Santiago de Compostela (Friday 17th June)

I had a fairly early start on Friday with my train leaving Madrid at 8am. It’s just under 3.5 hours to Santiago de Compostela and the scenery changed quite significantly - dryer plains & more mountainous with some very long tunnels on the Madrid side, then much more green with rolling hills coming into Santiago de Compostela.

After getting settled at my hostel & doing some laundry I headed into the city for a wander and a late lunch. I reckoned Jeff and his group would arrive at the cathedral around 4-ish so headed that direction and watched many pilgrims arrive at the end of their Camino, some in groups, some as individuals or in pairs, some by bike, most on sore feet, a few herpling along or with kinesio tape holding them together. There was a lot of elation and joy at reaching their goal and that only added to the beautiful setting.

And then it was very special to see Jeff’s group roll & walk into the square, Jeff leading the pack in his funky green wheelchair to a big round of applause. I got to meet Thoma & Gil, Jeff’s best friends since his university days who pushed/pulled him along the Camino, along with Cathy, Thoma’s wife. And what an honour to be a witness to such depth of friendship.

After all the excitement I left Jeff et al to get rested/refreshed etc & I enjoyed an evening of taking in the old city & tapas before heading back to my hostel for an early-ish night.

My hostel was on the outskirts of SdC and an Albergue on the Portuguese Camino. I reckon I was the only non-pilgrim there and I’m sure it showed - no dust on my shoes or rucksack. And of course my trusty fold-up yoga mat came with me so I fitted in some Pilates over the weekend. Such a luxury would not work for a pilgrim walking 15 miles a day with a full pack. However when it came to sleeping in a room with 23 other people I felt like I was in that scene in the film, ‘The Way’, with the snoring in surround sound. Thankfully I remembered to pack ear plugs as well as the yoga mat.