Santiago to Santa Marina

Last night's post posting pic shows four folks from group of 14 from mid-Wales town having finished from Sarria ... this morning's breakfast briefly delayed by 30 or so Germans heading towards restaurant, though fortunately they are seeking spiritual nourishment at the Cathedral, leaving space for a quick snack and more in the pack ... out of the the door around 7.45 ... swiftly out of town and up for photo of Cathedral as Sun rises, looking like Land of Oz, with old men still projecting old stories ... Patty, recovering Catholic, skipped the Cathedral, with strange booths with priests waiting to hear confessions in Spanish or English ... though accepted the challenge of the monastery energy, transmuting it with her feminine power ...

Polish peregrinas passed first, then John from California and Dwight from Canada, walking quick enough to stick with them a while ... John full on with the Tao, Dwight quiet until the coffee break where voluntary work as lay pastor is revealed ... next Delphine and Guillame from France pose for pic by bridge ... before Negreira, where Sara and her beautiful Albergue slow things down ... cards exchanged then on to lunch at Bar Imperial in town, where David, who washed up in town 32 years ago from Devon, offers a good lunch ... on through eucalyptus woods in full sun, vitamin D working under the skin ... Irish family pose for pic at Fonte ... Darragh walked the French Way, parents joined at Santiago for Finisterre finish ...

Casa Pepa comes soon enough, simple Albergue, halfway to Fisterra, more or less ... 8 am breakfast opens way to early start and possible Fisterra finish, though options, as always, are open ...

Between worlds. ..

After last night's tapas experience ... a strange and beautiful barista bringing a small portion of lentil soup, explaining it is completely meat free as if intuiting dietary preference, debating our decision to decline second tapas with second glasses of wine, since snack supper awaits in the room ... "maybe a little piece of tortilla?" ... waving farewell as if we were all best friends ... late to sleep and very early awake to a new energy ... anxiety identified in the stomach, where it lives, a mix of coming exit from the world of pilgrims and within that the very special world of the past week or so, practising love with another and not for the first or last time ... time, of course, being relative, past lives an illusion if the mystics are correct ... so if other lives are indeed available where else could they be but in parallel worlds?

As one world begins to collapse into the quantum soup, older, familiar patterns return, fed as they are by fear ... and stereotypes too ... fully focused on bus to the airport at 6.30 am, in order to arrive at the portal in plenty of time for three full hours of security checks, shopping opportunities, general anxiety ... played out perfectly at the early open bar near the bus stop, as yet not identified ... bar man busy texting ignores the friendly greeting "where is the bus stop please?" (albeit delivered in Spanish) soon acting on subsequent request for coffee ( maybe thinking "yes, that's what we do here, tourist information is secondary") ... raising a hand at the second premature request  for bus stop info, while he completes the coffee making, then taking Patty to the door to point the way ... which is still not clear as time ticks on, until an angel appears in the form of a Florida pilgrim who knows the way ... the lesson delivered, to be processed later ... Patty's New York persona identifies our bar character as "obnoxious ", the irony not immediately apparent, though shared ... a little contentiously ... perhaps a comment on here will flesh out the story ...

