Epilogue

Travel Day

Today was a wind-up day. We left the albergue in Leon at 8 am. Such luxury. The albergue was actually very good. Clean and modern facilities. The hospitalera was extremely helpful in providing all the necessary information, including bus routes because we are so far from the center of action. We did not actually use it but the effort is well appreciated.

We got to Plaza Major and the Catedral and spend some very relaxing time strolling around waiting for our 243 pm train to Santiago de Compostela.

The Catedral was on the main Camino route and we saw many pilgrims walking past. When they said Buen Camino and we said it back. We feel like cheating a little bit because we are not on the Camino anymore. Saw a few people we met before. And wouldn't you know it, while we were sitting outside having lunch, we saw Yoss and Nanette on the tour train. They passed in a flash but we did see each other and waved goodbye.

Train station in Leon has moved to across the road and the train was a bit delayed but no problem. Got to the albergue, got the beds and booked a tour to Finisterre and Muxia for tomorrow. Everything worked perfectly.  All my worries at the beginning have been wiped out. Just hope that I don't jinx the rest of it.

Did not get to sit down with him again, he is too busy

Finisterre and Muxia

We were lucky to be able to book the tour the night before. The tour was not full so maybe they are lucky to have 4 more customers. Anyhow, because this is a Sunday, if there was no tour and with the fresh market and the supermarkets closed, we wouldn't have much to do. Now we can shop on Monday and cook ourselves a good dinner.

The tour was the same as three years ago. In fact, we think we had the same tour guide who is excellent. At the end of the tour, we got dropped off at the city center. We saw a big crowd moving towards Alameda Park and were drawn to it. It turned out to be a huge carnival going on with lots of rides, mostly for kids. We hit the festival day in Santiago de Compostela right on. Afterwards, we walked over to the Catedral, looking for food along the way. The Catedral looks much nicer now with the scaffolding gone.  Dinner at the restaurant across from the Post Office. Not spectacular.

Last Day in Santiago de Compostela

We were hoping to get fresh seafood for dinner today now that the weekend is over. But it wasn't meant to be. The market is surely open on Monday but for some reason, all the seafood stalls remain closed other than frozen seafoods.

We walked down to the city center to look for breakfast. That is not hard to find. There are bars and restaurants everywhere. Went and visited the Catedral again. This time going in. Three years ago, they were renovating the outside. This time, they are doing the inside. Never saw a complete cathedral. May have to come back again.  Shopped for tomorrow's breakfast at our favourite pastry shop and then shop for souvenirs. Walked over to the market and it is still only late morning. With no fresh seafood, we settled with pork chops.

Got into contact with our Airbnb host in Madrid. Everything is set. Will leave for Madrid in the middle of night. So it is goodbye Camino.

Day 22 - Mansilla de las Mulas to Leon

Today is a short day with only 15 km to the albergue at the leading edge of Leon, staying at Albergue Santo Tomas de Canterbury. Our plan is to walk to the Catedral tomorrow, get some fruits at the Saturday market in nearby Plaza Major, have lunch in the area and then catch the train to Santiago de Compostela in the afternoon. A short day is not necessarily easy. Today, we actually got a taste of the hilly terrain beyond Leon. Whether long or short days, the last hour or so is never easy.

Last night at Mansilla de las Mulas turned out to be the toughest sleeping night, which incidentally made our short day today tougher. It was the first really warm night. With loud traffic just outside on a busy street and street lamp shining into the room, we couldn't open wide the window. It was tough for everyone. To make matters worse, people who cannot sleep turned on the cell phones shining on others, making it even worse than the street lamp.

Weather generally is turning warmer. Mornings are not as cold and the afternoon sun is scorching. We are glad that we toughed out our 26 km to Mansilla de las Mulas the day before, otherwise today's last hour would be at 1 pm rather than 11 am.  We are also extremely glad that we have just avoided the upcoming hot weather, it seems. All told, we had no hard raining day during our Camino. We had a few drizzling days and maybe one or two days you may call hot days. So we are so very lucky with the weather.

