Spain!
Spain marked over halfway and it was also my time to never know where we were going (Romo did the navigating here, and her and Mariah did all the hablar).
Here we go:
August 14, Day 39. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port—Roncevalles (25 km)
Pyrenees crossing! Luckily it only took one day. I’m pretty sure it was the windiest day of my life, making it that much harder not only to go up hill, but completely against a wall of wind. France didn’t want to see us go!
August 15, Day 40. Roncevalles—Zubiri (27 km)
August 16, Day 41a. Zubiri—Pamplona (15 km)
August 17, Day 41b. Pamplona Rest Day (0 km)
August 18, Day 42. Pamplona—Puente la Reina (26 km)
August 19, Day 43. Puente la Reina—Estella (21 km)
August 20, Day 44. Estella—Los Arcos (20 km)
Saw an actual Running of the Bulls in Los Arcos! It was kinda sad to see the bulls running around for an hour, but they didn’t kill them like it Pamplona and other towns. A unique experience to say the least!
August 21, Day 45. Los Arcos—Logrono (27 km)
August 22, Day 46. Logrono—Najera (29 km)
August 23, Day 47. Najera—Santo Domingo de la Calzada (21 km)
August 24, Day 48. Santo Domingo de la Calzada—Belorado (22 km)
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- Croquetas…YUM
August 25, Day 49. Belorado—Ages (27/28 km)
Mariah snapped this shot… Wouldn’t this be a wonderful home?
August 26, Day 50. Ages—Burgos (23 km)
August 27, Day 51. Burgos—Hornillos del Camino (21 km)
August 28, Day 52. Hornillos del Camino—Castrojeriz (20 km)
August 29, Day 53. Castrojeriz—Fromista (25 km)
August 30, Day 54. Fromista—Carrion de los Condes (19 km)
August 31, Day 55. Carrion de los Condes—Terradillos de los Templarios (27 km)
Everyone was freaking out about 17 km of “nothing” (aka no cafes or albergues) on this Camino stage. Thank goodness for France because this wasn’t a problem for us. I don’t think I actually took a picture on this day, but the one below is pretty representative of this stage in Spain.
September 1, Day 56. Terradillos de los Templarios—Calzadilla de los Hermanillos (26 km)
September 2, Day 57. Calzadilla de los Hermanillos—Mansilla (24 km)
September 3, Day 58. Mansilla—León (18 km)
September 4, Day 59. León—Villar de Mazarife (22 km)
September 5, Day 60. Villar de Mazarife—Astorga (31 km)
Astorga is the first town in Europe to be introduced to chocolate (Columbus brought some back as a dowry for a woman here–the marriage didn’t happen), so of course we went to the museum on the history of chocolate!
Oddly (or I guess aptly) enough, this is also the town where I started liking chocolate for the first time in my life.
September 6, Day 61. Astorga—Rabanal del Camino (20 km)
September 7, Day 62. Rabanal del Camino—Ponferrada (33 km)
This was my favorite day from the whole Camino. I brought four stones from by backyard in Pagosa. For hundreds of years, pilgrims have left a stone or a rock from home at the Cruz de Ferro. It symbolizes the laying down of a weight or burden that has been carried from such a long way: of the past, of yourself, of anxiety, whatever. Although these stones didn’t make up much weight in my pack, I felt so much lighter after this. This day for me was why I think the Camino is addictive. Why I would come back to lay down any more burdens I might have in life.
September 8 Day 63. Ponferrada—Villafranca (25 km)
September 9, Day 64. Villafranca—O Cebreiro (31 km)
September 10, Day 65. O Cebreiro—Triacastela (20 km)
September 11, Day 66. Triacastela—Sarria (19 km)
Sarria is the most common starting point for the Camino as it is located 100 km from Santiago de Compostela, the minimum starting distance to complete an “official” pilgrimage. The increase in pilgrims here was insane. I was so happy to have started in France or I would never have found any piece of mind.
Today is also the day we crossed the 1000 mile barrier! We sang The Proclaimers “I’m gonna be” all day. [i.e. the “I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more” song]
September 12, Day 67. Sarria—Portomarin (22 km)
September 13, Day 68. Portomarin—Palas de Rei (27 km)
September 14, Day 69. Palas de Rei—Ribadiso (22 km)
September 15, Day 70. Ribadiso—O Pedrouzo (20 km)
**September 16, Day 71. O Pedrouzo—Santiago de Compostela (20 km)
WE MADE IT. Unfortunately, the cathedral is under construction until 2020, but we went to mass and nevertheless took a million pictures outside of it. It wasn’t our official end though: we decided to continue on a few days to Cape Finisterre, the “end of the world”, where you hit the Atlantic Ocean.
September 17, Day 72. Santiago de Compostela—Negreira (22 km)
Before leaving Santiago, we received our official “Compostelas” or piece of paper saying that we completed the pilgrimage. To prove that we completed the walk, we had been carrying pilgrim passports since France (we obtained ours a few days after Paris) which we had stamped at each auberge/alburgue that we stayed in. This passport, to me, was the more important piece of paper though.
September 18, Day 73. Negreira—Olveiro (33 km)
Many less pilgrims continue on to Finisterre. It was nice to leave the rat race feeling of Santiago.
September 19, Day 74. Olveiro—Finisterre (33 km)
The end of the world and the end of our walking journey!
We finally took a rest here for a few days before returning to Santiago (we had to get our tattoos!) and head back to Barcelona to go back home. Luckily we got to say goodbye to some of our favorite pilgrims one last time!
74 days of walking, blisters, friends, food, myself… It was an incredible adventure. If you ever have the chance to do any part of it, don’t hesitate! And if you need any motivation just get in touch with me and I’ll bug you until you do it (or maybe I’ll do it again with you; it wouldn’t take much to convince me!).