Patty disappears into the nether world of airside, the abandoned pilgrim finds the Way, well marked from airport to trail ... options open and a foxtrot pace the 14km to town offers pilgrim stories plus training for the two day attempt for Fisterra tomorrow ... and the task of identifying those heading there without accommodation for cards from Fatima with warm recommendation ... a Korean couple maybe, the connection was warm enough ... Mark and Sharon from Dublin offer pic and brief story ... Australian family having started at St Jean, nearly teen son Lucas not exhibiting enthusiasm ... mother more so ... another group of Oz women stop at traditional stream for washing of sins before Santiago ... a coffee stop enables some writing and pilgrims to pass ... in town a junior TV crew request an interview, asking about the approach route to the Cathedral ... is it too busy with traffic, would a more peaceful Way be preferable? Question framed with answer in mind, though sabotaged by observation that all along the Way difficulties are there to be dealt with ... anyway Santiago and its Cathedral not the end ... likely ripe for editing ... at the Cathedral Soonchal Roh and publicity shy wife appear seeking Pilgrim Office for Compostela, a service rendered in return for a photo of him for you ... lots of Korean folks on the Ways ... at the Hospederia San Martin, Tony and Graham from Margate chat a while, paying their bill ... and since no reservation was made last night, in order to keep options open, the Pilgrim rooms in the eaves are all gone, leaving a single on the second floor ... with three beds, though sub-letting probably discouraged ... if it's right that whilst the Universe may not always deliver what we want it does deliver what we need, then the extra layer of comfort plus strong WiFi may encourage processing, writing ... plenty of material to work with over the last week ... and the refectory restaurant of the Hospedario, once used by monks, a career currently out of favour, perfect for a temporary return to inner monk ... after the holon of inner child, lover, and other roles ... tomorrow resolute walker pushing the mental boundaries ... though 7.30 am breakfast, included in the room price, may delay the start of a necessarily long day on the road if it is indeed to be done in two days ... both breakfast and long days optional, of course!

Around Santiago ...

A lazy day after last night's late Spanish time supper ... a San Martin buffet breakfast then a trip to the Pilgrim Office for Patty's Compostela, the evidence that she walked 118 km from Tui to Santiago, not including accidental diversions of course .. a brand new credencial to replace the overfull one after the Plata and Portugues adventures ...next a reunion with Mercienne and a pleasant day together wandering the old town ... coffee in a very trendy place with a highly amusing mural in the top class gents' toilets ... first spotted in Tavira ... information from Mercienne on the art and science of colonic irrigation, which she practised for five years, one conclusion being that some folk, maybe due to dense diets of corpses and lack of fibre, are literally full of shit  ... a spot of souvenir shopping for the women, a haircut for the man and on to the Born Again American Pilgrim House for tea, a little light philosophy, not worth too much effort since certainty is an inflexible starting point ... to late lunch and back to the hotel for siesta ... and a massage, for which hard working legs are especially grateful ...

Fisterra

Pascal and Geraldine from Tarbes, arrive early at the Mirador ... he and Patty bond over common interest in bodywork ... and since it's a rest day there is an intermission in French before they head up to the lighthouse and we check out late enough, leave bags with Michele and head up the hill in sunshine, which turns into a quite dramatic shower for a while ... back into town with a little spirit dog guiding us ... a good lunch, an English family recently relocated to Muxia, enjoying the peace away from DUK ... back to Espiral for more love ... Simone, another bodyworker gets some treatment from Patty ... walking return promised next week, Patty at unspecified time and down to the bus for the return to Santiago, Hospedario San Martin Pinario .... sightseeing tomorrow, then one flies, the other walks west ...

To the end of the earth ... by bus

Since Patty's flight to Boston is early Tuesday, Fisterra and Muxia both two or three days walking and Sunday forecast for rain, it is decided to take a bus to Fisterra, stay one night and return to Santiago for two days ... a walk to the lighthouse at the end of the earth plenty at 3 km each way plus wandering enough after the exertions of the Camino ...

Supper last night at the Hospedario San Martin Pinario with perfect ambience and highly entertaining waiter pretending to chastise Patty for failing to finish her main course, giving two desserts to your blogger instead ... San Martin the location for last two nights in this perfect little drama, though not in usual Spartan monk's cell ...

10 a.m. bus full enough for slow journey with locals and pilgrims following the coast, stunning views opening up at every turn and finally joining the yellow arrows of the walking route ... pilgrims having taken the short cut across the mountain ... in town in time for lunch at hippy vegetarian restaurant (Fisterra having pagan hippy energy) ...

Hotel Miradoro Fin da Terra has wonderful sea views, though not in the twin bed room preferred
to double, more troubling to elevated frequencies of camino universe ... a visit to the Albergue Espiral finds Fatima and Michele from 18 months ago ... still radiating love ... gazing into her eyes to be drowned in ... she and Patty bonding in witchery, fortunate to be in post-burning times ... the heat of the moment suggesting a return after Tuesday ... walking over two or three days, maybe en route to Muxia, Coruna, Ferrol and the Camino Ingles ...

