Here we are and it absolutely teeming down with rain. We are warm and dry and well fed, but have yet to venture out to get our Compostelle. That can wait until tomorrow. I have retrieved our package of clothes etc that we mailed here from Burgos. I don´t think it has really sunk in that our 800km pilgrimage is over. I am determined to walk on to either Finisterre (End of the World). Richard is less certain, because his toe is still giving him some trouble. We will sleep on it and decide tomorrow. There are a number of folks here that we have encountered along the way, and Richard´s own personal "Camino miracle" - we encountered Amigo and M Amigo, the permanent pilgrim and his dog, and more or less followed them into Santiago. We had not seen them since Sahagun. Here is what we have been up to for the past couple of days.
Day 35 Gonzar This was a very pleasant day´s walk through small hamlets. There was lots of sun and we stopped a couple of times to get fruit from little donativo (donation) stands. We had nice chats, one with a French gentelman who had bought a home to restore on the Camino "because he loved it" and another with a Spanish man who returned to the home in which he was born, on the Camino and rents out the odd room to pilgrims. We walked on through Portomarin where we picknicked and then on to Gonzar where we stayed in a private Alberge with wonderful fleece sheets and heat in the radiators. Dinner was in French at our table, because that was the most common language, and after a couple of bottles of wine, the conversation became very animated.
Day 36 Another 26k day to O Coto. We usually begin now around 8:15, because there is some daylight.
We began with no rain, but that didn´t last long. The rain was torrential for a while, and walking down the inclines was treacherous because of all the water. We and everyone else stopped at the first cafe, warmed up and headed out again. And the rain was never really a problem for the rest of the day. We are thinking that the Galicians must have 100 words for rain, just as the people in Canada´s north have 100 words for snow. There are just so many varieties. There was quite a bit of up and down today, so we were very happy to find our lodgings, a casa rural where we ate en famille. The food was excellent and folks around the table were excited to be nearing the end of their journeys. Richard and I are at this point tired of being on the move for almost 5 weeks. It is quite wearing, and then of course there is the walking. But after a while that becomes almost automatic. Still....two more days. And it is so damp. I swear the clothes we washed were wetter after hanging up to "dry" than they were the night before.
Day 37 Santa Irene This was a really long long day, 34k, maybe more, but the terrain was more difficult than it looked in the guidebook. Based on where we were after lunch in Arzua, and the time, and the state of Richard´s toe, we made the decision that he would take a taxi to our hotel and I would walk. I arrived at 7pm, just as it was getting a little too dark to be near the highway. I encountered a couple of hunters with rifles, and was a little unnerved...but no harm. During the day Richard encountered a retired priest/social worker from Cleveland! Very nice man was Patrick, and we lunched with him. Off to sleep for the last days´s walk.
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