Compared to three years ago, the trail is the same but the people are all different. We will remember Yoss and Nanette from the Netherlands (we saw them yesterday perhaps for the last time. They are in Leon so you never know), the single Korean young man who passed us everyday about an hour from the start and always seemed to be staying at the same albergue, the New Zealand couple we met coming out of Castrojeriz and staying in sync since, the Indonesian-Dutch gentleman who took one of the better pictures of the 4 of us, the Korean from Mississauga and his friend from Kitchener who seem to be in a bit of dispute (friends don't necessarily make good Camino companions), the hospitalero in Boadilla del Camino who lived in London for a while, the ever-inquisitive Korean woman who commented that I was cooking again every time I did cook, the girl who has been on the Camino starting in England since April and who was unfortunately assigned a bed right next to the only charging station in the room such that everyone had to encroach into her bedside to get their phones, the Taiwanese young couple who always seemed to be bouncing down the road, the group of five who were at our next table trying to decipher the menu in Fromista, the very quiet girl from Hong Kong and the very talkative Health Inspector also from Hong Kong. Such diversity all sharing the same road. But most of all, the hospitaleros who enjoy doing what they do so much. I wrote about the hospitalero in Navarette and the hospitalera in Azofra. Yesterday in Mansilla de las Mulas, the hospitalera tried hard to organize a singing session with the pilgrims gathered in the courtyard for dinner and otherwise relaxing. She is a lively one.

There may or may not be anything interesting to post for essentially a travel day tomorrow.  Thanks to those who follow along our journey. Perhaps some of you may be tempted to go on the Camino yourselves. Buen Camino.

Steak dinner to celebrate our completion of the Camino

Day 21 - Bercianos del Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas

Had an official picture with Yoss and Nanette

The last long day is done. Three weeks went by pretty quickly now that we look back at it. However, it is probably the right time to quit particularly looking at mountain in the distance. Going further means negotiating that terrain.

We tried to learn some Spanish even before our last Camino. But as with any new language, you don't really get it without using it and I haven't been using it. We do know the basic such as Hola, gracias, por favor, cerbeza, cafe con leche, etc. We have enough to get by and definitely not enough to carry a conversation. I did learn enough vocabulary to make reservations on the phone so that helped a lot.

We made good time today arriving at 130 pm. Gigi said we always seemed to arrive at the same time regardless of the distance and start time. Of course that is not true but we always arrived at a comfortable time for the albergue that we picked.

Today is another cooking day with good cooking facility at the municipal albergue. Got a tip for the location of the supermarket and got a packaged chicken to go with frozen rice. Nice and easy. Ice cream bar is 20 cents a piece. Incredible.

Day 20 - Terradillo de Templarios to Bercianos de Camino

Today we are in Bercianos del Camino. This is the last remaining town where we did not have a good handle on the albergue situation. We were at the parrochial albergue 3 years ago. The facilities are ok and the communal dinner was very good. The problem is that they want groups from each country to perform an act for everyone. We don't feel like doing any performance and we can't play hockey or curling for them. So we were trying to find an alternative. Fortunately yesterday when we arrived at Terradillo los Templarios, we saw a little flyer advertising for a new albergue in Bercianos del Carmino. We called to reserve our beds.

Today, a long 23 km later, we arrived in Albergue la Perala. Everything looks familiar, the arrangement of the restaurant, the rooms and the menu and even the location on the albergues just ahead of the town proper. To top it off the hospitalera bears a fair resemblance of the hospitalera we saw yesterday. Makes us wonder about the family business running both albergues.

Perhaps because this is new, there are not many pilgrims staying here. So it is relatively quiet. Not that we mind.

So we are almost at the end, one more day of strenuous walking and an easy day into Leon. We are still seeing familiar faces. The new faces come and are gone mainly because they are fast walkers who caught up to us and then left us behind in no time. People with similar speed are the ones that we see all the time.  Maybe a couple of more days ...