Day 35 - Arca do Pino to Santiago - 21km

Well, this was it, my final day of walking. I had very mixed feelings as I set off, but mostly I was concerned about how my leg was going to bear up. I applied gel, took tablets and had breakfast with friends before leaving Arca. It was very misty and nice and cool in the thick pine woods during the first part of the walk. The path was good underfoot, occasionally joining quiet side roads and at one point going round the end of the runway for Santiago airport.

I walked slowly in order to savour my last day and also to try and spare my leg. The pain was bearable although the swelling was worse, and I couldn´t help limping despite my stick. The path went through several small villages and I stopped for coffee breaks in a couple of them where once again I kept bumping into my fellow struggling pilgrim, the Danish lady. There were a lot of people on the Camino now, including a large group of very noisy students which it took a while to get away from.

As the morning went on the mist cleared and it became another very hot day. There were some long steep climbs up towards Monte del Gozo, tiring in the sun as the woods were left behind. At Monte del Gozo (Mount of Joy), 5km from Santiago, there is a little chapel where many pilgrims give thanks and I sat in there quietly for a while, as did my Danish friend. This spot was celebrated as the place from which pilgrims caught their first glimpse of the towers of the Cathdral but now the view is obscured by trees. I knew that nothing could stop me now and although I felt relieved it was nearly over I also felt very sad that I was coming to the end of such a special experience.

After a welcome rest I set off on the last stretch, which like many approaches to large cities included dual carriageways and suburbs, a bit of a letdown. I found my albergue down a very long flight of stone steps on the outskirts and dumped my stuff before climbing up the wretched steps again to visit the cathedral. It was a long hot walk into town, much further than I expected. If I´d realised I might have tried to find somewhere nearer. I saw my Danish friend on the way in, lost and looking for her guest house in the old quarter near the cathedral so I took her with me and we arrived together.

The cathedral is very large and very impressive, inside and out. I sat there in the cool and quiet and gave thanks for my safe arrival with a lump in my throat. There were quite a number of pilgrims sitting there and we were a motley crew, but part of a long line that stretched back over a thousand years. I was proud to be one of them.

Afterwards I did some shopping and went back to the albergue as I was very tired and my leg was pretty sore, even without my rucksack. While I was resting on my bunk Jan and the group turned up, an unexpected pleasure as I thought they were staying nearer the centre. We arranged to go out to dinner together and that really rounded the day off nicely. An excellent meal with good company on my last day´s walking. The restaurant was in the old quarter and by the time we´d walked back from town again my leg was pretty bad, but by then it didn´t really matter because I´d made it!

Last entry tomorrow...