Ourense to Santiago

After a super last night in the albergue at Outeiro, we hiked our final 14k to Santiago, where we promptly lost the trail and wandered up up always up to the crowded streets around the cathedral. The throngs of pilgrims was stunning, the narrow streets chockablock with restaurants and cafes. All rather overstimulating after our quiet woodland trails. They say it is common to run into people you met on the trail, who you think you’ll never see again, and we did. We met our Portuguese friends while searching for the pilgrim certificate office, and followed them to a street with an apartment that had been converted into rooms for rent. We got a lovely room with windows opening onto a narrow street and access to a kitchen. When we went back to the pilgrim office, our Belgian friend was there waiting, so we joined her and we all got our diplomas together. We decided to buy a few groceries and make supper with Christine as our guest instead of eating in a crowded noisy restaurant. We toasted our adventure and especially Christine’s having walked the full 1000 k from Seville. That takes about 6 weeks.
Christine planned to walk on to Finisterre but we plan to rent a car in the morning and do a day trip. Sunday we fly from Santiago to Barcelona.Read more