38 km – 23.6 miles

1720 meters – 5643 feet elevation gain

6:45am to 4:45pm walking time

The last day…

I decided the night before to go all the way to Santiago, arriving there a day earlier than planned. I knew after doing two 37+ km days that I could do the 38 kilometers to the cathedral. So I booked one of the last hotels walking distance to the cathedral and headed to bed after a nice dinner with Ian and Chloe.

The way schedules ended up, I had caught up with most of the people I got to know well on the Camino over the past five weeks. So the last two days of the Camino had the social elements I had hoped for all along and have known on past Caminos. It felt really nice to be able to end a very mentally challenging adventure on a positive note.

The walk in was hill after hill, but some nice countryside to walk through. You pass through farmland and eucalyptus tree forests. I felt good all day with my walking, so I knew I made the right choice in pushing myself.

Another nice thing about this last day was that I had gotten a good head start on the “tourist pilgrims” so it was a peaceful walk. And I kept running into people I knew all day. A big contrast from the sections right after the 100km mark.

It was sad to walk into Santiago alone and have no one to share that moment with. But I guess the ending matched much of the journey. Even so, there’s something special about arriving in that plaza every time. It’s hard for anyone to hold back the tears there.

The pictures below are from yesterday and today, where I’ve had chances to hang out with a lot of the friends I’ve made along the way. We’ll continue to celebrate tonight.

While I wish there had been more moments of joy with fellow pilgrims along the journey, there’s nothing better than the connections you make and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

I made it to Santiago! More tomorrow about the final 38km day.

29.4 km – 18.33 miles

7:10am to 3:00pm walking time

~900 meters – 2952 feet elevation gain

The moon was big and bright when I started this morning. Minus the gals talking very loudly right behind me, it was a peaceful morning to start the walk. I had tried to speed up to get away from those girls, but then they sped up enough to stay right behind me, until I got frustrated enough to let them pass me.

That got me thinking to provide a list of things to help a Camino newbie to not become that “annoying” pilgrim. This list won’t be complete, but it’s stuff that’s come up on this trip…

1- Be mindful of your volume when walking right behind other pilgrims. Especially early on in the day. Many of us like some peace and quiet and want to hear the sounds of the Camino rather than the sounds of you yelling your conversation to the person next to you (or as sometimes happens, to the person on the phone you’re talking to).

2- Related to #1 – do NOT listen to music without your headphones. No pilgrim came to walk the Camino just to listen to your music on your crappy phone speaker.

3- Please, please, please get the rubber covers for the bottom of your poles. Listening to your CLICK, CLICK, CLICK constantly is worse than the loud ticking grandfather clock in a horror movie. Also, how can you stand yourself with that constant annoyance?!

4- In an albergue, if you are an early riser (before 6ish), make sure you’ve packed everything by your bed the night before. Listening to you shuffle through your things and maybe even with your headlamp on is keeping everyone else awake.

5- Headlamp in the albergue – if you’re constantly moving around to find your stuff, that means you’re sometimes flashing someone you woke up right in their eyes. Even the red light hurts when flashed directly at someone. Maybe consider your cell phone on its lowest flashlight setting possible instead and be sure not to shine it at people in their beds.

6- This is mostly for the 100km pilgrims – say “Buen Camino” or don’t just grumble when those of us walking 500 miles say it to you. Especially on the French Way, we are in this together and it’s much more fun to encounter pleasant people along the way.

7- More for your personal happiness, know that about 20-40% of the bar/cafe bathrooms don’t have toilet paper, so be prepared!

8- The Camino bars and cafes (outside seating) is one place you can feel ok about taking your shoes off and dealing with your blisters and no one will be insulted or shocked. They might also offer you bandages, compeed or a needle and thread too. Just remember not to take that habit back home. 😉

I’m sure there are plenty more tips to share and those of you who have walked the Camino, feel free to add your tips in the comments.

The walk today was a bit more interesting than yesterday. Although after I hit the town of Melide, I was back on the same path I walked just over a year ago since that’s where the Primitivo meets the French Way. So I’d say that means the rest of the way won’t be that different from my recent memory. Lots of hills. So many hills.

