bridge over Rio Mino

Iglesia de San Nicolas

Buenos Dias from Galicia! We had a most beautiful and peaceful morning, a crisp day made for walking out in nature.

Galicia shares many historical and physical similarities to other Celtic regions, especially western Ireland. The language “Galega” is still spoken and understood by the majority. Fish dishes such as steamed octopus “Pulpo” and shellfish are served here accompanied by Ribeiros or Albariño, the white wine of the region.

Sarria – pop. 13,000 of Celtic origin, is a major medieval center for pilgrims. In order to get the Compostela (the certificate) a pilgrim must at least walk from Sarria, these are the last 120 km to Santiago. Many Spaniards walk this stretch yearly for their pilgrimage.

A beautiful morning

Breakfast

Shell fountain San Xil

At a Cucina for coffee con leche

Trees on the trail

Bare rock – careful when wet

A few of these….

….and a few of these

Sarria in the distance

Buenos Tardes! Much better day today, cloudy but a clear view. Steep descend with short, but extremely steep inclines. The way leads through several farming villages and we encountered many “pets”. We pass many dogs big and small…the big ones do look scary….are no problem so far.
We had dinner with Mike and Cindy, an American couple from Olympia, WA…very nice, we meet them often on the trail as well as another Mike from LA and Kevin ( orig. from Buffalo) and Serena living in San Francisco. There are many more Americans now then in June as well as British, Irish, Belgian, Korean, and bikers from Italy. All in all a nice group again and we see each other again and again on the trail, at rest stops and at night at the Albergue. Knees and feet are still doing good and no new bug bites for Charlie 🙂

Pilgrim statue at Alto de PoioP

View of Triacastela