Starting off to Finisterre

Today was the start of a completely new adventure...sometimes we wondered if we were mad to keep walking on the extra 5 days to Finisterre....but it has been magic. Doing this is a good way to overcome the anticlimax after arriving in Santiago, plus we found we were ready to walk...it felt just right, although we will have to learn to stop some time soon!!

But the best thing we discovered was that today was perhaps the most idyllic day of the whole Camino so far! First, we found that the path is very well marked...we were not sure that this would continue beyond Santiago to be so clear, but we had the new signposts with the kilometres to 3 decimal points again!! (They had petered out about 15 kms before arriving in Santiago). Every time there was a choice there was a reassuring arrow or sign. But the other thing was that this is just a beautiful part of Galicia - everywhere was like a picture postcard. Amr says it is the palm beach end - the houses are well kept and the towns prosperous looking. And we walked up and down hills, through forests, through villages, past farms till we got here - Negreira - after 20.83 kms. Also, we were surprised to find that there were quite a lot of people also walking this path. Not as many as on the Camino Francés, but enough to chat to now and then. And every now and then there were people going the other way - from Finisterre back to Santiago.

It was cloudy when we left, and rain predicted by about 1 o’clock. So we mainly walked in cool and slightly misty air. At about 1.30 it did start to rain - at first we ignored it, but by the end we put on ponchos, and arrived at 2.30. The rain is light and misty, not soaking, so once again we were not wet...Easily found our hotel and are happily showered and done washing that probably wont dry! It will supposedly rain all night but will clear up by 5 am ready for us to walk again tomorrow!! And predictions for the rest of the week look pretty promising too. We arrive in Finisterre (Fisterra in Galician) on Sunday, so 4 more walks.Read more