Author: Mark Dowty

We are truly almost home now. Were onboard the last flight home from Atlanta to Greensboro. It will be great to be home and begin sharing the experience with others.

There is so much to remember and so much to share and yet Allison and I have both said that no one will be able to understand who hasn’t been.

Now some that go on Camino have this mystical reverence to the Camino itself. I have no such feelings. But there is a spirit there that you don’t find many places. People are generally more tolerant of other peoples thoughts and habits. People are more generous with their stuff even though they have less to offer than they would at home. It is the people along Camino that make it a unique experience.

Over the next several weeks I know we will be asked 1000 times “how was it?” I will try to answer, but forgive me if hesitate and maybe leave you hanging. I’m not trying to be rude or coy. There are just something’s that I won’t know how to explain; somethings that you wouldn’t understand if i did; and there will be some things that I don’t fully understand myself.

This will be the last post of this blog.

Thanks to all the friends and family that have supported us with thoughts, prayers, comments and questions.
Thanks to all the great folks we met along the way: too numerous to name, but you know who you are.

Blessings
Mark and Allison.

We are in the Santiago airport waiting for our midnight flight to Barcelona (the first leg of our 3day trip home). It is hard to imagine we awoke in Finesterra this morning.
All who travel a lot will know what I mean. You tend to blur these more boring pre-boarding waiting time together into one mishmash.
But probably since we have been on Camino the pace of “normal” life seems more exhausting than ever. I’m sitting and waiting. I think I should go for a walk or something.

This morning and afternoon we completed our Camino. We walked to the ocean and washed our feet. We walked to the Finesterra lighthouse (the westernmost point) and completed Camino. We ran out of Europe.

We walked back to town and received our gaelic credential from Finesterra. We are done!

Just going to celebrate now and begin the 3day trip home in the morning.

Well, there was a large Samba festival being held at the albergue we were going to stay in so despite very sore feet and a couple new blisters each, we pressed on for 38km to Finesterra. Technically we aren’t finished yet but we’ve checked into a beautiful hotel for two nights and will walk the ½ mile to the end tomorrow morning.

We started the day by walking along some beautiful woodlands and hills. Because we were on the last day and nearing the ocean, we both thought it would be mostly downhill. But as Allison and I found out, Spain only seems to go uphill.

We saw re see for the first time and got a thrill. I told Allison that she should feel so proud of the accomplishment but we both joked that proud felt an awful lot like sore feet and painful blisters.

The views only got better though as we approached Finesterra. Check out the view from our place.

I’ll post some final thoughts tomorrow, but for now we are going to relish in the hotel, view and a nice dinner.

The pilgrims cry is “Ultreia” or “still further”. This is our next to last day. Weather looks good but neither Allison nor I remember what it is like to be without pain! :). Not real pain like some other have to suffer with on a day to day basis, but nagging pain associated with 33 days of hiking.

Regardless we are otherwise healthy and very happy but also worn and ready to be home.

It only sprinkled through the first part of the day and we managed to stay dry for the most part. The sky was magnificent with the clouds breaking up and parting.

Allison has two new blisters thanks to today’s 33km hike unfortunately.

Tomorrow is easier (24km) and the final day even easier (16km). What a great way to end.

After 32 days with only 1 rainy day you can’t complain but we’ve woken to a downpour this morning. It looks like we will be getting soaked today. The camera and phone are getting packed up in the dry sac. Wish us luck.

The human body has an amazing tendency to both heal and get lazy quickly. It was really hard to put our boots on this morning and our leg muscles groaned at the first several steps. Funny that two days ago we wouldn’t have even noticed the first several kms, but this morning it was very difficult.

Good thing it is a short day today (21km).

We enjoyed our sleep in day and a nice bfast and then walked outside to the main plaza here. We almost immediately met up again with some friends from the Camino including a young Korean girl we’d met on day one and only seen one other day since. Amazing.

We enjoyed getting our 2nd Compostellas and the pilgrims mass at the cathedral here. Allison and I, not being catholic, never partook in mass per se but enjoyed the services nonetheless. Instead, we celebrated our own private communion in the courtyard of the hotel – just the two of us and God.

We then went on a futile shopping excursion and spent too many hours at a travel agent trying to arrange the trip home.

After a nice, but pricey dinner we’ve come back to the parador to pack and get ready for the last four days of the extended pilgrimage as we make it 100 more kms to Finesterra.

Pictures to follow.

After pushing through to Santiago yesterday we are both understandably sore and tired.
We celebrated the past month’s accomplishment by checking into the Parador which is in the same plaza as the cathedral. It is a beautifully old 5star hotel and we both took advantage of the rare opportunity. More on that later. First some pictures.

No posts tonight. But rest assured we made it to Santiago. More later when we are able.

Call us crazy (we know you already do), but we started seeing light at the end of the tunnel and have decided to walk two days at once. Yea I know – bad idea right?

