The crypt of St. James
Embracing the statue of St. James behind the altar.
Monday, October 19, 2015
Entering Santiago
A piper welcomed us as we entered The Santiago Cathederal square. Click to watch video.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Day 39 October 18 Lavacolla to Santiago
About 12 kms today. Walked into the Cathedral square around 10:30. We made it. Thanks be to God. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes along the way. I know the prayers helped get me here. Went to the pilgrim mass at noon. It was so packed with pilgrims and tour bus people I had to sit on the floor. 
Inside the Catherdal.
The church has a giant "botafumeiro" for incense. It takes 5 or so men to swing it. They usually only swing it on Friday but for some reason they swung it today. What a sight as it swung across the church from side to side.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Laurie's birthday celebration
Early morning ice cream with the person serving us.
A dip in the stream. Apparently it is a bit cold.
Picnic along the way.
Day 38 Oct 17 Salceda to Lavacolla
19 kms today - started in a little rain but soon turned into a nice day.
Walking into a eucalyptus forest.
Stopping to share a prayer along the way.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Day 37 Oct 16 Melide to Salceda
27 kms today. Nice day for a walk. Getting close to Samtiago. 
50 kms to Santiago. Now we have a marker every 1/2 km.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Day 36 Highlights
A little foggy in the morning.
Stopped for a photo along the way.
At km 56 (marking the year we were born).
Day 36 Oct 15 Portos to Melide
Today we walked 20 kms. Nice day for a walk. We started in the fog but the sun soon burned it off and it was a lovely day. Last night we stayed at a place in the country which had giant ants in the yard (statues). We asked the owner why he had giant ants and he said because as he watches all the pilgrims go by each day it reminds him of ants on the march.
This was a picture in his albergue.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Pilgrims, pilgrims everywhere
To qualify as walking the Camino you have to walk the last 100 kms. That means you have to start in Sarria. Hundreds of people begin their Camino in Sarria and we have noticed many more people on the way. All these new people ( who have just started) are passing us with a bounce in their step. Whenever someone passes us now looking very fresh I always say, "Must have started in Sarria."
Day 35 Oct 14 Portomarin to Portos
20 kms today - very foggy when we started walking at 7:00 and remained foggy most of the morning. Finally around 11:00 the sun broke through and the afternoon was beautiful. 
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Greetings along the way
Lots of animals greet us along the way. I think like the towns people the are wishing us "Buen Camino".
Day 34 Happenings
Posing for a picture along the way.
At the official 100 km marker.
Making sure the rest of our group know that we are stopping for a coffee. On the Camino the arrow marks the way.
Mathilda showing us how far we have to go. Looks pretty close on a map but that will take us 5 more days.
Day 34 Oct 13 Sarria to Portomarin
25 or so kms today. A beautiful day to walk. It started out a little chilly but by noon the sun was shining. Our big accomplishment today was to move to only 2 digit numbers on the kms to Santiago signs. We finished the day at 89 kms to Santiago. It was an eventful day. In the morning we stopped along the way and bought red hats. The shop keeper was very nice and wanted to have his picture taken with us. We obliged him. Here we are outside his shop with our new hats. 
Also on the way we stopped to help a lady round up her runaway cow. Here we ar blocking all the side streets so the cow had to head home. You can tell it is us by our red hats. The lady was very thankful for our help.
Monday, October 12, 2015
Sarria
Sarria is a city approximately 100 kms from Santiago. To be registered as walking the Camino one has to walk at least the last 100 kms from Sarria so many people begin the Camino here. We will definitely be seeing huge numbers of pilgrims from here to Samtiago. 
Sarria in the background. Very happy to be here beginning the last part of our walk.
Day 33 Oct 12 Triacastela to Sarria
About 20 kms today. Misty and light rain off and on in the morning. We walked about 12 kms before we came to a little village that had a bar/restaurant. We walked through a few little farming towns on the way. Below is the sign for one of the villages. 
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Day 32 Happenings
Met a donkey on the street as we passed through a little town. 
Arrived in Triacastela just in time for mass at 1:00 pm.
Day 32 Oct 11 Hospital to Triacastela
16 kms today - a little uphill to the alto then a steady decline to Triacastela. Very nice scenery along the way. 
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Long climb up to the top
It was a long climb to the top but there was another way. Some people took horses to the top. Our group decided it was safer (albeit hard) to walk. 
Day 31 Oct 10 Vega de Valcarce to Hospital
20 kms - uphill. Did I mention I don't do up well? The scenery was beautiful and almost made me forget I was going up. 
Here we are at the top of our walk. Just outside a place called O Cebreiro.
Day 30 Oct 9 Cacabelos to Vega de Valcarce
24.5 kms today. Started out cold in the morning but as the day went on the sun came out and it warmed up. Beautiful scenery along the way. We walked up hill at a very gentle angle today - getting us ready for tomorrow's steep accent to the top. 
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