Via Podiensis: To Santiago!

Today I completed the walking portion of my pilgrimage. I have yet to visit the cathedral and the tomb of the Apostle. That’s an adventure for tomorrow..

This morning, after a deep and blissful sleep, I woke up at about 7 AM. Breakfast began at 8:00, and I took it slowly. No sense in leaving before it was light out today. 

Once I was out of the village, Camino was back to gravel the side two-lane road. After only about a kilometer, the Camino crossed the road, and I was now walking on a sort of sidewalk of stones. Apparently the roadworks money ran out fairly soon, though, because after just half a kilometer it was back to gravel.

At about 9:10 AM, I passed what is so far as I know the only remaining giant statue of Pelerín on the Camino. He was the mascot for the Galician tourist bureau’s push to advertise the Camino during the two holy years in the 1990s. This statue is now a rusting hulk, a relic of a past century. 

Here, the Camino crossed the road and once again struck out through woodlands. 

My heart was full of emotions as I walked this morning. After so many weeks and hundreds of kilometers of walking on this pilgrimage, I was today hoping to arrive at its object: the holy city of Santiago de Compostela, at the tomb of the Apostle Saint James. 

At about 9:25 AM, I stopped in front of the little (locked) chapel of Santa Irene. Here, before the doors I prayed for the intentions of the Camino and implored Almighty God to see me safely home.

There was a bit of roadwalking after the chapel, including a somewhat scary highway crossing. Then it was briefly back to the stone sidewalk passing a couple of albergues before getting back to the gravel path.

The morning air was cold, and the sky was a uniform gray. The forest was misty and humid. Although it has been sprinkling during my breakfast, and out of an abundance of caution my poncho was across my backpack.

The Camino returned to the highway and crossed under it. I walked through a village of perhaps half a dozen houses before returning to the forest again. Much of the morning was passed like this, walking through the woods supplemented by many houses and villages on the Way.

I passed large groups of slow moving pilgrims. I understand their slowness today. It is the last day, and they don’t want it to end. There was a little of that in me as well, but it was overridden by my eagerness to reach the end of my long pilgrimage.

I was excited, and moving at a quick pace, but underneath it I was weary and wanted nothing more than a couple of days to rest and start processing this pilgrimage, which is drawn me so much closer to the Lord and, I think, given me a small amount of understanding. 

I passed through the village of A Rúa (a.k.a. O Pino) at about 9:45 AM. For such a tiny place, it certainly has a large number of hotels. And albergues. And a campground. 

Roadwalking out of the village, but only as far as the highway, which I crossed and then headed back into the woods.

At some point after 10 AM, I passed through the edges the town – suburb, really – of O Pedrouzo, walking past the local school with its colourful murals. It was the briefest view of modern urban civilization before the Camino headed back into the misty woods once more.

The closer I got to the city, the more often the Camino would come out of the woods for a little bit of roadwalking. At the end of one of these jaunts, I stopped for second breakfast – the final second breakfast of my pilgrimage.

It was about 10:40, and the place was Kilómetro 15, which despite the name is just over 16 km from Santiago. Close enough.

I left about 11 AM, passed through a viaduct, and passed another café before returning to the dirt path through the forest. The short section that followed is probably the deepest holloway of the whole Camino.

At 11:25 AM, I entered the largest section of eucalyptus forest yet. I’ve been seeing these non-native trees for the last couple of days, but now they were whole groves. These sections of the forest are eerily quiet – there are no birds to be heard. Well, in this particular section I was walking very near to the Santiago airport, so occasionally there were airplanes taking off or landing. I suppose in some way those qualify as birds?

After this, I walked between the airport and the freeway for a while, mostly on a dirt path under a tree cover. It was here that I passed the stone marker for Santiago, which is about 14 km from the Cathedral. Unfortunately, there was no one to take a full length photo of me with the marker, and my selfie attachment for my trekking pole had broken somewhere in France.

About 11:50 AM, I stopped in the little church of Santa Lucia in the village of San Paio. It’s a lovely little place, with a Neoclassical retablo and a rather famous painting of the suffering souls in purgatory. I prayed here for the intentions of the Camino. 

I walked past the village’s two bars back into the woods up a rather steep hill on an asphalt road. The Camino was definitely now dancing between forest land and the increasing urbanization around the city. I passed under a freeway somewhere around noon, and this would just be the first of several freeway crossings.

After perhaps another kilometer or so through the woods, suburbia began in earnest.

