We had our first (and only) communal dinner at the albergue last night. Chez, Glynt, Grant and I were at a table with a French couple who have lived in Louisiana for 40 years. (Nice people. Fascinating accent!) Being a particularly introverted introvert and something of a hermit, the idea of chatting to strangers over spaghetti (of all things!) has me breaking out in hives, but I have to admit it was quite a fun evening. (Who am I even?!)
We had a slow start this morning, breakfast at the albergue and then off we set. Today was a walk of contrasts - some of the walk was really pretty, through wooded areas with beautiful gum trees and other parts were alongside the main road leading to Santiago, so were quite urban and not particularly pleasant. I think we all felt pretty conflicted emotionally too, on the one hand it’s quite exciting to be counting down the kilometres to the Cathedral of Santiago - the end is almost in sight, but on the other hand it also signals the end of the walk that we’ve been looking forward to for so long. Bittersweet!
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| 25km to go! |
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| Spot the dog! |
We had drizzle for a while but it finally stopped as we got to a coffee stop and then lo and behold, the minute we set off again the heavens opened! Fortunately it didn’t last too long.
There were a lot more hills than we expected today and some of them felt long and really hard. When I mentioned this to Grant this afternoon he pointed out that the elevation was in fact quite a bit less than the elevation on our usual walk in the woods back home - that really surprised me (to the point that I went back and checked to see whether he was kidding me! He was right.) It’s amazing how a hill hits differently when you have walked over 100kms in the last week! Our bodies are definitely feeling the strain!
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| Under 20km! |
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| The best sellos! Wax stamp! |
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| under 15km! |
We stopped for lunch at an albergue, aptly called Last 12K, and had a fun meal - some good laughs - before walking the last couple of kms to our albergue. I swear those last 2kms felt like 5kms!
We are now showered and having a good rest before the last push tomorrow!
We are staying at Pension Xacobeo Lavacolla tonight - our final night before we reach Santiago de Compostela!
Pension Xacobeo Lavacolla is a lovely albergue, ideal for the final night before walking into Santiago de Compostela. The proprietor is very friendly and helpful and the rooms are very clean and with all the necessary amenities. Highly recommended.
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