Day 28/32 🥾Camino Via de la Plata, Spain 🇪🇸
ℹ️Stats: Tuesday 30th April
Weather: cloudy & rainy (4 to 11 degrees)
From: Laza
Start time: 7.50am
To: Xunqueira
End time: 3.15pm - felt like a long day!
Accommodation: municipal albergue. 1st to arrive. Bottom bunk.
Terrain: rocks, gravel, grassy tracks, muddy, road.
🥾Km:35
🥾Miles: 21.8
🦶Steps: 45,405
💰Costs: €4 hot chocolate (2)
€10 albergue
€13 supermarket - crisps x2, tangerine 🍊 x3, chocolate x3, gf biscuits.
Subjective feeling out of 10 on:
Enjoyment: 8/10 - shame about the weather and missing out on some of the views
Fatigue: 4/10
Ease of terrain: 5/10 more challenging today.
⭐️Highlights: stopped for a hot chocolate in a little mountain town bar to warm up, picked up some resupply at the supermarket. Hugged a tree 🌳.
🍝Cooked the rest of my pasta.
🏔️Challenges: fog in the morning made visibility a bit challenging. The rain was quite intense at some points.
💭Thoughts: so nice to arrive somewhere first m, pick a nice bed, cook food and get myself organised. I can then properly rest and recover for the rest of the afternoon which does make a big difference. Especially when you’re not having any rest days and you’re just walking day after day.
Day 29/32 🥾Camino Via de la Plata, Spain 🇪🇸
ℹ️Stats: Wednesday 1st May
Weather: cloudy, rain, sun, rain, hail, rain, dry. 4 to 11 degrees. Felt much colder especially at the start.
From: Xunqueira
Start time: 7.25am
To: Cea
End time: 4.50pm
Accommodation: municipal albergue- bottom bunk
Terrain: roads, roads, mud tracks, gravel, grassy.
🥾Km: 46 (orange route on Camino app after Ourense)
🥾Miles: 28
🦶Steps: 59,618
💰Costs: €8 coke, 2x snickers, 3x gummy sweets
€10 albergue - really nice. Well heated 🔥
Subjective feeling out of 10 on:
Enjoyment: 7/10 - dropped to 2 - when I was cold and wet.
Fatigue: 8/10 - it’s like my life force leaves me - drained today - no energy - felt awful. 🩸 hormones are no joke.
Ease of terrain: 5/10
⭐️Highlights: getting into a warm bed with a chocolate bar and reading my book.
🏔️Challenges: the road walk leaving Ourense, then the climb. Some of the never ending roads. Thinking I would never get there. I feel wiped out.
💭Thoughts: less than 100k to go! Exciting 🥳
Day 30/32 🥾Camino Via de la Plata, Spain 🇪🇸
ℹ️Stats: Thursday 2nd May
Weather: cloudy & rainy all day 🌧️. Didn’t take my waterproofs off. (4 to 12 degrees)
From: Cea
Start time: 7.10am
To: Silleda
End time: 5pm
Accommodation: private albergue - room to myself - bottom bunk. Very cold! 🥶
Terrain: roads, gravel tracks, large rocks, roman road, at some points it was so wet - it was like walking in a mini stream.
🥾Km: 47.2*
🥾Miles: 29
🦶Steps: 60,867
*Extra walking to find the accommodation and a trip to the supermarket as well
💰Costs: €22 food - dinner and snacks for tomorrow
€15 accommodation
Subjective feeling out of 10 on:
Enjoyment: 6/10 - the weather is the weather and I know how I have no control over it. But it does put a downer on things.
Fatigue: 8/10 - massive struggle today. My left hip flexor is rock solid - feeling very painful.
Ease of terrain: 5/10
⭐️Highlights: walking over a very cool/old bridge and along a Roman road. finding a bed and finally getting warm.
🏔️Challenges: having to force myself to go out and buy food. Or else I wouldn’t eat that evening or have food tomorrow. I really didn’t want to head back out into the cold.
💭Thoughts: making it to Silleda I went to the municipal Alberge. Which was full (apparently) Had 60 beds…. But I didn’t see any people in there.
🧟It also looked as though it was out of a horror movie - long corridor with locked white doors leading to dorms. A very strange place.
