Since Muxia there have been no official miles walked. However, as tourists we have probably walked 5 miles a day every day since then.

First, the Camino footnotes. Our first city we stayed in in Europe was in Toulouse, France. There we encountered the first of many Camino trail signs, as the Arles Camino ( one of three French routes leading to the Camino Frances) travels through Toulouse. Our next stop, where we picked up the river boat, was Cahors France where we encountered yet more Camino signs (for the Le Puy Camino). I took this photo at that time. As we traveled to Porto, Portugal we saw yet additional Camino signs, as the Camino Portugues passes through Porto. We are now in Lisbon, Portugal a city of three million people. We could have stayed anywhere, but we chose the Alfama district. Wouldn’t you know it, the Camino Portugues begins just up the street from us and passes on our street! This was not done on purpose! Here is Diane pointing to one of the signs, no more than 50 feet from our place.

I cannot do photographic justice to Porto, Portugal. Even better than the scenery was the food! The food there was spectacular! If you are a foodie and love adventure, Porto, Portugal is the place to be. Here is a picture of the building where we stayed and the waterfront.(We stayed in the building to the right of the pink one.)

 (This is the Porto waterfront near where we stayed)

Lisbon is likewise a spectacular city, but is a little bit too large to get to know in only three days. Thanks to hop-on hop-off bus services, we did explore much of the city but only on a cursory basis.

While there are many many things to see, I’ll leave that to you to visit on your own. The photo, below, Is the Christ the King statue and is identical to that found in Rio de Janeiro. This one doesn’t seem to enjoy quite at the majestic rocky mountaintop like in Brazil, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

We leave for home tomorrow morning, so this is the end of the blog..

Today was 16 miles, bringing the total to 611 miles walked over all. There will be no more miles this trip.

As we get further and further in the Fall, the morning breaks later and later. We departed at 8:30 in the morning and it was still dark.

This journey was different than most of the others, and that we saw a total of two other people going the same direction we were. As it is possible, and even common, for people to walk either direction between finisterre and Muxia , we saw between 30 and 40 people coming from Muxia. Regardless, the numbers were very small.

The walk was a mixture of forest land and meadow, and always rolling hills. About half the walk was on very narrow paved roads and the other on beautiful mountain trails.

There is one point on the trail which is famous for the way you used to have to cross the river. A series of stones were placed in a fashion to allow you to make it across the river as long as there was no flooding. They have now replaced that approach with a bridge, but this photo shows the old approach. It also shows that it would be impossible to do that crossing without getting your feet wet.

Because this is such a remote hike, there are no small villages with bars or cafes to eat at. Diane was very resourceful at our breakfast, a buffet, and managed to bring along a few items for us to eat at lunch. Here’s Diane in are absolutely beautiful the lunchroom.

Like all journeys, it had to end. Fortunately, just before we got into town we had this phenomenal beach view.

We are in the process of doing our chores and then we’ll explore this small town of Muxia. Tomorrow at 6:45 a.m. we will catch the bus back to Santiago, then work our way to Portugal for the remaining six days of this trip.

God bless, Bill and Diane

Today was about 14 miles walked, bringing the total to 595 miles overall.

Zero means zero! We have arrived finisterre!  if you look closely at the signpost next to Diane, you will see that it says 0.00 kilometers.

We have far too many photos to post, so I will add one to show the beauty of the walk we had to reach finisterre.

Two things were required on reaching finisterre. The first was a photo in front of the lighthouse. Here’s Diane: 

And then here is Bill: 

The next requirement is to dip at least your toes in the water at finisterre. The following photo proves two important points. The first shows that Diane did make it to finisterre, and the second is that for a sufficiently good enough reason she will put her feet in water which is colder than 70 degrees F! 

Next, we have Bill: 

We now have only one more day of hiking left. It will be a 17 or 18 mile hike to Muxia, which will be the end of the end of the line.

Thank you all for being a part of this journey.

If I could learn this, if we could learn this.

Tuesday we went to the pilgrims mass in Santiago. Since then, I have been contemplating something that I saw that touched me deeply. It was a simple act, but what a demonstration of mercy in action it was.

Before the start of the service they announced in four separate languages and two separate occasions that there will be no photos allowed during the service. They made this clear.

About halfway through the service, a woman in back began to take pictures. Upfront, one of the five priests giving the service noticed her. With a stern but discreet look he pointed to her and with his finger motioned for her to come closer. She hesitated but came a little closer. He motioned for her to come yet closer. Again with hesitation, she came closer. Finally, when she was within about 30 feet of the podium he smiled and give her the OK sign and told her with hand motions to proceed with her photos. Yes, she was not supposed to be taking photos. And yes, the priest showed mercy and genuine love for her and saw something more important than the rules; that she was accepted there in the church, exactly as she was. It was sweet.

There is a song by The Sidewalk Prophets called “But he loves me anyway” which plays on this theme. The lyrics are riveting, but I’ll let you look them up.

Micah 6:8 says: ” … do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God”.

So much I need to learn. I think I’ll work on majoring in the majors. Let me show simple mercy.

Today it was 12 miles walked, bringing the total to 581 miles walked over all.

