Tania Tytherleigh

Days 12 and 13- 4 pilgrims take a boat and (eventually) arrive in Santiago!

Day 12 – Villanova de Arousa to Vilar 12km + boat

It was a different day today – a boat ride to Padron (home of those delicious Padron Peppers!) honouring the journey of Santiago’s remains up the River Ulla. It was a misty morning. We saw mussel fishermen sorting their catch…

Today I met a fellow pilgrim from Coburg who lives 10min from us! Sometimes it’s a small world. the espiritual variant was way more popular than I was expecting.

The boat took about 1.5 hours until we disembarked at Pontecesures. From there we walked to Padron, and lucky us we were there for the wonderful Sunday market that has been going since the Middle Ages!

Checking out mother of the bride fashion
Gregor pretending he cooked the pulpo
This is a Galician stew of meat and potatoes and so delicious!
Who knew there were so many different types of cod?
The Padron peppers we just can’t get enough of
Padron also had the festival we saw at Redondela!(just not as pretty)

We continued onto our accommodation for the night at a hostel called Lugar de Jesús in Vilar. This was one of the special places on the Camino for me, for a range of reasons. Firstly it was a beautiful stone farm house that had been converted to a beautiful hostel.secondly the host, Eva, was gracious and kind. She brought me a bucket of warm salty water to soak my infected blisters. She also cooked a delicious meal for us all. Then I reconnected with the lovely Veronika from Slovakia who I had met in Redondela. Veronika was having a bad day when we first met – we all have them. I chatted to her for a bit and she seemed better. It was lovely to see her again and to spend some more time getting to know her. Turns out she lives in Sydney and is doing the Camino before she and her fiancé get married. These are the privileges of the Camino!

I’m feeling a little frayed thinking about our arrival in Santiago tomorrow. Like I haven’t had enough time to sort my head out yet even though we’ve been walking for 12 days. I know it will happen, I’m just being impatient. I know, that’s so unlike me to want to hurry things 😉.

Day 13 – Vilar to Santiago de Compostela 25km

Veronika joined us for our usual start of day photo

Today we prepared for our walk into Santiago. It was a reflective walk for me. Although not the end of our walk as we are continuing to Muxía and Finisterre, this did feel like a conclusion of sorts. I was looking forward to a rest day and being in Santiago again.

Leaving our albergue- a walk through beautiful hydrangeas

This lovely creative stood sentinel for us this morning. He reminded me of our beautiful beagle Polly who left us many years ago, which in turn turned my memories to my beautiful black Labrador Angel who I said goodbye to only last November. I still get so sad every time I think about her, and it’s been often this trip. Ange would have loved to walk a Camino with me!

Our walk was a steady climb along forest paths and a couple of towns. We passed more stone crosses, churches and statues of Santiago.

And soon enough we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. Standing in the square in front of the magnificent cathedral is moving, as you watch other pilgrims arriving from the many different routes.

For some this is the end of the journey. But many who have walked will know the Camino really begins at the end. I still have a lot of thinking to do about life and my BHAG, so apologies if you were hoping for answers by now! Here are some observations so far though…

  • The hardest part about starting is stopping – especially true when stopping for lunch after a hard morning’s walk and you still have more kms to travel in the afternoon. Also relevant to life stuff.
  • Your backpack is a metaphor for your life. It’s full of essentials and shit you don’t need that you insist on carrying anyway.Some days it’s heavy and others light, for no real reason.
  • Birds don’t sing when it’s raining
  • Morning kms are shorter than afternoon ones.
  • For some the camino is simply a beautiful walk, and that’s ok.
  • Routine is important. So is sleep (I’m writing this at 4am in an albergue having had no sleep tonight due to snorers).
  • Everybody has a story, and stuff they’re dealing with, and if you’re lucky they’ll let you be there for part of it.
  • Everything always takes longer than you think it should – probably because it’s part of a bigger plan than your own
  • Real progress is made just one step at a time.
  • You don’t actually have to know where you’ll end up, but trusting that you will is important.
  • And finally, there is no camino without vino (lent to me by an Irishman I met on the way….)

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