Day 109- SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTEA

Day 109- Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compestela - 20 kms - Wed 10/9
A nice early start for the final leg of my journey. I leave at 7 without breakfast but I know it is available not far down the track. I walk with a girl from Denmark and there are other pilgrims ahead and behind as we come to the forest. Which way to go? 3 paths & no signs but I have done this before so we have a laugh and follow a very pale indistinct yellow arrow along a forest track. Head torches creating dancing lights as we tramp, tramp, tramp beneath the eucalypts. Down and alongside a road then thru a tunnel and into the bright courtyard of the hotel at Amenal. Breakfast of toast, coffee & fresh OJ. Then it's up the hill, more eucalypts, past the airport runway where we drop down under the landing lights before climbing again to San Payo. It is a misty morning and we get a few spits of rain coming into Lavacolla, where I get a coffee. In years past this was the traditional washing place for pilgrims to get clean before entering Samtiago. Then a few more ups & downs as the long stream of pilgrims march on to their destination. From Monte de Gozo it is said you can see the steeple of the cathedral but I have yet to see that. The trees have grown & the landscape has changed. At Monte de Gozo a new pilgrim refuge was built a few years ago. It sleeps 500 pilgrims!!! Then through the outskirts, across a major road and the old city is in sight. Coming this way we enter through the Porte de Camino, following the brass scallop shells in the cobblestones. Up past old buildings then down the steps, turn left into Plaza Obradoiro. The cathedral is right there, shrouded in scaffolding as it undergoes restoration. I have mixed emotions being here in this special place. The numbers speak for themselves but it is still hard to comprehend that I actually walked 2543 kilometres in 109 days with only 4 rest days in that time. My next step is to visit the Pilgrim Office where I join a queue and half an hour later I am explaining to an Irish volunteer the reasons for my journey. I have 2 pilgrim credentials with a stamp for every day I walked. There is no empty place for Santiago but that's ok. She puts it on the map on the back. The final stamp of the Cathedral of Santiago. This year there is also another Certificate of Distance that I can get, apart from my Compostela so now I have 2. I spend some time then with the Dutch Friends of the Camino who have a welcome room right nearby. Now it's time to take the boots off and 'pilgrim watch'. We sit around watching other pilgrims arrive. Big hugs & smiles and calls of congratulations as familiar faces we have seen along the way complete their journey also.
My walking is completed but for many women in Ethiopia they are just starting their walk in the hope of being healed. If you have not already done so please  make your donation now.
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