Day 30 - Arzua to Santiago

Last night I had dinner with Tom at my hotel early and dinner was done early.  I had a 5am alarm and was out the door a few minutes after 6.  Walking out of town a Korean guy I had talked to once or twice caught me.  We walked together for a km or two and talked about the Halloween disaster in Seoul, Elon Musk, Twitter and Tesla.

It was dark for almost two hours and I just walked in the pouring rain.  It rained until almost noon.  I passed closed cafe after closed cafe.  Finally about 9am I found an open one and had a coffee and a Napalitano.   I was encountering very few pilgrims.  The rain made it easy to focus on walking.  I sometimes ducked for cover when a bad downpour happened.  An Australian cyclist and I had a brief chat under an awning while a girl that was at the cafe I stopped at ducked under a tree nearby.  Later I passed her and declared, "It's a beautiful day!". She laughed at that.

I walked paying very little attention to anything other than my feet.  One for in front of the other.  Just before noon after walking 6 hours in the rain, the sun poked out. What a boost.

I stopped at a bar and got a tuna empanada, coffee and coke.  I sat in the sunshine drying out and chatting with people at other tables.  I actually started to dry out a bit.  For some reason walking in the rain makes your clothes really, really stink.  Must be steaming in a jacket or under the pancho.

As I left I realized I had no stamps for the day - you need two a day on the last 100km.  I got a stamp and realized this bar was called the 15km Bar.  I was on the last 15!

At that point I put on some music and just walked.  I didn't care what my feet complained about.  I was good with finishing on bloody stumps.  It was a countdown where I tried not to look at the markers.

Coming into Santiago I was listening to music and getting a bit emotional.  Coming into town I saw a few people I knew.  The Mexican couple that passed me every day since day 1 when I got out before them, we congratulated each other.  I saw Laurel, the American girl who had been in town for two days.  I finally reached the Cathedral square and it was done.  I took some selfies. Then I congratulated the Brazilian couple I passed every day since day 1.

Then I headed over to the pilgrim office and got my Compestela.  It was over.  Leaving the office I saw Tom and waited for him since he owed me a beer which we had.  He said meetup at 7 in the Cathedral square and we headed to our hotels. 

Did I mention things really stink in the rain?  My jacket was unwearable but I needed it for the chill here in Santiago on Halloween.  I had to give it a quick wash.  I had a nice hot bath.  I can't remember the last time I had a bath.  It was nice.

At 7 a small group gathered and we went to a restaurant and the group became bigger.  There was Thomas from Germany, Boti, Fergus, Ilene - who I tried to interest in one of my 3 sons, some French I don't rember their names, Sabastion from Switzerland sort of, ... It ended up being 17 at our table and there were some other tables.

After dinner we broke up into smaller groups looking for good bars.  I ended up in an Irish bar with Boti, Thomas and Fergus.  After two beers standing my bed started calling.  This is the latest I've stayed up in a month.  Time for bed.

Day 29 - Palas de Rei to Arzua

The daylight savings time change happened last night so I was up before the alarm, started walking at 7am and it was light about an hour later.  That was a nice change.  It was also not raining which was even better.

This is rolling farm land and you end up doing a fair bit of climbing during the day but it is spread out so it's not bad.  The paths are good and we are not on the roads too much unless they are the very narrow paved roads that connect the little hamlets.  There is very little traffic on them.

I stopped for coffee in a little hamlet and as I was leaving Geo, Yaz and Kat came by.  They didn't know about the time change and thought it was just a nicer day.  It was a nice day but after the last few the standard is low.

Later while sitting on a rock wall taking a quick break and getting the rocks out of my shoes, Jim passed.  He's too fast for me.

Melide was a good sized town and I took a coffee and sandwich there.  It marked the halfway point and I knew I needed a distraction the rest of the day so I got the earbuds out.

Most of the rest of the day I listened to music which made me forget my feet. I watched the country side roll by to a 2010's soundtrack.  At one point I may have been dancing a bit and a few minutes later a young guy passed me and gave me a big smile.

The second half of the day seemed much shorter and soon I was in Arzua.  My hotel is one of the first on the way into town, so I haven't seen Arzua at all.  English Tom pinged me on WhatsApp and we are planning to meet for dinner.  We are both planning early nights and very early starts.

Day 28 - Portomarin to Palas de Rei

???'s name is Kat.  I met the Philippines gang at an Italian place which seemed to be one of the best options in town.  There don't seem to be any places the locals eat here.  It's all catering to peregrinos and it feels like a rip-off.  In Portomarin there seems to be a level of contempt I haven't felt before.

