I have arrived in Santiago de Compostela ...

 

With very mixed emotions, this morning at approximately 1025am (Spain time) I arrived in front of the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. My walking jouney has ended but the results of the life jouney will hopefully continue on. Thank you to my sister Theresa and my nephew Michael who got up before 4am (Ontario time) to watch my arrival on the webcams around the Cathedral. Theresa and I were in contact by text messages as I walked Into the city. They were able to capture still shots from the webcams (Michael had one going on his computer and Theresa had another one on her computer). I'm not sure if they will turn out but I knew I was there!
As well thank you to everyone who followed my Blog and especially to those who left messages, as they really helped on those days when I had my doubts as to what I was doing
More later!

Now in Arqua with 2 days to go...

Greetings all!
I didn't post yesterday because the walk from Portomarin to Palas de Rei wasn't that inspiring! I think the most exciting thing of the day was the trek across this old richety bridge first thing in the morning. It was metal and all but the actual walking surface was kinda of a sheet metal and with every step you took, you never knew which way it was going to shift. Sometimes the front would raise up. Other times the side or back would move. Of course, the bridge is suspended about 50m over a valley that was once the town until progress called a hydro electric dam down steam was built. It was either low tide or the dam was open but there was very little water. This was great for seeing some if the old walls but not so great if you took a tumble as there was barely a trickle if water. After the bridge, the day started with a steep climb. I guess they figured if the bridge didn't wake you up the climb sure would. The rest of the 24km day was uneventful.
The town of Palas de Rei is built on the side of a hill. Luckily for the next morning, the exit route was downhill for a change.
Today's walk was a realitively uneventful 30km trek. I think the highlight was my stop for breakfast in some small hamlet along the way. This area (Arqua) is known all through Europe for their cheese. It's called tetilla (translated "nipple"). Well I had some in my Bocadillos "tortillos Francesca" which is a fancy name for an omlette with something in it (today was ham and nipple cheese) on some sort of crusty bread or baguette. It was one if the best cheeses I have ever had. Very creamy and rich. I want to try it in it's own which should be even better. Speaking of food, last night dinner I tried one of the local Galician specialties called Pulpo a la Gallega. Translated, steamed Octopus, sliced up and sprinkled with Spanish paprika. If you were wondering, yes...it still had those little suction cups on the tentacles. It is a local specialty so I had to try it. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. I wouldn't have it every day but I may try it again.
Today was the last of the up the hill...down the hill apparently. Walking into Arqua was pretty. I could see the town early enough, it just happened to be on the top of another hill, across a very deep valley. So, down I went and then up I went. It sounds so simple but it took over an hour to navigate it.
The "happy" birds I was talking about the other day sound an awful lot like a robin but with more calls. It is about a quarter of the size but has a similar orangey breast. Distant cousins maybe.
We are expecting rain for the next several days so I guess my walk into Santiago will be a wet one!
Adios for now...

The fog has lifted in Portomarin...

If you read yesterday's post, you may remember me talking about the cottomball like "mist" that I saw coming around the mountain. Well today, I walked in that mist and it felt as dense as it looked yesterday from the mountainside. Here are a couple of examples of just how dense this stuff was. It was that dense that at one point, I looked down at my t-shirt and wondered where all the lint balls had come from. I ran my finger along the area and it turns out it was condensation from the mist had actually formed on the front of my shirt. The other example of how dense the mist was is how many spider webs there were. Normally, you never see spiderwebs (in this quantity) but this morning, I could see every spiderweb along the path. It one area, they had planted a field of what looked like scotch pines (the Spanish version). These trees were so filled with spiderwebs which were filled with condensation from the mist, they actually looked like Christmas tree decorations. The only thing missing were a strand of twinkling lights. The downside of this much mist is that it was difficult to take many pictures.
The one picture I did get was the one of the marker indicating I was 100kms from Santiago de Compostela. In the Galician region that I am now in, they have installed these cement pillars every 0.5kms to tell you how far you are from Santiago. At this point, depending on which book or marker you read/look at, I am 90-95kms from the final destination. I am still on track to arrive in 4 days.
If anyone is interested, I should be arriving in the square in front of the Cathedral in Santiago de Compesttla at around 10am (local time). That would make it around 4am Ontario time. The reason I mention this is that thte is a website that actually hosts several webcams that cover the square. Just a thought?!
Adios for now...