The last mile (Day 32 - Arzua to Santiago (41 km))

 Jesper and I decided to walk two days in one in order to reach Santiago de Compostella and our end goal one day earlier, and in this way get a hole day in Santiago.

I had decided to ship my bag since I was not sure I had the energy to carry it - but it felt wrong to not carry the bag the last day, so I redecided to take it with me. Jespers shipped his bag and we were going to see how his foot would hold together.

We met the others at a coffee shop in the town and had a quite late start just before 9. There were lots of pilgrems in the first part of the day, but when we passed halfway and it was late afternoon, we were nearly the only ones at the path - quite nice. 

Jesper borrowed my walking poles, and they made a big difference for his foot. I have been using them every day for 700 km, and after 10 min. Jesper breaks one of them. But he could still use the other as a stok and release pressure on his bad foot. Jesper had the belief before leaving for Spain that walking poles were only for retired and non-fit people, but he got new learnings. I had the same belief, but have seen the power of walking poles. Last half of today was really hilly, and this was the first time I walked without my poles - and for the first time in 32 days I got muscle pains of walking. 

In Santiago there was a big music festival, and arriving to town we had to walk towards crowds of people moving to the party. We finally arrived at the end destination at the Cathedral in Santiago after 779.5 km walking and could take the mandatory pictures. 

It was a bit strange and anti climatic to arrive. There has been so many feelings and learnings the last 5 weeks, so I think all the excitement has allready been there. The day after I talked to the rest of the group that had the same feeling. One feeling that is there and that is very strong - I look so much forward to Sunday where I am going home to Helena and the kids - miss them so much.

Jesper and I went for a restaurant close by and I had a fish - and ate the first hole meal in 10 days. I have still not recovered from the illness, but it is going slowly forward. It is still the appetite and digestion system that does not work.

After dinner we went to meet Wes in his appartment where we had been offered beds for the night. And we went out for a glass of wine and had a nice time chatting.

(Day 31 - Palas de Rei to Arzua (28 km))

 I had a good nights sleep and woke up hungry, got some berries that Colin had bought and we all packaged up and hit the road. We found a coffee shop around the corner where I got two double expressos - thinking that I might have had too little coffee at the camino, and perhaps more strong coffee can help kickstarting my stomack. Not sure if it is wise, but that is worth a try.

We started walking out of the city, and again it was a beautiful walk. Unfortunately Jespers pain in the foot had come back so he decided to take a taxi to next town where I will meet him again.

Today was clouded but that was fine, and I had decided to send forward my bagpack since the distance was 28 km and I don’t trust that I can get the required energy from food to do it. 

It was probably a good decision - and the walk was good and easy. I could get up to speed, and even run downhill, so I had lots of energy. I got two more bananas for lunch and basically walked the 28 km with just 2 small break. It was of course much easier today without bagpack, but I was still so happy that I could do the walk and be happy at the same time. I got 3 more double expressos so todays intake became 5 double expressos and 4 bananas. 

At a farmacia I got medicin for my stomach that I hope will help. I met jesper at our airb&b. Jesper had bought us a Leffe Brune, that we enjoyed and had a good long conversation. We went into town where we met most of the group for a burger. And I actually ate half a burger without being ill - so absolutely progress.

A beautiful walk (Day 30 - Portomarin to Palas de Rei (25 km))

 So nice again to stay in a house with an own room for me and Jesper, and the rest of the group had other rooms in the house. We all got up around 7 and Colin, Maritt and Anna had been so kind to have bought and prepared breakfast with lots of fruit, yogurt and other things. 

We ate, prepared for departure and hit the road. Jespers foot was good today and he could walk - so nice. We decided to take the complementary route that sometimes come as an option and had a nice walk uphill in the forest.

The day was an absolutely beautiful walk with nice weather and fantastic landscapes.

We arrived in Palas de Rei in the afternoon where we had booked an apartment for 10 people so the hole group could again stay the same place. As a nice gesture, the owner of the appartment had bought a big plate of cakes for us. I still have not got my appetite back and have had very limited food besides bananas and yogurt the last several days, and today I went to get pasta.

Unfortunately I could only eat a small part of it before feeling too full. I texted with my good friend Doctor Louise from Denmark and could learn that I suffer from constipation and that I need water, fibers and medicin. So that is what I want to get tomorrow, and hopefully can start to eat for real again soon. Still strange how much you can actually do without more food than a couple of bananas.

Starting the last 100 km (Day 29 - Sarria to Portomarin (22 km))

 Jesper and I had both gone to bed in good time and woke up about 6:30, ate breakfast in the kitchen, packaged our things, and hit the road 7:30. Sarria is the down from which most pilgrims start their journey towards Santiago. Reason is that it is the shortest path you have to walk to Santiago in order to become a “certified” pilgrim. And you need to collect at least two stamps in your pilgrims passport every day. You can collect stamps from all hotels, hostels, bars, restaurants and churches, so they are very easy to find.

And there were much more pilgrims than any other day we have experienced so far.  Many from outside Spain have arranged their camino through a travel agency and they just carry a daypack while their luggage transfer and accommodation is arranged by the agency. We talked to a danish girl that even traveled with a group and they had their own guide travelling with them to assist in case they needed it. Definitely a different camino experience than what we have had.

We stopped for a coffee already 200 m from the airb&b we had stayed in, and then started the walking.

It was hard to get started. Today was the first day to walk a full day with my backback after having been ill - and still only feeling at 80%. We walked for about 1:30 before talking the first break and a cold softdrink. Sun was winning over they heavy fog from the morning, and it was great with the break. Energy started to come back and the rest of the day was no problem to walk.

After some hours we came to an important milestone - the stone marking that there is only 100 km left - with 6 digits precision, impressive how they measure this…

Landscape today was absolutely amazing as you can see at the picture and video below.

We also met a group of cows

And for the first time in 4 days, I got a real meal - I got a pork and ham sandwich at our next break at about lunch time. I am so happy that the appetite is coming back - slowly.

We arrived at Portomarin about 14:30 and checked into our airb&b. Again we are staying in a “Mansion”, actual a real house with 4 bedrooms/10 beds, and we will be the same 9 tonight as yesterday.

After a nice hot shower, we went back into the town, found the square, and got a cold beer - and I got tapas that I actually ate. 

Afterwards we went home and all the rest of the group had arrived or arrived.