Saturday, October 24, 2009

Day 30-31 Pilgrimage stjames2stjames CAMINO COMPLETO Days

Pilgrim mass at noon in the Cathedral
A view outside our pension at Arca...all but day

betty in the rain on the last day


The long long burbs walk into Santiago



The last days slog in the rain




Monte grosso Pilgrim statue oitside Santiago





Tje Pilgrim Noon mass on Friday







poor quality shot secretly of St james Tomb etc







Pilgrim heads and the noon mass







Santago Cathedral with St James prominent









Just a de javu of the camino











Near the gate leading into Santiago Cathedral











betty enjoying a coffee stop on the last day and waiting for the rain to stop











View from our pension window at Arca













At the peregrino Office with the official Compostela














betty with her Compostela

ARCA TO SANTIAGO ( 20 STRUGGLING KILOMETRES)

We headed out in the early morning light into dark forest eager to completed the last stage of the camino. It had been torrential rain during the night but it held off as we started. We were joined by many poncho covered pilgrims hunchbacked in the final effort.


The rains came early and we knew we were in for the scattered showers of yesterday. However it seemed to be saving up some extra heavy falls for the last day.

We met up with Ian and Anna early and chattered as we walked but they soon out paced us.

The walk took us through the splendid Galician countryside that we knew we would soon be leaving . The hills seemed higher, the roads longer as we counted down the kilometres cheerfully.
Over Monte Grosso the last big hill and down into the burbs of Santiago as the rain came down.
As we neared the old city following the trusty yellow arrows the rain intensified. We decided to get to a pension first near the cathedral and we headed up to La Salle, a current secondary catholic collefe, where the boarding school has been converted into a lovely hotel. As we passed the school a torrential storm hit and we retreated into thwe school office and floods of water followed us... it was over in ten minutes but quite a spectacle as we waded the streets to our safe, dry and beautiful hotel.
In the afyetrnoon refreshed we completed the journey to the cathedral and visited nthe tomb of St james which was the end of our stjames2stjames journey.
We then took our credentials to the peregrino office and it was a quick and fast COMPOSTELA that we received.
We accidently ran into Canadian Bob who was here the day before us and was a little tired but happy to be flying out tomorrow. There will always be the little yellow arrows in my life to guide me in future he said over a beer.
We had hoped next day at the noon mass to catch up with fellow pilgrims and we did meet Anna and Ian and others. We met some wonderful people on the way, too numerous to mention and we hope they all finished safely. We remembered Canadian Bob,South African Julie, Hannah and friend from Denmark, the two Aussie Wags girls from WA, Magnus from Newcastle UK, Irish John, Ann Marie and partner from early camino, Terry from South Chicago, Irish girl, Louise from Sao Paulo.
At the noon mass it was a special time to remember specially family and also friends. For me it was also a time to specially remember all those who have been associated in the 141 years journey of St James College
To all ...Betty and I leave you with
BUEN CAMINO LIFE

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations Jim and Betty. Have enjoyed reading of your Camino. I laughed at the last wet coffee stop you had- I seem to remember sheltering from the rain in exactly the same place!!!! We had an unexpectedly hard struggle over that section as well. The mist was so bad, we decided to wait the night out in Monte de Gozo, but had trouble finding the albergue as visibility was so poor!!! I notice you hope others finished safely.....I think that must be a key thought for pilgrims who reach Santiago. If your experience matches mine, over the coming months you will find out about quite a few of them via diverse contacts on the internet!

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  2. Congratultions, What a wonderful effort! So glad that you both made it in one piece. Looking forward to seeing you when you return to Oz.

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  3. Dear Jim and Betty! Congratulations on your arrival. I have been to Germany for a week, so I could not post a comment earlier. But I have been thinking about you. Strange, two people I do not know. I have really enjoyed reading about your camino. Hope it gave you wisdom! Many greetings from Holland. Hedwig

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