Pedrouza to Santiago de Compostela, 19km

Wow, what a day. Where should I start? At the beginning I guess …

A very early beginning. I was so full of nervous energy at the thought of getting into Santiago today that I was wide awake at 3.55am.  I managed to stay in bed for almost another two hours, but in the end I gave in and was up and out the door by 6.15am.  It was still pitch black outside (lovely stars) which was fine for the 15 mins it took to walk out of the village, but then suddenly I was faced with walking through a very dense – and very dark eucalypt forest.  By this point there was no going back, so with my walking poles primed to fend off any falls, wild dogs, gypsies, trolls or blair witches, off I went, adrenalin racing. This suddenly became my last camino lesson – the one about controlling your fears – which I am not entirely sure I did particularly well.   But I obviously emerged unscathed – despite one slight freak out caused by catching some cats eyes on my torch (evil things!) but have to say, it was a very intense forty minutes of my life. 

The payback though came a while later when I climbed a bit of a hill and saw one of the most beautiful sunrises I can remember – a bright orange sky over layer upon layer of misty valleys.  Very pretty indeed. 

I was so pumped about getting to Santiago that I was travelling at speed today – probably too fast in retrospect as my feet were sending me a whole range of urgent ‘stop’ signals that I was intent on ignoring.  I don’t think I was the only one either – after rounding a hill and catching our first glimpse of Santiago, the woman in front of me let out a whoop of joy and actually started running (yes running!) down the hill.  Not sure she had quite clocked that we still had 6km to go – most of it through noisy busy suburbs, but hey – she enjoyed the moment. 

 

 My big moment came an hour and a bit later when I walked into the square in front of the cathedral – the official end to the Camino de Santiago. Have to admit I was a little emotional and had to find a quiet corner to take it all in and shed a tear or two.  

The cathedral itself is pretty awe-inspiring … or so I assume as most of the front is covered in scaffolding for restoration work.  Still, in my glass overwhelmingly full state, even that had a bit of a message about this being about the journey not the destination. Still, I really would have liked for there to be no scaffolding. 

Because of my early start, I was in time for the pilgrims mass at noon and that was indeed awe-inspiring. The high altar is one of the most ostentatiously bling altar pieces I have ever seen – with gold and silver fighting for attention all the way up to an enormous vaulted ceiling. The service was in Spanish so I didn’t get it all, but it was all about the lessons of the camino, and there is enough of the universal ritual in a Catholic church service for me to remember the basics from childhood (including adopting the same approach my eight year old self had taken by just making up my own lyrics when it came time to sing) I am not usually one for this kind of thing, but the moment was right and by the end I had tears streaming down my face again. 

The highlight of the service was the botafumiero – an enormous smoking pot (in ornate gold of course) that is filled with incense and then swung quite wildly above the heads of the congregation.  The smoke was initially introduced to ‘fumigate’ smelly pilgrims and the 80kg pot definitely gets some pretty impressive speed and height when it is in full swing. It is a pretty intense ritual that feels like a hangover from the Middle Ages – definitely worth a quick bit of YouTube action if you have five mins. 

After the service it was definitely time for a some celebratory drinks –  particularly as I kept bumping into various familiar faces from along the way … and even a few familiar faces from my cycling trip to Cuba a few years ago which was a fabulous surprise. 

 

 The lovely Helga and I very contentedly sat in near silence for a few hours, sipping a couple of beers and soaking up the sun, the stillness and the enormity of the cathedral. Then, very excitingly, I was finally reunited with Silvana for what became an afternoon, then evening of Sangria, tapas, incredible live music and a million and one ‘so good to see you made it’ hugs’.

So … job done.  800km walk behind me and good night’s sleep on crisp white sheets in front of me (can you tell how tired I am?) Very excited to have booked into a hostal for a couple of days – somehow the thought of sleeping in the same bed twice in a row is just as exciting as everything else that has happened today. Almost!