Wednesday 20th April 2022

15km (505 km)

Last night, on the homeward straight

Last night I shared a room with a German couple, Lina and Herman. Lina had done a few Caminos and had a shell tattoo on her ankle. Now there’s a thought! The ‘Albergue’ was more of a family home with the distinct ‘vibe’ that the kids had flown the nest so let’s rent out their rooms. The rooms were definitely bedrooms as opposed to dormitories. The hospitilario had a kitchen for our use. He had stocked it full of useful pilgrim ingredients; pasta, sauces, wine. I chose to walk back along the busy road to a truck stop café as an easier option. The food wasn’t the greatest but everyone was friendly. By 8 pm I was, as usual, tucked up in bed.

Meeting sole mates…

Before departing on my final, easy 15km I had breakfast with a few ‘pilgrims’ and met Ingrid. In the time it took to eat my croissant and coffee, I was given a quick synopsis of her entire life. She had had an unusual life as a traveller in her twenties. Finally, she settled down and had two children before finding herself alone. When her children left so did her partner. She had the smallest of backpacks and just walked, with no plan. Booking nothing Ingrid relied on goodwill and luck and did this all the time. This didn’t always work out but made for interesting stories all the same.

Conversations and lost/missed friendships

The walk started along the busy N550 but I was, soon, on paths and woodland (as usual). I had started early so there was no one around. I didn’t feel the pressure of the crowds converging on Santiago and indeed wondered where everyone was! Eventually, people appeared and I spent a leisurely 10km walking with some german women and I passed a lovely elderly man that I’d seen almost for the whole walk. We had never talked but acknowledged each other as we pass each other! I spent a lot of time thinking about Ingrid and thinking maybe I should have taken the time to get to know her but, well, the Camino is all about this kind of meeting; you meet, talk and move on. The talk en route is now different; where people are staying in Santiago, when they are taking flights home…it is nearing the end and no one really wants to go home.

Santiago de Compostela

I arrived early in Santiago, having stomped without stopping at all. This was a wise move as the Cathedral Square was relatively empty and I was able to relax and just be/breathe. I stood in front of the Cathedral and felt the peace and satisfaction that always comes at the end of a Camino. Of course, saying ‘that’s it’ but really thinking ‘when will the next one be’.

Update

This afternoon I ran into Ingrid, we hugged as if we were long-lost friends as opposed to having only met at breakfast that day! We went for a quick coffee before bidding each other farewell. No numbers swapped, and no WhatsApp groups joined. I then ran into the elderly man that had seen on many occasions over the past few weeks. He stopped and asked me my name, etc – he was Lorenzo from Rome and had walked from Rome to Santiago. After a wee five-minute chat we said goodbye and that was that. And that’s what makes the Caminos so special 🙂

I stayed in a lovely hotel in Santiago, worth checking out if you are ever there: https://hotel-virxe-da-cerca.h-rez.com