The pace was not nearly as quick today as yesterday, even though the walk was much shorter. We were still feeling the effort yesterday required. I guess we don’t recover as fast as when we were 25 years old.

Because we are in Galicia there is a requirement that every morning begins with fog. Today did not disappoint. We walked up a long ascent on the edge of a ravine. Looking across, this is the view we saw: 

Below we heard a loud river and caught only glimpses of the water below us.

So we continued, across the high meadowland and forests of this region before dropping into Corcubion, our first view of the sea in over 3 weeks.

We are now only about 7 miles from Finisterre, lands end. That will actually not be the end of our journey as we will do one additional day of walking, an 18 mile walk to Muxia. That walk, on Monday, will be our last of this adventure. We are both sad and relieved to see the end in sight.

We hope all is well with each of you.

Today was a long one, with 21 miles walked. That brings the total miles walked to 569 miles.

It was an absolutely beautiful walk in Galician countryside, where we spent the first two-plus hours in fog before the sun broke through brilliantly. So, speaking of an early start, here is Diane working her way out of the city this morning.

There are many great pictures we would love to show you and talk about, but the internet is a bit slow and we cannot access it except at the local bar. For that reason, will stop the blog now and thank each of you for spending the time to keep up with us. Take care, Bill and Diane.

Okay, we said we were at the end of the journey when we reached Santiago but we weren’t quite telling the whole story. There is a very beautiful addendum to this hike, the trail to Finnestre and then on to Muxia, that is worth the 5-day investment. So, we are on that addition.

Today was 13 miles, bring your walking total to 548 miles. As is classic for Galicia, the morning broke cool with a bit of fog but with spectacular views. This is the view of the cathedral from the west side. Only those hikers who leave Santiago and proceed onward to Finisterre have the opportunity to see this view. It is almost surreal in the mist like this.

In short order we were back in the rhythm of hiking, and meeting new peregrinos. The question amongst all of us was do we greet each other with Buen Camino, as is the standard greeting on the Camino, or is there a different greeting for this trail beyond Santiago? We decided it all worked!

We came across a group of about five Portuguese women who were making the walk from Santiago to Finisterre. They were a lively group and very friendly. They wanted autographs from people from California, as Diane and I were, so we autographed their hats per their request. Really? Yep.

Interestingly, they are from Porto, in Portugal, which is where we go next after we finish this hike. They gave us great ideas on what to see and one of them posed for a photo for us. 

As we continued the hike, our enjoyment of God’s creation just increased. It was stunningly beautiful, the air quality was perfect, as was the temperature. We came across this bridge and small dam along the way. 

And just to confirm that Bill also joined on this hike, Diane took this photo of Bill passing underneath an ancient bridge.  Tomorrow will be a long one, about 20 miles in length with a fair bit of climbing. We’ll see how well our worn out feet and shoes do. For now however the chores await.

Good day to each of you.

This is an addendum to the earlier posts. There is not a pilgrim who finishes the Camino in Santiago de Compostela who doesn’t have an ache or a pain or a significant something that hurts more than it did when they started. That is the price of entry.

Diane suffered from back difficulties in the beginning, and then had issues with her bunion that nearly stopped her.

Bill started with a plantar issue which improved significantly over the weeks, but ended with an intestinal issue that nearly halted his Camino.

It seems Bill was suffering from a partial intestinal block which created significant pain for parts of several days. There were mornings and evenings where it was unclear that he could continue. Through God’s grace, Diane and Willow’s care, and Bill’s stubbornness,  we made it to Santiago.

Today, we made it to the doctor, who diagnosed the problem and has provided remedies to get Bill back on his feet. This is of significant value as Diane and Bill will once again be hiking, beginning on Thursday, towards Finisterre and Muxia, another 70 or so miles over five days of hiking.

He already feels a good bit better and is looking forward to resuming consumption of all the great Spanish food again!

Today was 12 miles, bringing the total to 535 miles walked. It is hard to speak about a journey of this length and say that we wish there were more miles. But, we wish there were more miles. It’s not that we want more aches and more pains, but there is something significant and cleansing in working so hard in God’s countryside that lifts your soul.

The morning once again broke chilly and beautiful.

Diane and Willow walked sometimes in silence, sometimes in conversation, but always an enjoyment along the trail.

For all our effort to delay the inevitable, we finally reached the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela

And for Willow, who has been dreaming of doing the Camino for years and years, first arriving in the plaza of the cathedral was a breathtaking experience.

And not to minimize the experience of both Diane and Bill, for they were in awe and overwhelmed by His grace for bringing us through the whole of the journey.  

We spent the rest of the day doing chores, and still have many chores to do today (the day after).

Another 15 miles,  bringing the cumulative total to 523 miles. Just 12 or 13 to go before Santiago de Compostela! Here are the stats: 

Today began cold; the temperature dipped to 39 F to start the morning. No problem as there was a nice climb to start the day and therefore warm us up.

As is typical for Galicia, the morning also started with fog in the valleys, as:  This shot was about 2 hours into the day, when the remaining fog only stayed on in the low lying countryside.

Today’s hike was also a milestone for Diane and I. As we passed through Arzua, we rejoined the path from the Camino Del Norte. We are now completing our original walk, along with finishing our abbreviated Camino Frances.

We think often of those back home. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Bill and Diane