Last night and into Santiago
The square in front of the cathedral was still and just stirring to life except for a few pilgrims like us. Over the next couple of hours we familiarized ourselves with the church and square constantly recognizing other pilgrims as they slowly filtered in the square over the morning. We all lined up at the church office and received our documents and then headed off for a group breakfast. Gina, it turned out, was the first person I left the Albergue, crossed the street to the bar and after espresso and a croissant I walked down the hill towards Santiago 22 kilometres away. There was a bit of hill climbing as the trail wound its way towards the city. Around 10:30 I came across David sitting at an outside patio with a young Canadian, Eric from Gaspe. I walked with them till lunch where I had a bacon boccadilo and beer then pushed off telling them I would meet them at Mozo de Groto the big dorm before the city. I had decided to stay the night in the 400 bed Albergue and walk into the city the following morning. The last few kilometres were sparsely marked and a couple of times I thought I was lost but in the end I was on the right track which a couple of k before the albergue was confirmed by the sudden appearance of a growing mob behind me. Just after I had arrived Gina, Enrique, David, Eric and Rebecca came in. Someone pointed to the spires of the Cathedral obscured by trees but visible. The monument was built by Pope John in a holy year during the nineties to honour the pilgrims. There was a mob of tourists all wanting their pictures taken so everybody had to jockey for a camera spot. David continued on into the city as he was anxious to get in to buy a bus or train ticket to get to Madrid and meet his girlfriend. I showered up and went off wandering to find a placed for dinner. Just as I was finishing my dinner Rebecca and Gina brought David, who had returned from the city after finding nowhere to sleep and we finished up dinner together. Everybody wanted an early night so we all turned in and hit the road at 6am. We walked the last few miles through the modern outskirts with a growing excitement under a full moon into Santiago. Finally we came to the old walled section and after a few winding narrow streets entered the church square which was just stirring to life. We spent the next two hours exploring the church and greeting fellow walkers as they came in and getting our scrolls from the church office. Gina was very excited when they informed her she was the first from the Barbados to do the entire pilgrimage, quite a feather in her cap. At breakfast t Rebecca seemed the most relieved getting in true English form to order her cup of tea even if she still had to ask for milk. I found a small hostel room with Eric and cleaned up and started to figure out what’s next. Almost everybody was leaving for somewhere by Monday if not home. I figured I was on a roll so I decided to get a good night’s rest and just keep going the next day heading for Finnisterre. I would do the tourista thing when I returned but right now I wasn’t finished with the road
To be continued.