But awaiting us in Santiago tonight is a 5star hotel just as I promised Allison there would be. I’m a man of my word if nothing else.

We are now only 1-½ hrs from Santiago cathedral. We will be there by 7:30pm our time. It has been quite the journey and Finesterra still awaits.

Oh! Before today’s pictures. I forgot to mention we passed the 50km marker today.

We started off late from the albergue 7-ish, and found ourselves really pushing the pace for no reason at all other than we were used to it and the seemingly inbred urge to be in front of the people just ahead on the trail. Unfortunately with the number of perigrinos walking now there is almost always someone in front of you.
Lest you all think that it was me that was pushing us, I’ll have you know that my wife has a competitive streak of her own. :).
Regardless we made it to Melide by noon (20km in 4hrs once you take out the coffee and Danish and shoe adjusting and bathroom stops). We were haulin.
Now Melide is not a pretty town, but is famous for a specialty cuisine – pulpo.
Despite Allison’s reservations, we HAD to stop and have lunch at the most famous pulporia. Ok, you are curious aren’t you. Well, pictures will follow.
After lunch, we slowed way down and stopped after only an additional 8kms.

The day was a bit dreary, foggy and misty so not many pictures today.

Santiago is only 2-½ days away. Then after another 4 days we will have made it to Finesterra. Crazy.

Some albergues just stand out and tonight has been one of those. There was a special time set out to look over the thoughts and requests of pilgrims have had over the last few days and then a time to make and post your own requests. It was neat to see what everyone was going through.

There was a movie (complete with popcorn).

There was an amazing communal pilgrims dinner with tons of food.

And the conversation was awesome.

There is a guy here that started his pilgrimage in Prague. There is an older couple that started in Munich. It kind of makes us feel like newbies again.

It is going to be hard to go back to real life in a week.

The whole concept of donativo remains a pleasant mystery to me.
Tonight we are staying in a Refugio associated with CRU. One, it is cool that CRU are working here in Spain, but Two, it is the second refugio we’ve stayed at during our stay. The difference is remarkable.
Most albergues are government run (Municipals). They are modern , efficient and generally clean , but a bit sterile – sometimes in purpose built buildings. Other Albergues are “association” run. These are private, for profit albergues and vary widely in service and efficiency (the German ones are clean, cheap and efficient for example).
But these Refugio’s are unique. They are typically run by individuals or sometimes religious groups. They have the most character (typically in restored abandoned houses). But it is the people that make them unique. Right off the bat, you are treated differently. Their care for the pilgrims seem so much more genuine. Today, for example, once “checked in” we weren’t allowed to carry our packs. They were graciously toted up the steps an hung by our bunks by the volunteers.
Tonight at this one there is a movie and a communal dinner. I’m looking forward to it.

We walked 24+km today at are very fast pace such that we checked in by 1pm. So we have the afternoon to kick back and relax. We are only 3-½ days from Santiago. It is so hard to believe we are this close. Time is now flying by. We have yet to decide what to do with out “extra” days but – believe it or not – we will likely walk another 100km from Santiago to Finesterra (the end of the earth) – a fitting end to our Camino

The crowds have definitely grown. We walked about 3hrs in relative solitude until Portamarine where we ran into the famed bus loads of pilgrims replete with taxis driving slowly along like buzzards waiting to feed off of unprepared or overly ambitious newbies. It was quite a site.

More a bit later as we absorb this wonderful spot.

Today we started in Triacastela (three castles) which is an ironic name since there are no castles nearby … At least none that have survived.

Continuing through really nice wooded areas we came into (and pretty quickly out of) Sarria. Sarria is the town that is know for its influx (literally bus loads and train loads) of pilgrims that have limited time and wish to receive the Compostella by completing the minimum 100k.

Maybe because if the time of day, or the fact that today is Sunday, we only noticed a small increase in folks on the Camino.

Sarria did have one surprise in store. Along the center of the Calle Maxor (old street) there were strewn flowers and evergreens for several hundred meters (see the pictures).

It had only been a short day when we reached Sarria so we marched on through and up the “steps of Sarria” and continued for a further 12km. This made it 30+ for the day (just under 20mi).

The day was mostly small towns and farm land but the path was quiet and shaded. In general it was a pleasant day.

Funny ending: not meaning to judge, but judging nonetheless, while washing our days hiking clothes in the cold water sink with a bar of soap as is our daily routine, I overheard three Americans on vacation. They were obviously of a higher social class but were “roughing it” by driving (in their rented Mercedes) through the country. One lady remarked that it felt so good to experience the Camino by driving through these small towns. She said “I feel like a REAL pilgrim”. I can’t tell you the restraint required to not go and tell her, “if you really want the full experience, I’ll let you hand wash my dirty socks and underwear – for only a small fee”. The thought made me laugh.

Pictures to follow.