For Good Measure

Wednesday 31 August Left Cee this morning in the rain. The receptionist at the hotel said it would rain all day or at least till 3 pm. We decided to walk anyway as it was not much more than drizzle. It stopped in less than an hour although the mist and humidity remained.  A nice walk today. A mixture of up and downhill woodland and coastal walking near white sand beaches with a little road walking thrown in. We reached Finisterre around 1 pm having set a very leisurely pace and stopping at rest areas to enjoy the view. More pics from today: Some houses are highly decorated. There were more tiled scenes on this house but only two show in the photo. Note St James to left of pic. Happy feet on the way to Finisterre. Pleased with these Injinji sock liners from Trek n Travel in Hamilton NZ. They keep my feet dry. 😊 Hopefully won't get in trouble for product endorsement on the blog. Staying at Hotel Vida.  €48.50. Newly renovated. (We stayed here on our 2014 visit when it still ref...

 Tuesday  Decided to take another day off walking. Have spent the day looking around this port town of 7500. Walked down to see the sea at Cee this morning, the tide was out and no-one was on the beach. Then explored part of the town. We have eaten all our meals at the hotel as they have a good menu and reasonable prices.  Will go on to Finisterre tomorrow and have two nights there as well. Our last visit to Finisterre was by bus and was fairly brief. Then we hope to make our way to Muxia before taking a bus back to Santiago. No pics today but today's quote is "Enjoy being silly. Life is too short to take everything so seriously!"

 Left the hotel a little before 8.00 a.m. and walked 6.1 km to join the main Camino route. After yesterdays hot day we intended to have a shorter walk and perhaps taxi part of the end bit to reach our accomodation at the seaside location of Cee. Our second refreshment stop at cafe O Castelino at Hospital was just before 12 and the last cafe before we took the left hand Cee option and a 15 km section across the moors. (The right hand option goes to Muxia) It was cooler than yesterday with a light breeze and we felt that it was too early to finish walking for the day so we continued on. Nearly 6 hours later we limped into Cee. Rather tired but once the commitment was made to press on there was no going back. Very nice section of country that we are pleased not to have missed. The mythical Vakner! Stopped to take the waters at San Pedro Martir. Reported to cure bodily aches and rheumatism. (We should have also taken some of the water for use at the end of the days walk!) Staying at La...

 Set off at 7.30 after breakfast at the Albergue. Rejoined the Camino route at Negreira about 8.00 a.m. Being Sunday morning the town was quiet apart from a few people setting up stalls for the Sunday Market. The mist lifted around 9.00 and we walked through woodland paths for 9.8km. and our first stop at Cafe A Pene Alto. A long hot 12.7km. followed with little shelter from the sun. A short lie down under some trees to take off the shoes and socks and recharge part way. You can still do the Camino with a baby. Arrived at Santa Marina just before 4.00 p.m. Some of the walkers from yesterday were staying there so we enjoyed a long break at Casa Pepa with Larry and Eugene (Ireland) and  Lucia from Columbia, Lola from Spain, both living in Madrid and Maria from Spain living in Amsterdam. Two enjoyable hours with drinks, laughter and songs shared by Larry,  and Lucia - beautiful voices both. We hope to see Lucia, Lola and Maria in NZ in two years to celebrate their significan...

Saturday 27th August Santiago to Lagrosa  21.5 km Left Santiago de Compostella at 7.45 am.  18° so the first part went well up until Trasmonte. Quite a few walkers and more English spoken around us.  Walked for a while with two Irishmen, Eugene and his dad Larry. Both good conversationalists. At one point Larry sang to Teresa what he called 'the greatest love song ever written' to a lovely Irish melody. We will possibly meet up again in a few days and have requested the Fields of Athenree.  Then walked for a while with Marcel from Luxembourg. The conversation took us up the steepest hill of the day without the 3 of us noticing. Had two cafe stops along the way. The first really busy with just one guy doing everything, not an unusual situation here. Had coffee and refilled the water bottles. The second stop at Cafe Pancho for ensalada Completa and zero alcohol beer. Run by a couple. Buen salad, so fresh.  The temperature got up to 32° by the time we arrived at ou...

Friday 26 August Went to 9.30 am Mass at the Cathedral then to the pilgrim office to get our compostelas. Breakfast and then dropped our extra gear to Casa Ivar for storage. Cathedral side entrance for morning Mass. Thats Teresa in middle of above photo. Santiago is as crowded and crazy as ever. Spent the remainder of the afternoon organising our Finisterre walk. We need to pick up another credential each. Hecho (done). Will now visit our favourite Santiago supermercado to get supplies for the morning so we can get an early start. A hot day forecast for tomorrow and Sunday.  Dinner and bed. Shared a lovely paella with garlic bread starter. Melted cheese instead of butter on the garlic bread. An interesting option.  Our accommodation is very central which is great but the room windows open on to busy very noisy street. Earplugs might be needed until early hours. Photo above taken out of our bedroom window looking towards the main plaza which opens out in front of the cathedral ...

 Thursday 25 August  It is good to have an end to journey towards: but it is the journey that matters in the end. Ernest Hemingway. We left this morning at 7.45 after a nice complimentary breakfast from our hostel. Included Santiago tarta which was appropriate but don't usually have cake for breakfast! A nice mornings walk with cool breeze and 18°.  It is amazing that once again as we get close to Santiago the number of walkers suddenly multiplies. We have spent 7 days walking this time and mostly not had another walker in sight then this morning about 10 km from Santiago the mini procession began. Reached the first cafe at 10 am. A large group of young Spanish at the cafe enjoying their walk into Santiago. Some like to look the part. Steve Teresa and Carmen from California. Accommodation in Santiago: Libredon Rooms next to the Cathedral. euro 110.00 Unsure of what was on the lunch menu. Put the second item FIDEOS CON POLO into the spanish/english translation app = 'Dude ...