Santiago - last Camino day

I woke up to a lot of snoring again, par for the course, only a few hours of sleep after what is easily the most drinking I have done in decades. The mist is still out and I walk down to the cathedral where I meet Eric and Mike for the 7:30 service. I have not been at a church service for a very long time but I remember being a little 8-year-old having to recite a text from the pulpit in the Netherlands. I lit a candle in that memory.

Eric, Mike and I have a little breakfast and they get going on their planning for the coastal route. We say our goodbyes and I go to pick up my things at the albergue. There I meet fellow Pilgrim Kian, who I walked with all the way in the beginning and saw again in Burgos when I was on the bike. he speaks Dutch and is an immigrant from Turkey. We get going on catching up with each other. It's great to see him and the Camino is still doing its magic.

I grab a small snack at the market and go sit in the park behind the church, Zuzanna's spot. She is already back in England and I also hear from Sebastian who is already back in Sweden. It's nice to stay in touch.

Carla and Hayleen come into town and I walk 30 minutes to the place where they are having lunch. It's really hot outside I can barely move and that hangover is also still kind of there. I need to get two credentials for friends back home so they can do their caminos. So I end up in the Dutch hospitality room and I have a great time talking to the Dutch volunteers.

I get to the bus just in time and I get to sit next to a young Spanish woman from A Coruña we talk for a bit, she's laughs a lot. The bus is hot, no air ventilation at all, I nap a bit.

In Porto I transfer via subway and multiple stops to the airport where I set up for the night, The plane leaves at 5:00 and I need to board at 4:00 there is no point to go to a hotel since it's already 11:00.

The Camino is all wrapped up now but the spirit continues on.Read more