Henry and I walked into Santiago this morning, completing our Camino. We had our pictures in front of the cathedral and got our Compostelas, the certificates of completion, issued by the Pilgrim's Office. After our midday meal, we are relaxing in our hotel room and will travel by bus tomorrow to Madrid.
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| Our Compostelas |
Today was our last long walk at 14.5 miles. A lot of elevation loss then gain as we went down the Rio Ulla valley to cross the river and up the other side. We are along the N 525 highway in a nice Albergue tonight and with a short 6 mile, 2 hour walk tomorrow to our final goal of the pilgrimage end at the cathedral in Santiago.
Henry is enjoying watching the European Cup soccer games. This one is the Slovenia-Serbia game. Go Slovenia!
Henry and I walked 13 miles today to the small city of Bandeira. Only 20 miles and 1 1/2 walking days to Santiago de Compostela. Today's walk was mostly on rural or forested tracks, but with several highway and freeway over crossings .
My first was caldo gallego, the iconic soup of the area. It had chicken, chorizo, potatoes, onions, kale, and paprika. I would have added some white beans.
Rain! We knew it was a possibility and it started pouring about half an hour into our walk this morning. It was miserable and lasted about an hour before letting up for awhile, only to pour for another hour at the end of our 12 mile walk to Lalin. I told Henry that you never know what you can accomplish until you try it. We tried and we did it. He never complained, just kept on walking through it. Our hostal is on the way out of Lalin, so we did our grocery shopping and had a nice menu del diá before walking on and checking in.
We got a piel de sapo melón at the grocery to eat later tonight.
It was about 13 1/2 miles to Rodeiro today. The official Camino route was 16 miles, but Google maps showed an alternate that was shorter and was still off main roadways and out in the rural areas. Most people think of Spain as hot and dry with white stucco and red tile roofs. This area is in northwest Spain and receives a lot of rainy and cool weather very similar to northwest Washington State, hence lush wildflowers and abundant ferns in pine forests. It threatened rain all day today, but we were lucky that it only started pouring after we were in our hostal for the day.
Henry and I walked 12 miles today, but they were difficult ones as we walked steeply down to the Rió Miño at Belesar, then even more steeply up to Chantada where we are staying tonight in an inexpensive hostal. Being Sunday all the grocery stores are closed but we did find an open restaurant that was fair but not the greatest. At least they had a television on tuned to the Netherlands - Poland European Cup soccer game, which Henry enjoyed.
