Walking for Water with Camino Jim-Santiago arrival Day 34 and Santiago plus 1 day

Dinner is at the restaurant but Brooklyn is off tonight. I spoke with him before he left and I’m coming in on my last night, tomorrow for dinner. Pat, Margot, Gary, Candy and me for dinner. Gary and I have both had dinner here and we both have had good food and wine. It’s a quiet dinner … seems as though the air has been let out of the balloon. I know I am tired and Gary and Margot have another sixty miles ahead of them on their walk to Muxia and Finisterre. Only a small number of the pilgrims who reach Santiago walk to these two destinations. It was thought at one time, hundreds of years ago, to be the end of the earth and obviously the western most piece of land in Europe. The additional journey attracts many pilgrims who take a taxi or a bus and simply make it a day trip.

Pat has his car so we are going to drive out and have lunch before he heads back to Porto. I have not been to either location because I just didn’t have an interest and most definitely would never add four more days of walking! It’s now Friday morning … I step out of my hotel wearing the shower shoes, giving the limos a break and guess what? It’s raining! A light rain but non the less I return to my room, change shoes and grab a jacket. Thirty four days of walking and no rain and now it starts … how lucky am I? I walk toward the center of the plaza to meet Pat. From there we will take a taxi to where he left the car two nights ago and then we will drive first to Muxia. It’s a route which is less than straight but Pat has GPS so we are good to go.

The weather turns quickly to a very nice day. Gary and Margot will be walking in good weather. Pat did send them a text offering to drive them with us but Gary wants to walk the entire route. Candy was also thinking about walking but was not certain. She needs to get her Compestella after trying yesterday unsuccessfully. Gary and Margot did get theirs after waiting in line for more than two hours. We really dodged a bullet yesterday.

We take a few pictures where the kilometer markers are marked 0 KM. After we have a great lunch at a seafood restaurant and then head back to Santiago where Pat and I say our goodbyes for now. Pat will be in Southern California soon just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Pat and Dulce will then fly to Idaho to visit with the kids for Thanksgiving and then head back to Porto. It was really a great deal of fun walking with Pat over that last stretch of the Camino from Sarria. We had lots of laughs and an equal number of serious conversations while walking together. I don’t think this will be Pat’s last Camino. He is a great friend and he helped make my third Camino special. Thanks Pat.

Before I get set to discard nearly everything I do need to get some things for the trip home. I just looked at my phone and today I walked 4.2 miles, 10,486 steps and 24 flights. The final post will be written on the flight to Boston from Madrid, a layover for four hours and then the final flight to Los Angeles. It will be a long day but I’m looking forward to it.

Good night. Buen Camino.