Downshift Musings

We are enjoying our days walking through Galicia. The land is green and hilly and we are spending more time along wooded routes. The villages are pretty tiny, with small herds of cows and sheep. There are lots of smallish gardens of kale and other cruciferous vegetables and some late tomatoes.

Once again this morning we set off in the dark for a climb in dense fog but the view as dawn came was amazing as we looked down from above the clouds.

One downside to our current pastoral region is the ever-present scent of manure. It’s really overwhelming at times and the streets in the smaller villages are just coated with the stuff. Today marked the last day of our 4th week walking and I slipped on some damp leaves during a descent and fell for the first time. Fortunately my fall was cushioned by — yep, manure.

We passed through Sarria today and have stopped in a small town Barbadelo a few kilometers on. Sarria is a very significant town on the Camino because many “fake” pilgrims (as some people call them) start their journey here. In order to earn the Compostela certificate from the pilgrim office in Santiago you only have to prove you’ve walked the final 100km of the Camino. Sarria is located 115km from Santiago so we are expecting anout 30% more pilgrims to join us tomorrow after commencing in Sarria.

About 500 pilgrims are arriving daily in Santiago. Last year 278,000 pilgrims walked to Santiago and earned their certificates. I’ve been checking live statistics on arrivals and about 100 pilgrims an hour are checking in at the pilgrim office. About 1000 pilgrims a day will arrive during October.

As you can tell the end of the Camino is on my mind. It is going to be so exciting and emotional to finish this journey. I have walked every step and carried every pound in my pack the whole way. If I fell and broke a bone tomorrow I’d still walk every step left — somehow!