Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela, July 5

We're finally getting some more typical Galicia weather: it was foggy and drizzling on and off most of the day.  Shortly after we left Pedrouzo we passed the 1100 km mark.

Because of the volume of pilgrim traffic, this part of the camino is very well marked and mostly on separate paths.  We passed some small farms, but more forest land.

The route passes around the Santiago airport.  Pilgrims have woven sticks into the airport's chain link fencing to make dozens of crosses.

After we arrived in Santiago, checked into our pension and had lunch, then headed over to the pilgrim office to receive our compostelas, official certificates of completion.  We weren't the only ones there, but the line moved quickly.  To receive the compostela, one must walk the final 100 km, or bike the final 200 km.  Many pilgrims start just 100 km from Santiago, which is why this final stretch of  the camino is so crowded.

Santiago is a beautiful old city, and a popular tourist destination even for non-pilgrims.  But, the pilgrimage seems to dominate.  The old center of the city is filled with shops selling souvenirs and t-shirts, restaurants, and bars.  Pilgrims wearing backpacks are everywhere.  

The cathedral and city grew up around the remains of Saint James (Santiago), which somehow made the trip from the Holy Land (where he died in the first century) back here just in time for him to make a significant contribution to the Spanish reconquest of the Iberian peninsula.  People have been making this pilgrimage to Santiago for over a thousand years.  

The cathedral complex is huge, ornate, and quite beautiful.

The large square in front of the cathedral seems to be always filled with newly arriving pilgrims.  This group of young people was singing and dancing around a pile of their backpacks to celebrate their arrival.

The day after arriving in Santiago we attended the daily pilgrim's mass in the cathedral.  At the start of the mass they read off a list of new arrivals by starting destination and nationality: we showed up as two Americans from Montserrat.

Now that we've had a day off in Santiago, we will continue walking tomorrow, to Finisterre on the Atlantic coast.

Santiago to Negreira, July 7

After a leisurely breakfast, we headed out of Santiago under mostly cloudy and occasionally drizzling skies.

Spanish cities tend to be fairly compact.  Within a few minutes we were on paths, and looking back toward Santiago with its magnificent cathedral complex.

The walking was very pleasant in the cool temps.  We passed through and near many small villages.  Farming is small scale here: a few cows, a small patch of corn or other veggies.

This camino (from Santiago to Finisterre on the Atlantic coast) is very well marked.  In addition to the usual yellow arrows, some individuals decorate their fences and gates with the shells that are symbols of St James and the camino.

Much of our path was pleasant walking on dirt paths through forest land.

This bridge in Augapesada is of Roman design.

By mid-afternoon we were walking into the relatively modern small city of Negreira.  At the entrance to the city is this statue of a pilgrim.  We found a nice room in a little pension right in the center of town.

 

Negreira to Santa Marina de Maronas, July 8

Another slow start today.  Although many cover the roughly 90 km to Finisterre in three days, we decided to take a slightly different and more leisurely route.  We are breaking the trip up into shorter stages of only about 20 km each, and planning to walk to Muxia first, then finish in Finisterre (the end of the earth).

It had rained overnight, and was still drizzling a little as we walked out from Negreira.

Galicia is known for wet and misty weather, and is certainly living up to its reputation.  But the temps are quite moderate, and it is very pleasant walking.

This blue and yellow shell design is one of the standard route markers along all the caminos, here accompanied by a yellow arrow.  The cows in the field don't seem to mind the pilgrim traffic.

 

Spain is a country with many languages besides Spanish.  At the start of our trip, the language was Catalan, later we were in Basque country.  Here in Galicia it's Gallego, which is a combination of Spanish with Portuguese and Celtic.  Note this route marker (again, with the shell): the squiggle over the n in camino (can't figure out how to get the alternate alphabet in this blogger window), and Fisterra for Finisterre.

Hydrangeas are very common yard plants here, and seem to thrive in this climate (as in Oregon's coast range).

By mid-afternoon we stopped for the day in the very small village of Santa Marina de Moranos.  There's a small albergue (10 beds) adjoining a bar: perfect.  As I finish this post, the proprietor in the bar is preparing dinner, and just brought our bottle of wine.  A good time to stop writing and close the computer!

Santa Marina to Dumbria, July 9

The typical weather pattern here in Galicia seems to be foggy and drizzling in the morning, with the moisture letting up as the day goes on.  We continued our way westward through rolling farmland and small villages.

