Camino Day 14: Two weeks and 175 miles later

Cruces to Santiago de Compostela on the Camino Portugués Central Route

Distance walked: 10.8 mi (15.0 km)

Tot. distance walked: 174.5 mi (280.8 km)

Walking route: Cruces to Santiago de Compostela

Spent the evening at the guesthouse chatting in the kitchen over wine with Jack (67 UK), and later joined by Olivia (28 Finland). The other two guests are a Spanish woman who seemed to want some alone time, and a 20-something Brazilian woman. The latter sat with us for a while and ate some dinner, but her discomfort in English and our poor knowledge of Portuguese was a substantial barrier. She took off once her pizza was finished.

I slept on the couch last night as my nighttime cough returned and I didn’t want to wake up Jack in the dorm. I slept well enough there and got my intended early start to the day. I want to allow plenty of time to reach Santiago by the Pilgrim mass at noon. I’m not religious, but I look forward to the shared experience with other peregrinos, nonetheless.

I can tell it’s going to be a weird day full of emotions. I’m glad that once I finish I can give my leg a rest, and also will be happy to reunite with friends already in Santiago and with those who’ll arrive tomorrow. But I’ll miss the long days walking in thought, and know I need to ensure I put good process in place at home to keep up the good work. It’s too beneficial not to do so. I’m eager for daybreak so I can get this walk started!

My walk was good and I made really good time for much of it. There was more climbing than I’d prefer, but the weather was perfect today and the sun was around for most of it. I was admittedly pushing pretty hard the last few miles as I wanted to get to the cathedral by noon. I made it with 10 minutes to spare. After some initial confusion about what to do with my backpack (not allowed in the cathedral), I went in.

If you’ve seen any European cathedrals you know what the place looks like - huge, lots of gold, and generally impressive. Mass was ok and I was trying (and failing) to translate from Spanish. Hearing the Pilgrim’s Blessing was nice. Afterwards, I met up with the Canadians, Paul and Stephanie, took some photos of the cathedral, and proceeded with the usual SdC pilgrim activities: go under the altar and view the relic alleged to contain the remains of St James the Great, and come back up and hug the statue of his likeness (photos not allowed).

After that, the three of us had a nice lunch together, I went to the pilgrim office to get my Compostela, picked up a few souvenirs, and we took some photos together. We split up from there, checked into our lodging, ditched backpacks (phew!), and took a break. We plan to meet up again with some of the others before we all leave SdC.

I went into today with no expectations about how I’d feel when my walk was over. I didn’t think it likely I’d burst into tears in front of the cathedral, and I didn’t. Honestly, my highest point on the walk was getting my first glimpse of the cathedral off in the distance, 4 miles from my goal. That image suddenly made the impending conclusion feel real. I did feel relief and happiness once I stood in the plaza. But I think it will take some time before I fully process the journey I’ve made.

I plan to take a break from posting about the Camino. Perhaps I’ll feel inspired to write again before I head home but I think it’s likely it won’t be until after I’m back in CA. But for now, I’m truly grateful to have had the opportunity to take this journey. I’ve learned a lot about myself, have thought through some really important things, and met some nice people. I look forward to getting home, being with my amazing family, and put a number of things into action. Mahalo 🙏

PS - It feels weird that I won’t be walking tomorrow!