The Camino del Norte (which travels along the north coast of Spain) and the Camino Frances (which we were walking) both use the same two final stages to reach Santiago de Compostela. This means that there were even more pilgrims walking the route for these last two days. Everyone was eager to get to the finish, which was now so close. Perhaps that was why we didn't talk to any other pilgrims along the way - everyone is focused on finishing. Certainly some of the solo walkers went zipping by us - I assume that they are veterans of 30+ stages and now have adapted to a swift steady pace that we cannot match.
The 22 KM we walked today were pretty easy. Lots of stretches in shaded forests (most of which are plantations with all of the trees the same species and age standing in neat rows) and other times walking past fields of newly sprouting corn.
There were a few stretches where we walked upon asphalt in the warm sun, but it didn't get THAT hot. We really were fortunate with the weather on this trip.
Not many photos today, things are quite similar to all the previous days. Spain is a fertile, agricultural country. It has many fields and but little wilderness or wildlife.
We did see a couple of storks today. Our lunch stop was at a cafe with a pool that was populated by frogs that made incredibly loud croaking noises, which was amusing. We ended the day at a pension called Kilometer 15, though the Camino markers indicate we were really at kilometer 16.5. There was nothing nearby except one cafe that served only
snacks until 7:30 PM. (The town was so small it didn't even have a church! Almost unheard of in Spain!)
Only a few other people sat at the tables under the umbrellas, and they were smoking, so Lil and I avoided them. The two of us ended up just chatting the rest of the afternoon until we could finally get
some dinner (which turned out to be cold salads). Tomorrow was the big finale, our finish at the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela.
Still Photographs