According to the signs, this hilltop area on Monte Aro was occupied from the 9th century BCE onward.  We didn't see any remaining structures among the rocky outcrops.

From the heights we descended toward the reservoir Embalse de Ferrenza,

then climbed again after stopping for a bite in the village of Olveiroa.

 

After a little over 20 km of walking we descended to the small village of Dumbria, which boasts a new and amazingly modern albergue (below).  Everything is very modern inside.  There are three large rooms with four bunkbeds in each, modern bathrooms, a separate room for washing and hanging clothes, nicely equipped kitchen and dining room, and a large lounge area.  The only other pilgrim staying there was a Portuguese man who had walked all the way from Santiago that day.

We walked into the village for dinner, and found a very nice Argentine bar.  Tasty fish soup for the first course, then salad, then a pile of roasted beef and potatoes, all washed down with the usual bottle of wine.  We struggled to finish it all, and when we were done the proprietor asked if she could bring us some more.  We declined, so after a dessert of flan she brought us shots of her homemade herbal liqueur.  Not sure how we made it back to the albergue.

Dumbria to Muxia (on the Atlantic coast), July 10

It was foggy and quite cool as we took off from Dumbria.  Unlike yesterday's stage, which was almost all on pavement, today was mostly on dirt paths.  Much easier walking.

We passed through a number of small farming villages.  The temperature here close to the ocean is very temperate: note the large palm below.

 

The day gradually warmed up into the 60s, even though it remained cloudy.

Early in the afternoon, we crested a hill, the sun came out, and we caught our first looks of the ocean.

We still had about 5 km of walking before we reached our destination of Muxia.  This small town used to be primarily a fishing village, but now has a small amount of tourism.  We found a room overlooking the bay, and did a bit of wading (it was too cool to swim).

Today marked 1200 km so far, and the completion of our walking transit from (almost) the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

 

Muxia to Lires, July 11

The weather has cleared up fantastically, and we started out from Muxia under partly cloudy (not raining) skies.  Before heading out of town we detoured to the end of the peninsula (which we hadn't managed to visit the previous evening).  The church there, Nosa Senora de Barca, commemorates a visit by the Virgin Mary to this site, in a stone boat, to provide encouragement to Saint James when he was in the Iberian peninsula trying to win disciples for Christ in the very early AD years.

From Muxia, the camino heads down the coast toward Lires (and eventually, Finisterre).  It was beautiful walking: sometimes along the coast, sometimes climbing over headlands, sometimes through forest or farm lands.

 

 

Shortly before arriving in Lires, we ran into our new friends Vern and Nancy from Gasquet, whom we met along the Camino Frances a few days before arriving in Santiago.  They were going the opposite direction, toward Muxia, for their end point.

We arrived in our destination for the day, the small town of Lires, in time for our mid-day meal.  It's a beautiful place, built on the side of a hill just a kilometer or so from the ocean.  We had a great meal and room in a small inn in town.

In the early evening we walked down to where the river runs into the ocean.

 

Lires to Finisterre, July 12

This is the final stage of our camino, to Finisterre.  As the name suggests, this is the end of the earth, or at least was believed to be so back when the earth was still flat: it's roughly the westernmost point in continental Europe.  As Nancy pointed out, visiting Finisterre a useful reminder of the limits of our knowledge and understanding: perhaps not everything we now know to be true is in fact so.

Again, our path paralleled the coastline.  This section of the Spanish coast is called the Coast of Death.  It is very rocky and uneven, often foggy, and has experienced a tremendous number of shipwrecks.

The walking was mostly along dirt paths, sometimes in the open, sometimes through forests.

 

By early afternoon we were in Finisterre.  This small city used to be a fishing village, but now is also a popular tourist destination.  We had a great lunch by the harbor, then found a pension up on the hill.

After dropping our packs in the pension, we continued down the road on foot to the end of this little peninsula, the real end of the earth.  There's a lighthouse (of course).

This is where many pilgrims end their pilgrimage.  Although it's hard to see in the picture, this route marker is labeled as kilometer 0.0.

On the rocks beyond the lighthouse is this small bronze sculpture of a pilgrim's hiking boot.

With today's 21 km, our total for the trip is 1244 km.

Had the weather stayed clear, we would have remained another day in Finisterre and spent it on the beach.  But the next day was very rainy, so we decided to return to Santiago.  I tried to persuade Ellen to walk back, but was not successful.  Four days walking is only a little over two hours by bus.  We will continue on to Portugal the next day for a few days vacation before flying homeward.