In Lavacolla, I prayed in the 19th century parish church of San Paio de Sabugueira. It was quite a crush of pilgrims. From here, I walked down set of concrete stairs to a bar and ate a long lunch. I didn’t leave until 1:15 PM. But now, it would be nonstop for the rest of the Camino.

It was back up the stairs, and then I crossed through the rest of the village. The Camino followed a narrow asphalt road through the countryside. I washed my hands at the little stream leaving the village, a modern interpretation of a medieval custom. From here, there were 10 km to go.

Although it was cold, the sun was shining, and the sky was blue. I stowed my rain gear, pretty much for the first time since entering Galicia.

From here on out, it was all roadwalking, next to the road walking, or sidewalk walking through long succession of suburban and semi-rural neighbourhoods.

There was a lovely stretch next to a managed forest preserve/park for about a kilometer or so. 

It was somewhere in here that there was a sudden and unexpected downpour. I scrambled to get out my poncho and throw it on. It went from blue skies to pouring buckets in a matter of minutes. It died back to a steady drizzle after a bit, but the rest of the day I kept the poncho on. The return of the strawberry troll!

I passed by the mostly shuttered San Marcos holiday camp at just after 2 PM. When I have passed here in the spring, this place was hopping!

Just after this, I heard peals of thunder in the distance. In that direction the sky was almost black, though the opposite horizon was blue skies. The blue skies seemed to be in the direction of Santiago.

I arrived to the top of Monto do Gozo at about 2:20 PM. This hill, which is just outside of the city, is the place from which pilgrims traditionally see the cathedral spires for the first time.

There’s a little chapel here, the Capilla de San Marcos, the earliest version of which was erected in 1108. It was gated up, but I still prayed here.

After the visit of Saint John Paul II here, a large monument was erected on the hill, and the Camino was rerouted slightly. This made it very difficult to find the spot to see the cathedral. In the last few years, the monument has been removed, and parts of it has been relocated elsewhere on the hill. 

The view is now unobstructed. In fact, there are even signs directing you to the viewpoint now. You still have to leave the Camino Route to find what you’re looking for, though.

It was an absolutely clear view, and I could see the cathedral spires. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon, and I was overcome with emotion. I couldn’t really do anything but stare for quite some time.

But I had one last mission on Monto do Gozo. The original Camino route went past a slightly different viewpoint, where there are statues of pilgrims pointing to the cathedral. I have never seen them, and I very much wanted to. I eventually found them, and some very nice Italian pilgrims took my photo with them. The view of the cathedral from that spot is unparalleled. Now that the monument is gone, I hope they re-re-route in Camino past here. It’s beautiful.

I may have burst into song at some point.

I walked back to the Camino to make the final descent down into the city. it was basically 3 PM by the time I was back on the Camino, but after this progress was rapid.

The Camino went downhill and then crossed over another couple of freeways. Then it was an urban trek of almost 4 km in an intermittent drizzle. The route took me past monuments and through parks, but also through commercial districts and neighborhoods. I passed by the (closed) church of San Lázaro. 

Honestly, I was feeling a little numb for those last few kilometers, almost walking on auto pilot. It was all just a little too much to process.

As I approached the old center of the city, suddenly one of the spires was visible down the street. At this point everything started bubbling up, and I was fighting back tears.

Thunder echoed across the city as I entered the old medieval center.

Finally, in the distance, I could hear bagpipes. I came into the cathedral plaza  and I just broke down in tears, overwhelmed by the moment. 

Once I composed myself, a nearby pilgrim offered to take my photo in front of the Cathedral.

After this, I headed to the Pilgrim office and obtained my Compostela – the certificate confirming my arrival.

Afterwards, I met up with Etienne and Colleen from Alberta, two pilgrims I had not seen since we were all in France. They graciously bought me a beer, and we spent a wonderful time catching up.

As I was heading off to find my rooms, I ran into Joseph, the photographer from Georgia (and Naples), and he insisted on taking some additional photos of me in the plaza. How can I refuse? 

After wandering around a bit, I was finally able to find the Hostel where I had booked a room for the next few days. These vague medieval addresses don’t play nice with a Google Maps apparently.

Before I could even get settled, Joseph texted me – apparently he was getting a bunch of pilgrims he knew together for tapas and dinner. Hilarity ensued.

Tomorrow, I will make my first of what I suspect will be many visits to the Cathedral. In the coming days I will post about the city and also some reflections about my pilgrimage.

Date: 23 October 2023

Place: Santiago de Compostela 

Today started: A Brea 

Today’s Photos!