Patsy and I are walking part of the Camino again this year. We plan to meet Dee Roth-Brown and her daughter, Lauren, in Le-Puy-en-Velay on 14 June. We will walk about two weeks. Patsy and I are not practicing an exceptional amount but we have done some walking. It should be a completely different experience this time, as we will be walking in France instead of Spain and the Camino there is not as well supported.

Bechhofen, Germany

Our Camino de Santiago is over. Easy final day on the bus from Finnisterr. We found an Albergue right across the street from the airport bus stop. This morning we did not know for sure when the bus would arrive, but we thought it might be there at 7:15 and it pulled up right on schedule.

We are visiting with Seth and I am drinking Dr. Pepper. I was cold turkey for over a month, but it sure tastes good now. And Seth has a supply of beer from Belgium and hefeweisen from Germany, so life is good.

Finnisterre, Spain

Here we are at the end of the earth. The bus ride from Santiago is not much more than 90 km, but it takes 3 hours. Sort of winding roads. Beautiful trip, though. We got brilliant sunshine for the trip through Galecian countryside and then along the coast. The coastline is spectacular. I am sure there are some nice photos on Google Earth and they would be well worth a few minutes of your time. I will post some in a few days.

The bus ride was good enough I was thinking how nice it would be to walk or bicycle it! The Compestalla for walking or cycling to Finnisterre is Celtic in appearance and there is another Compestella for walking 30 km up the coast.

I walked to the lighthouse while Patsy was walking the beach looking for shells. I took the route over the mountain, of course. Then, later in the evening, we both walked to the lighthouse along the road. The view from the road is probably better. It is impressive to think that people have been coming to the location of the lighthouse for about 5000 years for spiritual reasons. It is the western most point of earth in Europe. Early people thought the sun was extinguished somewhere out in the ocean and was reborn again in the east the next morning.

I met my friend, Matt, from Denmark while I was at the lighthouse the first time. He had walked from Santiago. He said he had swam in the ocean and allowed the waves to wash over him 9 times and had burned his shirt in the firepit by the lighthouse. Both are ancient pilgrim traditions. Patsy and I dipped our toes in the ocean, at least. Neither of us was interested in burning our shirt.

We have seen many of the pilgrims we met on the route in Santiago or in Finnisterre. We even met the french woman with the donkey named Sherpa at the holy door to the Cathedral. She was there early on Sunday morning, as the donkey might have been a problem with the huge crowds later in the day. I guess she figured he had done the pilgrimage from somewhere in France to Santiago, and he deserved to see the Cathedral. We took our picture with Sherpa. I am pretty sure he can´t get his own Compestella.

Patsy and I celebrated the end of our pilgrimage yesterday with a shellfish feast. We ate things like razor clams and something we think were purple worms. Great meal.

We bus back to Santiago this evening and catch an early flight to Frankfurt.

Compestela de Santiago, Spain

Patsy was still sleeping, the last I checked at 10 am. I left at about 7 am and the old city of Santiago was still sleeping also. I had to walk out of the old city for a coffee. I think the regular price of a coffee in a bar is way less for the locals than for tourists. I got a grande and it was about 60 cents and I am used to paying more than a euro.

I got in early through the holy gate to the cathedral before the line was long. (Actually, I was able to just walk in at about 8 am to check out that part of the church). I hugged Saint James. The holy gate is only open during years when the day of Saint James (25 July) is on a Sunday. I think the next year is 2021. There is the expectation that this year will see record numbers of Pilgrims. The rush is expected in July and August, with the greatest crowd during the fiesta of Saint James.

We will take the bus to Finnister tomorrow morning and stay the night there to check it out.

Compastella de Santiago, Spain

We walked up to the great cathedral here at about 1 pm today. It was nice and sad all at the same time. The cathedral itself is huge, with three separate plazas at the three main entrances. We will try to get into the cathedral either later this evening or tomorrow, as there was a huge crowd when we arrived, mostly not pilgrims.

We had rain for our last days walk, but it was warm enough so it was not a problem. The people in the Albergue got up before 5 am and it was almost completely cleared out by 7 am when we got up. They were well ahead of us so we had a quiet walk through wooded lanes. It was quite nice.

I will add pictures, probably when I get to Seth´s. We fly to Frankfort on Tuesday. We will spend a day here in Santiago and then take a bus to Finisterr and spend a night there.

Arco

We made it nicely to Arco, just 18 kilometers from Santiago. Patsy said she would take a rest day, but not with just one more day to walk. It should be an easy day tomorrow. We should get to Santiago by 12 or 1 pm and get our Certificate and see the cathedral. I think it depends on the weather what else we do. It may rain tomorrow and the next few days. Ryan air only flys from Santiago to Frankfort on Saturday and Tuesday, so we have to decide to leave just the day after we arrive or stay an extra day.

The last 100 kilometers certainly has had none of the interest the first 600 kilometers did. It is much more crowded with less comradary. We are still seeing people we have not met in a long time. (pardon the spelling but the blog tells me none of my words are spelled correctly in Spanish).

We have been accompanying a french woman and her donkey, Sherpa. He is quite the pet and, I think, a good companion. We have seen one other donkey and several dogs walking the Camino.

Azura

We are in a bar on the way to Arco. Tomorrow should be our lastday. We have 12 km today and another 20 tomorrow. We walked without the crowd yesterday, but they are back today. A steady stream of walkers and bikers.