🛜Luckily, I had Wi-Fi so I was able to locate another bed, (4 min walk away), but by this point, I’d been cold and wet for a very long time. And this accommodation is not warm. There is only one heater. And it is not in my room.
🚿I had a hot shower and dried most of my clothes. And now finally - I’m in bed warm.
Final day tomorrow.🥳
Day 31/32 🥾Camino Via de la Plata, Spain 🇪🇸
ℹ️Stats: Friday 3rd May
Weather: rainy and cold! 🥶 all day!
From: Silleda
Start time: 7.50am
To: Santiago de Compostela 🌃
End time: 4.30pm - then getting certificate etc - at the hostel by 5.30pm
Accommodation: private albergue
Terrain: roads, gravel tracks, mud tracks, grassy tracks, country lanes, country roads
🥾Km: 45.7
🥾Miles: 28.5
🦶Steps: 58,733
💰Costs: €5 distance certificate & cardboard tube to carry it home in
€25 accommodation - basic 4 bed dorm.
Subjective feeling out of 10 on:
Enjoyment: 5/10 - the weather really does put a dampener on things.
Fatigue: 7/10 - ready for my own bed!
Ease of terrain: 5/10 - not horrible
⭐️Highlights: I was joined by 2 big white dogs - who walked with me for about 20k. That was really fun but also a little scary when we were going via some of the main roads. They were listening to me towards the end as well so it’s pretty cool walking into Santiago de Compostela with these two dogs either side of me.
🏔️Challenges: today was hard. I think the accumulation of all the walking I’ve done since January is really catching up with me. I normally really motivated on the final day.
But… it was such a struggle to get out of bed and start walking. The back of my right calf is strained. Plus with the constant rain - it’s difficult to take photos and video (so I don’t have a good finish photo).
I got too cold after getting my certificate and headed straight to the hostel where it took me ages to get warm. The heating wasn’t on and there’s only a small radiator. I thought I would head out later on but it’s just been raining all day. I couldn’t face getting wet again. So tomorrow morning, I’ll try and get a photo in front of the cathedral.
💭Thoughts: I’m looking forward to some R&R at home.
Day 32/32 🥾Camino Via de la Plata, Spain 🇪🇸 - Travel Day
ℹ️Stats: Saturday 4th May
Weather: non stop rain 🌧️
From: Santiago de Compostela
Start time: 6am
To: Wirral, UK 🇬🇧
End time: 5.30pm
Accommodation: my bed! 🛌
Travel: walk 🥾, taxi 🚕, plane ✈️ to Geneva, Switzerland 🇨🇭 , plane ✈️ to Manchester, UK 🇬🇧, car 🚙, home 🏡
💰Costs: €23 taxi to airport.
€2.20 hot chocolate ☕️
€58 - easyJet (flight to Geneva)- charged me for my bag (I also saw another pilgrim get caught out).
€52 - easyJet - flight to Manchester. I bought online so it was slightly cheaper!
Subjective feeling out of 10 on:
Enjoyment: 4/10 - tired, frustrated- all the feelings.
Fatigue: 10/10 - last night it was not good. There were two girls in my room. They came in at 3 am about 30 minutes before leaving again. Came back in at 5 am and finished flaffing and going to bed at 5:20. My alarm went off at 5:30.
⏰I let it ring for a little longer than needed.
It did give me great pleasure to turn the light on to pack my stuff up.
❄️The room is so cold. I feel as though I have been damp for the past two days I haven’t been able to get warm.
❄️The last hostel was super cold. Then walking all day in the rain. Then another cold hostel, plus putting on damp clothes.
I would just like to be warm.
Ease of terrain: 0/10
⭐️Highlights: home 🏡, my bed 🛌, hugs from family.
🏔️Challenges: I was going to get the bus (I was at the bus stop waiting) but it was raining, dark and I was cold and a taxi came by…. I got the taxi 🚕
Very pleased to be at the airport having a hot chocolate at 7 am.
💭Thoughts: I tried to get a photo in front of the cathedral but the rain was torrential. I’m not hugely bothered by not having a photo at the finish.
📸I’m more bothered that I don’t have a good end to what I’ve been sharing on social media!