The peregrino has landed.
I have completed my Rotary Project!
I arrived at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela at 11:40 this morning after a 3 1/2 hour, 17 km walk from Capilla de Santiaguino. A total of 1007 km and 1.248 million steps from Seville.
I then attended the noon mass, went to the Peregrino Office where my credentials were validated and I was issued my Compostela. There I learned that the big albergue where I stayed last year was closed for the winter. So, Iwalked down the street to the address where Markus and I had stayed the second night last year and lo and behold got a room for 15 euros per night for a couple of days.
The last four days from Ourense to Santiagode Compostela, a distance of 111 kilometers was supposed to be a piece of cake but didnñt quite turn out that way.
Firstly, I probably walked about 120 kilmetres when on the second day I missed a marker and ended up walking about 38 kilometers as opposed to the 29 that my guide book suggested. I must have been in a mental fog and the next thing I knew there no more yellow arrows or Camino markers. So, rather than go back (probably several kilometers) I decided to keep going along the highway knowing that I was going in about the right direction and that the trail had to be somwhere to the East. Unfortunately it did not turn out that way but eventually I got back on the Camino and ended up at the albergue in A Laxe.
Secondly, I had the expectation based on a newspaper report that the weather would improve. Not so. On the first day, I left with an overcast sky that turned into drizzle and intermittent rain for the remainder of the day. Same thing on day 2 and day 3. Hope loomed that on today's short section of 17 kilometers it would not rain. Not so as it started to pour after about one hour and it continued all the way to the steps of the cathedral in Santago de Compostela. Apparently it rains on average two out of every three days in Gallicia.
Wrong....it has either rained or snowed every day that I have walked in Gallicia.
Thirdly, nothing prepared me for what is described in my guidebook as "the steepest climb" on the Camino. This is a section which starts about seven kilometers after leaving Ourense. It is a continuous 20 degree slope for just ove a kilometer which then turns into about a 12 degree slope for the next half a kilometer. Usually a climb like that is rewarded by a superb view (after you recover).......but there was nothing to see except the fog.
Lastly, I started to get a sore throat during the first day which turned into a bit of a cold. Noting serious enough to stop me but nevertheless an inconvenience.
Despite all of this I made it....there was never any doubt.
I arrived at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela at 11:40 this morning after a 3 1/2 hour, 17 km walk from Capilla de Santiaguino. A total of 1007 km and 1.248 million steps from Seville.
I then attended the noon mass, went to the Peregrino Office where my credentials were validated and I was issued my Compostela. There I learned that the big albergue where I stayed last year was closed for the winter. So, Iwalked down the street to the address where Markus and I had stayed the second night last year and lo and behold got a room for 15 euros per night for a couple of days.
The last four days from Ourense to Santiagode Compostela, a distance of 111 kilometers was supposed to be a piece of cake but didnñt quite turn out that way.
Firstly, I probably walked about 120 kilmetres when on the second day I missed a marker and ended up walking about 38 kilometers as opposed to the 29 that my guide book suggested. I must have been in a mental fog and the next thing I knew there no more yellow arrows or Camino markers. So, rather than go back (probably several kilometers) I decided to keep going along the highway knowing that I was going in about the right direction and that the trail had to be somwhere to the East. Unfortunately it did not turn out that way but eventually I got back on the Camino and ended up at the albergue in A Laxe.
Secondly, I had the expectation based on a newspaper report that the weather would improve. Not so. On the first day, I left with an overcast sky that turned into drizzle and intermittent rain for the remainder of the day. Same thing on day 2 and day 3. Hope loomed that on today's short section of 17 kilometers it would not rain. Not so as it started to pour after about one hour and it continued all the way to the steps of the cathedral in Santago de Compostela. Apparently it rains on average two out of every three days in Gallicia.
Wrong....it has either rained or snowed every day that I have walked in Gallicia.
Thirdly, nothing prepared me for what is described in my guidebook as "the steepest climb" on the Camino. This is a section which starts about seven kilometers after leaving Ourense. It is a continuous 20 degree slope for just ove a kilometer which then turns into about a 12 degree slope for the next half a kilometer. Usually a climb like that is rewarded by a superb view (after you recover).......but there was nothing to see except the fog.
Lastly, I started to get a sore throat during the first day which turned into a bit of a cold. Noting serious enough to stop me but nevertheless an inconvenience.
Despite all of this I made it....there was never any doubt.
Comments
Never any doubt at all ...
You Rock!!