While I walked mostly alone today, I was happy to have company at each of my breaks. Definitely helps break up the day in a healthier way.

I’m 38km out from Santiago. While my plans were targeting the 20th for my arrival, I could be tempted to walk the 38km there tomorrow. I think it’ll be a game time decision on that though since my body is tired.

24.6 km – 15.3 miles

7:25am to 2:30 pm walking time

1050 meters – 3444 feet elevation gain

Knowing today would be a “short” day (actually just an average day – but would feel short compared to the past two days), I didn’t rush to get started. Though after seeing the super highway worth of Camino traffic, I probably should have tried to get an earlier start to have some more peace and quiet. The 100km pilgrims are often in bigger groups and they’re…loud. They’re also less likely to be friendly to a stranger. Very few will actually say “Buen Camino” to you. So yeah – another day of barely talking to anyone.

One exception was a nice one in that I recognized the yellow vest that my friend Kris told me to be watching for. There’s a woman from Moscow, Idaho that she and Ken got to know and she told this woman all about me. Joan and I finally got to meet at my first break of the day. Hoping I can catch up with her again.

I don’t have a ton of photos from today. The scenery wasn’t bad by any means, but it was a bit lackluster compared to many other Camino days.

The super highway of pilgrims means that each stop is packed full of them. My first stop today honestly felt like a food place at a busy museum or theme park. The line for the bathrooms there was consistently 10-15 people long despite having four stalls.

They did have good toast though, which was my breakfast.

All the dogs today were in rest mode and the kitties seem to be in hiding – probably too many people for them.

Not sure if I encountered bed bugs or just vicious mosquitoes (that I saw swarming in one set of woods near Samos), but I have a ton of itchy bites all over my body. I do check all beds for bed bugs if I’m in a place with real sheets on the beds and no plastic covers on the mattress and pillow. Anyway, one more added piece of fun on this adventure. 😳

Tomorrow will likely be just a bit longer than today, if I don’t decide to go farther. I’m finding I just want to get to Santiago as quickly as I can, but I also have to listen to my body. My body is tired and sore. Still targeting arriving on Friday…unless I get a burst of energy to go farther one of the days.

37.5 km – 23.3 miles

7:10am to 4:30pm walking time

940 meters – 3083 feet elevation gain

My longest distance day and it was too much. My decision yesterday to go to Samos ended up being a bad idea. Sure, now I can say I’ve been to Samos, but the monastery and almost everything else in town was closed. My only food yesterday was a banana, a chorizo and cheese bocadillo and then one small tapas bread offered with a drink. When a town is closed on Sunday, you’re real limited. The detour meant it added 7 extra kilometers onto my day today.

On top of that, I seem to be with the tour bus crowd of Camino tourists and so every bed in every town from here to Santiago seems to be almost booked up. I barely got a place to stay in this town. So that added to the stress today. I’ve booked the last beds I could find for the next two days. Due to the influx of pilgrims and tour groups, you kind of lose the spirit of finding a place when you’re ready to stop walking for the day

Along with another day all alone – I didn’t see one pilgrim I knew all day until I got to Portomarin, I also found that the last 100km pilgrims have some different types of behavior/awareness. One man literally shoved me really hard while he was trying to walk out of a busy cafe with his food. I had moved over as far as I could and had no place else to go with how packed full the bar was. He was yelling at the man behind me to get out of his way…then he shoved me as he squeezed his way out of the door. He didn’t try to shimmy through sideways – just expected the world to move out of his way more than we had. When you’re already feeling really alone, that’s a great way to feel like you simply don’t exist.

The other issue you run into is people sauntering slowly (and everyone should go their own pace), but then doing so while walking 2-5 people across, blocking the trail for anyone who might want to saunter faster. I spent part of the day trying to figure out how to politely navigate that new challenge of the Camino.

I hit the 100km mark and walked several kilometers past that today. Sarria (where many walking the minimum to get the Compostela) is at the 114km mark. But there are several signs at the 100km mark that signify the location.

