Camino : A Calle de Ferreiros to Santiago de Compostela

Today was the final day of the long walk, and I woke up by 5AM. Aaron and I had decided to walk together, and we headed out at 6AM sharp.

It was dark outside and the path was very steep at various points. Over the 31km walk today, a climb of 1900 feet was expected.

We were walking pretty fast and there was no one on the path. Before dawn, we missed a marker and walked about half a kilometer before realizing and course-correcting. The dawn started with beautiful colored sky.

The path was wooded and peaceful. Our expectation was to walk up until 2PM to arrive at the destination. We would take 2 breaks after 10km each.

There were many people on the path today. Everyone was excited and chatty. I saw a young Canadian person and conversed with him. He and his father had begun the journey about the same time as me from St. Jean but had to take bus and train for some parts of it. Two friends from Seattle were walking together from Sarria, they had recently retired and wanted to do more trips going forward. A young Asian-German girl had started from Sarria and was finishing the Camino on her sixth day today.

The murals on the roadside continued to be very colorful and commemorative of the pilgrims. O Pedrouzo was the town we were nearing, and it was 11km from start, which meant it was a good time to take the breakfast stop.

Most pilgrims were starting the day at O Pedrouzo because it was 19km from Santiago, which represents the average distance most pilgrims were traveling in a day.

Some pilgrims were walking too fast. I came across a pair of pilgrims and was simply astounded to hear that they consisted of an 80-year-old retired flight engineer from Ireland and his young daughter. They were walking pretty briskly to everyone's amazement.

At a point in the trail, I saw the Camino Conservation workers cleaning up debris and fixing the Camino mile markers.

Since the last part of the Camino required at least two stamps a day, there were more opportunities to get a stamp. A station selling souvenirs and providing stamps was in the wilderness, there was a stamp place with a bagpipe player nearby as well.

San Paio was 12km from Santiago and there was an ancient church of San Paio that we passed by.

San Paio de Sabuguiera was the next church we encountered.

The route was partly small towns and partly green fields at this point.

We were getting too excited that we were almost 2 km from the destination at Monte do Gozo.

in a few minutes we came to the entrance of the town of Santiago de Compostela.

A big gate with many bronze tablets showing saints was erected at the entrance.

The Santiago de Compostela town is a pretty big one and had many cars, building and regular people going about their business completely oblivious to our feelings of triumph.

It still was one more kilometer to go before we could see the cathedral.

In less than 10 minutes, we were at the square with the big cathedral we had been walking towards for the past 3 weeks.

It is a fantastic, ornate and historic monument which made inspired in us the sense of awe.

We saw the final distance marker.

Entering the pilgrim’s office, we got our certificate of completion.

There were two certificates available, with one having the distance covered noted on it. I had to pay €3 for the distance covered version.

I went into the cathedral and saw it on all its glory.

Outside, the beautiful doors, gates, statues and the whole vibe was making all pilgrims feel a sense of happiness and peace.

The interior of the cathedral was breathtaking as well.

I stood in a line and eventually got a view of St James’s remains.

During my visit to the museum shop, I saw a familiar face and found it was the bicyclist from France, Daniel. Again, it was quite a coincidence to see him even on the last day.

For dinner, we went to A Noiesa, a restaurant suggested by some pilgrims. It was awesome! We had a great meal with Albariño, artichokes, bacalou, Lobster rice, cheeses, mango icecream, and cheese cake in a 3 hour celebratory meal.

It was a bittersweet moment because the long journey was over, and it made me feel accomplished to have made it to the end with a strong finish.

Calories Burned	48,093
Minutes walking	10,867 [181 hours ]
Steps	1,218,246
Distance Covered	536 miles
Vertical Climb	13,876m / 45,435 feet
Days Walked	21
Fun had	Infinite