We made it!

Santiago de Compostella, Spain
We were not looking forward to the final leg of the Camino. We only had 16.6 kilometers (10.3 miles) to go, but anticipated a slog as the weather forecast called for 100% rain starting at 0200 and continuing for several days with the possibility of flooding. We briefly considered napping for a few hours and continuing on yesterday, but we were just too tired to keep going. Besides, this is why we have ponchos! At least our place was starting breakfast service at 0630, so we could have something substantial to eat prior to starting out. Sure enough, we woke up to a steady drizzle. Made the usual last-minute email message check before leaving to ensure everything was in order and got the message that my aunt had died. We practically flew out the door and made our way to Santiago de Compostela as quickly as possible. Since we'd already had our coffee at breakfast, we only made one quick stop for orange juice and didn't even bother to take our packs off. We dodged puddles and small rivers on the trail and covered the distance in less time than it took me to run the Army Ten Miler back in 2005, sans backpack. We were thrilled to see familiar faces of Camino friends at the pilgrims office in Santiago de Compostela, and to find out we'd made it in time to get our compostela (certificate of completion) today. Then the real challenge began, coordinating with airlines and family to get back. Thank heavens for my sister Joan, who filled in the lodging and transportation piece in North Carolina. Having faith that it would all fall in place, we finally fell into bed exhausted.Read more