On to the zero km marker at the lighthouse, challenging the idea that Santiago is the end ... Patty smelling Catholic male domination there ... here in Fisterra she finds her energy, and a gift from Peter, from Krgystan ... a didgi bath ... a very powerful experience breaking down a little more  residual British reserve ... an ongoing project ... back to town for a glass or two, a snack, a view of the harbour in the rain, though the day has been mostly fine ... onto Tearron Restaurant for food experience ... Antonio feigning affront at request for proper chips ... bringing crate of potatoes from kitchen as evidence ...

Tomorrow back to Santiago on bus sometime ... Fisterra having provided a magical day far from the old story ... the veil between worlds thin ...

Padron to Santiago de Compostela

A late start and longer stage to finish the Way ... around 27 km after an arrow error approaching town, amusingly leading to a temporary short cut, corrected to return to the historic route, only to return close to the original place an hour later ... how we laughed!

This wet Camino didn't relent on the last day ... plenty of showers, though dry for the last stretch and hotel reached before 6 pm ... long enough, though relaxed, a good coffee stop to change into rain gear and take some pics of Sophie from Holland and Xavier and his daughter Alba from Barcelona ... Mercienne encountered, taking it slow and stopping halfway, Gosha still pushing through the pain barrier ... a new friend, Agostinho from Viana del Castelo researching the Way in order to promote it to younger Portuguese folk ... a proper procession of adherents of the Once True Faith from Los Angeles, led by their Irish parish priest ...Patty, a recovering Catholic, contests whether there was ever any Truth in it at all ... certainly it has left generations of shame and guilt ridden folks around the world, not to mention the Spanish Inquisition ... and other contemporary abuses ... maybe inevitable with any attempt to organise Truth, an elusive thing, not to be described, let alone organised ...

A good lunch at Miradoiro before the slow and slightly extended last stage ... and straight to the hotel ... the Cathedral can wait and was never the destination anyway ...

Caldas de Rei to Padron

A short 19 km in light rain ... a slow wander with more philosophy, coffee stops to reunite with pilgrims ... Peter and Lisa, heading for the monastery at Herbon for the night ... Mercienne taking her time and having teamed up with Gosha (settled in Edinburgh via Poland) slowed by her feet ... Steve 1 from Boston (your blogger was introduced as "and this is Steve too") and Serena. .. the English 4 ...through ancient woodland with great presence and interesting trees, some amended by pilgrims ... and a couple of km before Padron, a toilet stop being required, an eccentric establishment with an eccentric creator ... Alessandro ... speaking a little English and seeing we might understand some Spanish launching into a tale of Franciscan monks from Herbon crossing the Atlantic in search of India, setting up the cathedral Santiago de Compostela near what is now Los Angeles ... at least that seems to be the gist of it ... part of the eccentricity was a rather cynical view of pilgrims popping in for photos and toilets without buying anything ... leading to rather pricey soup and coffees ... of course there is a value to the toilet facility and entertainment ... as we ready to leave, Gray, Mike, Lisa and Julie (the Enlish 4) arrive for a slightly dear and cafetiere coffee or three ...

After three days and two Pensions sharing a room with Party, both simple, clean, with adequate shared bathrooms, in Padron an upgrade though not more expensive. .. the room with ensuite, luxury bathtowels, a bath with plug ... strong internet (a mixed blessing, but helpful for blogging, entertainment, route checking ...) laundry opposite for the first proper wash for clothes since Coimbra ... restaurant downstairs ...

Patty is using onward baggage, making walking easier but complicating life a little as the bag has to be picked from somewhere and delivered somewhere else, which means booking ahead ... which restricts spontaneity whilst alleviating anxiety ... anyway there are no complaints here, since each room so far has had a spare bed ...

Tomorrow, Santiago ... 24km short enough for a half day wander as processions of pilgrims join hundreds of others from the other Ways ...