The one fun aspect of today was walking through Portomarin and seeing a group of four wearing geocaching themed shirts. They didn’t speak a ton of English but I talked to them for a few minutes. Hopefully someday, I’ll make it to Spain for a geocaching mega event to meet more cachers from the country – but that was a fun group to randomly come across today.

Hopefully I’ll see them again along the Camino. A caching friend from Australia is three days ahead of me on the Camino and sent me a good recommendation for a cache to find the day before I reach Santiago. Hoping our paths will cross, but timing may not work out that way.

Today was hard. My body hurts. Getting to town late today means I don’t have the full time to relax that it probably needs. The rest of the way is a lot of up and down, so there’s no easy day on the body. I’m hoping that since I caught up with a few people I know, I’ll get more chances to talk to people…but it can be hard to find people you know while wading through the masses of pilgrims.

31.2 km – 19.4 miles

7:45am – 3:45pm walking time

~300 meters – 984 feet elevation gain

It was a brutal day both mentally and physically today. Another day mostly alone aside from a cyclist from Australia that chatted with me for one break and a couple from the states that chatted with me on another break. I’m eating a bocadillo in a bar alone in a town where almost nothing is open. It’s Sunday in Spain.

Feeling like I added an extra 7 km overall to my full Camino for nothing between yesterday and today. I had wanted to visit Samos because of the famous monastery here but my feet are far too tired to do much wandering so I’m not sure I’ll even make it to the monastery. Here’s a picture I grabbed of it on my way to my pension.

My optimism for this Camino is basically gone. I’m just trying to get the walking done so I don’t feel like a quitter. But there is little to no enjoyment when someone like me spends this much time alone (yet surrounded by people). I don’t know why it’s been so hard to find friends to connect with that are on the same time schedule as me. The few wonderful people I have met are all ahead of me, behind me, or they went home because they were only walking a small section. Maybe my luck is just poor timing. But either way, I wish I had more fellow pilgrims to talk to more often.

Today I talked to cats, cows and dogs…

I was happy with how many cat, cow and dog friends I was able to make today – definitely a bright spot.

It was a beautiful day but far more uphill than the guidebook indicated, so I’m wrecked from that. I knew about the downhill, but the guidebook seems to list small hill after small hill as completely flat. The distances sound much more doable when there aren’t big hills to climb.

Tomorrow will also be a long day – since I have to make up for today’s diversion. May end up being around 37-38km. Not expecting to see very many people until I get back to the main Camino path.

Tomorrow’s another day. Lots of walking.

28.9 km – 17.9 miles

900 meters – 2952 feet elevation gain

7:10am to 2:40pm walking time

I knew today would be a long day and it was, but it was another beautiful day. It started in the dark, on flat pavement and sidewalk. The stars were still out and I was partially bummed not to see the view since it was almost like a gorge. All the walking for most of the day was on road – sometimes busy and sometimes not – sometimes there was a shoulder to walk on and sometimes not. Despite being on or next to road, I enjoyed the that it followed along with a river or streams most of the day.

I could tell there were lots of people in front of me and behind me, but we mostly stayed spread out from each other for most of the day. The numbers are definitely picking up the closer to Santiago. You only need to walk the last 100km to earn the Compostela, so many start from not too far out because of limited time off.

I can’t get over buildings like the one above. Often they’re still in use – sometimes they’re a barn on the bottom and a house on top. These would not pass building code in the US, that’s for sure. But I think they’re so interesting and charming. You’ll see a building hanging on by a thread next to or attached to a brand new building. Very common to see in a lot of these Camino towns.

A geocaching friend that walked the Camino a few months after I did back in 2016 has been following a pilgrim that’s been posting on facebook and he asked me to say hello to that guy if I saw him. I knew his name was Hector and had seen some images of what he looks like. Today as I was taking a break, someone mentioned that their friend Hector was at the next bar down. When I saw him leaving that bar I knew it was the guy my friend mentioned. A bit later on the trail, I found him and surprised him a bit by knowing who he was. He was happy to take a picture with me for my friend.

