First of all a very big thankyou to all who are still sharing the links to Georgia's Camino and I Am Hope. It's working. I enjoyed a restful day in Santiago visiting the Pilgrims' Museum, which was great... and free! It was well worth the visit as it put pilgrimages into context with pilgrimages worldwide. Lots of explanatory information going back to New Testament times for Christians and Judaism. It also included ancient Asian religious pilgrims. I stayed at the Anglican Pi

Another day starting in the dark and the rain, but the end was in sight. A quick stop for breakfast in a cafe decorated for halloween, time to make some calls, and then the final push into the Cathedral. It was lovely and quiet with very few pilgrims around. Time to absorb the atmosphere, reflect on the purpose of the journey and think about Georgia's family and all those experiencing the consequences of suicide and mental illness. Please keep them all in your hearts and mind

The last night before arriving in Santiago de Compostela in the morning. Yesterday evening I spent time strolling around the Lavacolla parish church cemetery. It was a hive of activity with people busy cleaning and polishing the family graves. Each column of headstones belongs to a family. You might just see some of the names on the stone tops of the columns. The glass fronted heatstones open up to allow cleaning and the placement of statues and other memorial items. Off cour

Before I get to today's story, there is something I forgot to add yesterday. Not everyone makes it to Santiago. Along the way there are memorials to people who have died on the journey. One of the most well known was the creator of the Ninja App, who died while updating his App. Whenever you come across a memorial it's very sobering and a reminder to take care. I left O'Pedrouzo around 8am. Toni it was good to chat to you. I had called Mark, but no reply so your call was ver

Meet Teresa, the best chef in Galicia! Yesterday, I had an early dinner in Teresa's and Manolo's cafe just up the road from my albergue in Salceda. I ordered lamb chops and was served 10 of the tenderest chops I have ever eaten. What followed was the most delicious cheesecake. Before I left Manolo insisted on showing me his beret, which had a kiwi pin on it. This morning I returned hoping to have cheesecake for breakfast!! I asked Manolo for croissant with butter and jam, no

Nearly, just 29kms to go, but I'm spreading it out over 3 and a bit days. I left Arzua at 7.30am in the dark. Fortunately, I remembered to take my headlamp out from the bottom of my pack before leaving. It was very very dark through the forests, but I always felt safe. After about an hour there was the welcome sign of a glittering oasis ahead- time for breakfast. Many of the cafe owners are obviously fed up with people coming in to use the bathrooms but not spending anythin

II left Melide this morning on my own as Glenise has "had enough", enough no sleep, enough downhill walking, and enough being tired. She has opted to bus straight to Santiago. Fair enough, we have been unfortunate to have shared dormitories with very active snorers. There were a couple of spots today that I think Glenise might have struggled with, in particular crossing a narrow stone bridge. When I woke up this morning I thought maybe Glenise's choice to go by bus was a g

One of these photos is of St Peter, the first pop. Beside it is a reliquary, a relic of him!

I have just eaten the most delicious apple tart, sorry no photos as I didn't take my phone with me. But not all camino food is tasty. We often join a "Pilgrims' Dinner". Three courses consisting of salad, or soup, or pasta followed by a main course of meat and chips. The salad is always welcome but often the meat is very tough. The other day we stopped for lunch in Sarria, I chose calamari, wrong decision. It came out in large chunks that could have resoled my shoes. Last

Yesterday we left Bardadelo set for another day walking between showers. What surprised me was the very large numbers of pilgrims who start from Sarria, 100s and 100s. School groups walking and cycling. We got a better picture of how busy it is today as we taxied to Palas de Rei. In some places there were so -many people the driver had to stop. What was good to see was the number of children collecting rubbish along the way. Yes we took a taxi! I decided yesterday that it was

Hi all, today is a blog free day! We made it to Portomarin today and are taking a day off to go exploring here and Palas de Rei tomorrow. It's been a while since I took a break and my 77 year old body and brain need time out. Hopefully there'll be lots to write about tomorrow. Some more wonderful people donated to Georgia's Camino today, people are so very generous I love you all. I get rather weepy when I read the donations. Just a couple of photos from today's wet walk. #ge

A1nother day of squally rain and colder temperatures. But to backtrack a little. Last night we went to the only cafe open and Sara, the very kind host made us the most delicious egg, cheese and ham sandwich. She runs the cafe on her own and was meant to close at 6pm, but stayed open just for us. This morning she was on duty again and flat out when we arrived for breakfast. Today we again had a choice of routes, the road or through the bush, we chose the latter. The track was

We left Triacastela in squally rain and headed on an alternative route to Samos, the home of a former Benedictine monastery. The first half hour or so was alongside a busy road, but the real danger came from intermittent squalls that had me wondering if I looked like the flying nun. My poncho felt as if it and me was going to be lifted off the ground and deposited in the bush. We eventually left the roadside and headed into the forest tracks. It was very like walking in the

I On the Camino you meet people then might not see them again for a couple of weeks, but you do remember them and usually their names. One man we met a couple of times was "Running Man", that's him with the green backpack. At first I thought he was just going too fast downhill, but no, jogging is his normal gait. His wife usually follows some way behind. Today we met up again with Barbara from Switzerland. I also got chatting to a Welsh man who once owned a restaurant where

In NZ we have pub crawls, well today we went on a village crawl. We started the day at Pereje, having got a taxi from Cacabelos and avoided a rather large hill. In an omen of things to come, as we left Cacabelos we were aware of a large group of secondary school students. Apparently Spanish students get credits for doing part of the Camino. They can be very noisey and also take up lots of the accommodation. We stopped for breakfast at Pereje where there was an interesting de

Left Ponferrada in the dark and made our way out of the city. The first little suburb was Compostela, that's where the mural of Santa Maria de Compostela was. Between there and the next village I did a slow motion graceful dive into the gravel. Lesson, don't raise your buff over your nose, fog up your glasses and not look where you are going. Carol, that was just before you called me. I had stopped at another church to take time to clean mysel f up. The only damage was a gra

'The place we stayed in Rabanal was superb. Breakfast of scrambled eggs and super crispy bacon was just what was needed. Our plan was to taxi to El Acebo and avoid the big climb to Foncebadon and then the very steep rocky downhill to El Acebo. However, a fellow pilgrim warned that even the section from El Acebo would be very difficult for someone with dodgy knees etc. Glenise didn't need any more convincing so we taxied to Molinaesca and walked to Ponferrada. I did feel a bi