El Camino de Santiago : Portomarin to Santiago

Kilometres this section : 94

Kilometres completed : 786

The rather impressive hill fort remains.

Can't say I love the usual before 8am departure from the albergue in Portomarin.  The sun hasn't risen yet, it is chilly, and there's nowhere to get a coffee - though I pass plenty of hotels with guests enjoying breakfast, I guess if you are only doing 100km all told, a nice hotel when you can isn't expensive.  Well, I walk out of town into a foggy morning, climbing gradually, and I do find a coffee after a couple of hours.  In fact there's a cafe every few miles now, clearly if you are in no hurry and have money to spend, you can keep stopping for breaks throughout the day.  Well, I get that coffee, then a beer and a bocadillo for lunch at least.  On the way, the high point of the day, literally and figuratively, is an iron age hill fort, where archaeological excavations have revealed substantial remains of the many stone buildings within the fort's perimeter, very cool.  Kind of sad to see the many, many other pilgrims walk past without taking a look though.  There's a large party of schoolchildren keeping pace with me now - maybe their teachers got them to visit the fort?  Well, downhill now, and the sun comes out, a lovely walk to Palas de Rei, and yet another hotel, such decadence.  Like Portomarin, this is a decent sized place, so for the second night in a row I get pizza - I am getting so fat on this trip.

One of many photos I took of hórreos.

A nice morning walking out of Portomarin, 29km today, the last long day of the trip.  So many people on the trail now, some even faster than me, though not the school kids.  Fields and forests today, a fair bit of green tunnel, and many small villages.  I am fascinated by the buildings, the older houses often have tiny windows on the ground floor - I think the space was used as a place to put your livestock in the winter.  In particular though, I notice that every farm and many houses have odd structures in their vicinity - something like three meters by half a meter, and the height of a two storey building, but usually the upper half is a brick or wooden enclosure, and just stone supports below. What could they be?  I suspect food stores... and indeed, some research indicates that they are 'Hórreos', granaries that have become emblematic of the region.  Anyway, I walk past many of these things, stop for lunch at Milede, then more easy walking to Arzúa, and a nice albergue.  Much pasta for dinner, ravioli and then lasagna, it is past 8pm as I eat, but there are still pilgrims walking into town - I consider lecturing them about how very late it is.

One last, excellent, pilgrim menu.

Last day but one, and only 20km to do - it's the same distance tomorrow, I considered doing the whole 40km in one day, but apparently arriving at Santiago before midday so you can attend mass is a thing, I will try to do that.  So, very easy indeed today, surrounded by a veritable horde of pilgrims I walk through gently sloping fields and forests, regularly stopping for a coffee, then lunch with most of the distance done.  With so many pilgrims on the trail now, it's not surprising that there are plenty of people who have set up little stalls, selling various things, offering to paint a personalised shell, and so on.  I guess this really is the spirit of the Camino, and has been for a thousand years.  Well, I save my money for one last albergue, very superior it is too.  Oh and beer of course, not to mention one last pilgrim menu, probably the best of the trip, the main course being a delicious parillada de pescado.

I got to the end!

So, the last day!  I start walking before dawn, only 20km, more woods and rolling hills, and even though I stop for coffee a couple of times, it doesn't take long.  I'm in Santiago before midday, time to present my credencial, and receive two impressive certificates, with my name in Latin even.  One is free and confirms that I got here, the other costs three Euros and includes the distance from Saint Jean.  It doesn't take long, I am only a minute or two late for midday mass at the huge cathedral... I am surprised it's in Spanish rather than Latin, still the singing nuns are most cool.  This is clearly another city in which I could spend all day sightseeing, well, I wander around the charming prazas, and a beautiful park, look inside a few churches, but time is limited - I have souvenirs to buy, too!  Also beer, of course, and not for the first time, the bar supplies so many 'pinxos' - snacks of various kinds - that I don't think about ordering proper food.  Well, that was all good fun, I will write a retrospective at some point.  For now, back to the UK - why yes, I do walk to Santiago airport.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.