Other than that, I didn’t spend much time with anyone today until I met up with Erin from Australia at the town I’d be staying in. She hasn’t been feeling well so will be busing on today. I may get to see her one last time tomorrow before she leaves the Camino for other travel.

I reached the border of Galicia today, so that means I’m finally back to my preferred Camino markers. Each region seems to have their own unique way to mark the trail. Hard to see in the picture below, but these give you a km count to Santiago.

I’ve got to decide how much walking I’m doing tomorrow. Could be an average day, or if I’m feeling good, it could be a longer day. I’d love to catch up with more people I know, but I know my feet would like to not push it.

25.3 km – 15.72 miles

200 meters – 656 feet elevation gain

7:20am to 1:25pm walking time

It was hard to get up this morning so I actually got about a 45 minute later start than I had intended. I figure it’s not so bad walking out of a city in the dark so an earlier start time would have been good. But I listened to my body and took my time.

Ponferrada is a nice city so it was worth it to stay there again. I was able to tour the Templar Castle in my downtime yesterday. It was also a pretty city to leave this morning with the mountain views.

The first bit after leaving the city was small farm country. Sheep, cows and other animals in the pastures of some of these farms. Then you hit wine country again with vineyard after vineyard.

It’s definitely harvest time for the grapes in this region, as I saw farm workers in several of the vineyards throughout the day. Guessing most of these grapes are used for wine.

I decided that the town was having a fiesta for my arrival. Someone of importance was speaking to the townspeople as I arrived and then there was a short parade of massive dolls controlled by people under them.

Naturally, I joined the parade since I’m sure all of it was for my arrival. 😂

Due to the fiesta, it seems lots of businesses are closed in town today. But luckily I got settled in to a great deal at my albergue of 20 euros for a single room (shared bathroom). It’s the same albergue I stayed at here 8 years ago. Seems just as nice now as it did then.

Tomorrow will be a longer day and will have a significant climb at the end of it. But hopefully the views will make it worth it.

14.4 km – 8.9 miles

490 meters – 1607 feet elevation loss

It was a nice morning to walk down a mountain. Lots of down, and lots of rocks that were willing and ready to twist your ankles. While the views were pleasant, the terrain wasn’t always so pleasant.

I was hoping to see the Iberian wolf that my friends encountered on the trail in that area yesterday. They posted pictures they took of it just out for a walk on the trail with not a care in the world of the people in the area. What a cool experience for them!

The first village I walked through didn’t have any bars or cafes open so I had to continue in to Molinaseca. My parents will get to experience Molinaseca for a night when they come over here after I finish walking. It’s one of the more adorable towns along the Camino. My dad will be happy to know that the fish were rising when I walked over the historic Roman bridge into the village.

Just before I got to Molinaseca, Erin from Australia caught up with me and we walked into Ponferrada together. She was in my albergue room last night. I was also happy to run into Marcy and Sam from California after arriving in town. It also sounds like Karah from New Mexico had a rest day here and she should be on a similar walking schedule as me for the rest of the walk. Definitely nice to have more pilgrims to socialize with a bit.

I’ll just be wandering around Ponferrada for the afternoon and likely planning to tour the castle here later today. My body is definitely happy with me to have this shorter day. From tomorrow on, I should have fairly typical Camino length walks each day. When I hit Sarria, I’ll likely need to start booking my albergue or hostels a couple days in advance since the Camino gets busier for the last 100km.

And now, lunch…

37.1 km – 23 miles

7am to 5pm walking time

650 meters – 2132 feet elevation gain

It started off as a good day, until mistakes were made. It was all my fault though. Because I felt good this morning I entertained the idea of adding an extra 10ish km onto the 25ish I was already walking. Part of the reason was to stay in a new town that I hadn’t stayed in before but then it was also a beautiful day and so I would get an amazing view of the mountains. Last time I walked this section it was an overcast day so the views weren’t as great as today.

Unfortunately I picked probably the hardest 10km of the Camino to add on after I’d already walked a full day. I’m wrecked, both mentally and physically.

So you might just get a bunch of photos today…

Tomorrow will be a short day so I’ll take my time. My feet will appreciate the short day.