Chris's Camino

It was a cooler start this morning at about 12°, thank goodness. This city Madeira is where three Camino routes converge for the last two days to Santiago. That being said there’s probably about tenfold more people on the trails now, nothing like what I experience the first eight days. Within 200m there’s always at least 4 or 5 other groups or people walking. As I pass them all the lineup of people just continues. It’s crazy how many people are walking the Camino. This section of the Camino Trail has a café anbout every 2 km and every one is usually pretty full as I go buy them. I’ve met way more Canadians now in the first three hours of the day then I did in my first eight days, and almost all of them are from Quebec or Montreal. One younger gentleman asked me if I’m excited or disappointed that my Camino is almost done. I told him both, there’s the emotional/memoriable and relational aspect that I definitely don’t want to end, and then there’s the physical aspect of doing it four day...

5:30am start to beat the heat today for a 47km trek. Not going to lie, it was a hard one being so long after doing 218 km the previous 7 days. The legs were sore after 40 km, and the feet hurt. No real blisters, just tender pounding through 47 km in 9 hrs. Temp was 25° at 10 AM and reached a high of 31° by the time I reached Melida at 2:30. Little shade today, a lot of road (trail by road) walking today. There Always seems to be one or two of these mausoleums on each of the hikes. You can actually ring the bell. Had more than a few times where I was distracted and missed my turn. Funny thing about every time I do this, and it does happen a couple times a day believe it or not. I’ll be listening to music, a pod cast, an audio book or planning the next couple days on my phone, then miss a sign and head down a path that won’t reconnect with “the way”. I truly believe I would get a nudge from Char within a minute or 2, as I’ll just randomly think about her or what would Char think of this...

Everyone staying at O Cadavo is doing a 30 KM walk to Lugo today as there is no places to stay between these towns. Not a hard walk by any measures other than the heat so I opted to start at 6 AM instead of 7 AM to beat the heat today. I arrived in Lugo about 1145 at the temperature of 29°. A cute town, the largest I’ve been in so far, the old town is surrounded by a wall, similar to the Great Wall of China, built by the Romans and still intact. I broke down a little emotionally as Char would’ve loved this town with the old architecture of the wall surrounding the old town. It’s a place that she would’ve enjoyed visiting. Inside the wall, Old Town Lugo Lugo basic marks the 100 K distance to San Diego and the spot where you have to start collecting the stamps to get your “official credentials” at the end of it, but I’ve been getting my stamps at every place that I stop. Long day tomorrow again, 47km, (but no hills this time), if I want to finish by Sunday

24.5 km today, A far cry from the 42 km yesterday, my feet needed the break 🤷. The trails were full of more pilgrims today sometimes I saw upwards of 8 people at a time. I’ve reached the point in the Galacia region now where the Camino markers actually have the final meters to Santiago. This sign says 149,696 meters (149.7 km). This was early in the day, so I think I’m about 125 km away. Started at 318km. I’ve charted out my next few days and I should be done by Monday mid day or if I push it Sunday. Some restaurants offer a pilgrims menu for about 18 euro. It’s a two course meal with a small dessert. It usually consists of either a salad and a main protein and a dessert or sometimes two proteins and a desert ! I’m continuing to spread Chars ashes as I go from town to town and I feel great about it, I’m able to let her go and feel good doing it.

Woke up to a beautiful clear sky above the clouds after a night of partying with other pilgrims. Yesterday‘s trek I purposely went an extra 5 km to La Mesa to make today’s track a little bit shorter. Typically pilgrims will go from Berducedo which was 5 km back to a town called Castro for a total of 25 km but the hostel at Castro was closed and there’s only one there so the only other option is to go 16 km which is too short for me, or go another 40 km, which is probably my limit right now. So I chose to go to 40 km and it just happens to be the hottest day of my trek so far at 28°, it’s a good thing I work out in a 32° hot yoga sauna so I was kind of prepared for it 🤷😂 Most start at around 8 AM after a 7:30 breakfast of some sort. After passing everyone within the first 15 minutes, I didn’t run into anyone at all for about four hours. It was a good uninterrupted time to listen to the book Mariam suggest I read. Then I met Rachel who was from Victoria the living in Australia and we h...

Amazing hike today 33.80km 6:30hr over the mountain range, steep climb up, through fields of cows and old ruins where the pilgrims would rest. The trek called “The Hospital” refers to the hostel at the peak, where pilgrims could rest. Great views and history of pilgrimage. Jacque left before me today, so trekked on my own for a few hours, then met many pilgrims from all over the world, and Martin a 35 year old from the Czech Republic just after I layed some of Chars ashes at the peak height of the Camino Primitivo, a spot well deserving of a beautiful soul. The following views are where I spent more than a few moments with Char. The pilgrim route is marked with many different directional indicators, here’s a few of them. Hard to get lost, but easy to get off track if you’re not paying attention. Staying at an albergue with a pool today, a well deserving treat after the hardest leg of the trek in terms of terrain.