I booked a very reasonably priced 4 star hotel not far from the Cathedral for two nights for about the same price as one night in the Comfort Inn in Goderich, Ontario.  Robert pointed out that if they had to have "comfort" in the name it probably wasn't.  I am now committed to making Santiago two days from now.

Last night I heard rain all night.  I got up with my 6am alarm but I was moving slow.  It didn't help that my phone SIM plan ran out at 28 days and I needed to re-up.  Thanks to Google Translate I was able to figure out the code I needed to send to downgrade my plan and pay for it.  Unfortunately, GT also translated the words it had to text and it didn't work with the translation.  Orange sends me a text in Spanish I ignore and then my Internet barely works and I get the message.

I was in the bar across the street getting coffee just before 8am. Wayne walked up and got a coffee.  I was ready to go and headed out knowing I would see him later.  It was raining but not too hard. At the end of the street I paused under a parking lot roof and suddenly the rain came down hard.  Missing that dump made the day a bit better.

I headed out of town and crossed a bridge where I found confused pilgrims looking at a choice.  Somebody saide right is shorter and I went right.  I found out later Wayne when left and it was just longer.  Usually, shorter means more climbing but not this time.

The rain was coming down pretty hard all the time.  I was walking on the road beside the path to avoid the puddles.  After a particularly hard bit of rain I decided it was pancho time.  The on pancho is hot but I was getting cold.  First slightly less rainy spot I got it on but needed the help of another pilgrim to get it on place.

A little later Wayne caught up to me and we walked together for a few hours trading glory days rugby stories.  The rain was heavy, lighter, heavier, really bad and lighter again.  We were soaked.  At a cafe we saw Geo and Kat, Yaz was on the bus with a bad knee.  At about the half way mark it mostly stopped.  I was getting tired and Wayne powered ahead.  Not many pictures of the rainy bits because ... just try to use a phone with cold wet hands.

Now that it wasn't pouring I could see we were in rolling farmland with cows and many little hamlets of stone houses.  Lots of farm smells, of course.

Even though my feet were soaked, I could tell the Compeed patches I put on my feet were helping a lot.  My feet felt better than the last few days and the soreness I always feel in my right foot from when I broke it in grade 7 didn't happen.  I think preventing the collapse of my foot by half of a millimeter made a difference.

The walk without rain was a walk and then I was in Palas de Rei.  I found my pension and cleaned up as quick as I could to get some food.  A nearby place fed me and I was headed back to my room to blog.  I ran into Jim and as we were saying hello Wayne walked up.  So many beers and a few wines and dinner later ... here I am.  Time for bed.  Clicks change tomorrow?  All I know is 29km to do and 40 the next day.

Did I mention the water in Galicia is kind of brown?  I still drink it out of the tap, but it is a funny color.

Day 27 - Sarria to Portomarin

Last night I thought I should go out and get some light food but lunch was huge and I just stayed in.  I'm trying to heal as much as possible for the final push so less walking is good.

I headed out about 7:30 after a coffee at the hotel made with the help of the owner.  She really loves what she does and said I would probably be back.  A very nice lady.  I did like her place and will certainly stay if I come this way again.

I knocked off 8km before it was light.  For most of the day I saw my English friends and Becky on and off.  It was pleasant walking and not hard so I just plodded along.  It was rolling green hills with collections of stone houses every few kilometers.

About noon it started to rain pretty hard and the last hour and a half was wet.  I could see Portomarin in the distance for over an hour and I avoided stopping just to get there faster.  When I finally got to town I walked up the main Camino street and found a bar and got a beer. Sitting outside I dug out my towel and dried off.  The tapas was tortilla and it was really good.  It wasn't particularly cool but it was nice to have the towel for warmth.

English and Becky walked up and joined for a few drinks.  The English couple are Wayne and Angela.  Wayne started the same day I did from SJPP.  Why have we met before, I asked.  We did, he replied, on day one, I said hi.  Oops, sorry.  Wayne had blasted ahead the first few days which is why we had not seen each other since.  Jim, from the UP and Alaska, joined us.  He was already showered and cleaned up and he left an hour after I did.  He walks fast.

We all headed to our places but exchanged contacts to meet up for dinner.

After showering I went to the pharmacy to get some Compeed pads.  My plan is to get to Santiago in the next three days.  This will likely destroy my feet so I will apply these things as needed and keep walking.  I booked two nights in Santiago already so I better make it.  It should not be a problem.  I have days with 25km, 29km and 40km.  That 40km will be a long one but it will be done. 

In town I saw Geo, Yaz and ???.  I walked up the street and we talked about our day.  They were looking for a cafe and I had to blog.  The wind outside is crazy now.