Day 12 A Rua to Santiago de Compostela - 20 kms
Hola amigos - from Santiago de Compostela. We arrived in Santiago, the end of our Camino, around 10.30 yesterday (Saturday) morning, in plenty of time to find our hotel, leave our packs there, and be back at the Cathedral by 11.15 - early enough to get good seats for the pilgrims mass at 12. Dominique and I were thrilled to walk in to Santiago with Martine and Guy, though we had not set out with them that morning. The serendipity of the Camino at work, as always. More about Martine and Guy later.
When I last wrote on Day 10, I mentioned that we had reached Melide during that day, the point where the Camino Primitivo meets the Camino Frances - so I would be walking a path that I had walked twice before in 2011 on my own and 2013 with Jill, and Dominique once before, just four months ago. Although we had decided to walk a further 6 kms to Boente, where we would meet Martine and Guy at the albergue. we stopped for lunch in Melide. Apart from the fact that we had walked about 20 kms with nothing to eat since desayuno, we were completely drenched, so it was a treat to take off the wettest layers and sit inside to dry off. For only the second time on The Way, a lunchtime vino tinto was in order. We had earned it.
With the enormous rise in popularity of the Camino Frances in the last year or so, we expected to see many more pilgrims in Melide. And that was certainly the case. As we sat in the 'window seat' of the cafe in Melide, we saw more pilgrims pass by in half an hour than we had seen in all of our 10 days on the Primitivo. Without much thought that I was about to walk a path I had walked twice before, I just wanted to get through the next 6 kms in the rain and find shelter and a bed in the albergue in Boente, hoping that most of the pilgrims we'd seen would stop for the night in Melide. Thankfully that turned out to be the case. So I was all business as we left the cafe. I wasn't prepared for the feelings that overwhelmed me just down the road.
We had entered Melide from the north, which was new to me, but as we made our way out of the town after lunch, the streets quickly became familiar. Less than two or three hundred metres on, a shell and arrow marker showed The Way via a dirt path through green fields. Emotion caught me by surprise. I recalled so clearly Jill and I approaching this place just 18 months ago in the morning of our 28th and second last day on The Way. And then I could remember my first time here, also my 28th and second last day. I remember that day particularly well as I'd had crippling shin splints the day before, but was 'cured' and ready to go as I left Melide. As I walked along, this time alongside Dominique, I reflected on how much a part of life the Camino has been for me in the past three years. And how in some ways my Caminos feel like one adventure in four parts. The first led to the next and so on. The links are clear. Strange and surprising. And certainly not something I could or would ever have imagined when I took those first anxious and excited steps out of St Jean Pied de Port in late September 2011.
Back to the present. After the relentless rain of our tenth day, from Ferreira to Boente, we had a fairly easy day to A Rua, where Dominique and I stayed in the delightful casa rural where Jill and I had also stayed on our last night before Santiago. It brought back more wonderful memories for me, as was the case for much of my last two days on The Way. We spent a comfortable night in A Rua before making an early start - 6am - on our final morning. We wanted to reach Santiago in time for the midday pilgrims mass. Martine and Guy has stayed two kilometres ahead of us, and were planning to start at a similar time. We made a plan to meet in front of the cathedral after the mass if we didn't see them earlier.
We were on the path just before 6. It would be almost three hours before we had enough daylight to dispense with the torch. So there are few photos from those first hours, much of it through eucalyptus forests, but it was fairly easy walking and quite peaceful. As we drew closer though there were suddenly many pilgrims in front of us, who must have stayed at the various accommodations within 5-10 kilometres of Santiago. We guessed that Martine and Guy were some way ahead of us, but not too far. We hoped we'd see them before the mass. Perhaps when we dropped our bags, as we were all staying in the same hotel.
Just half a kilometre from the cathedral I saw them, within shouting distance. Both Dominique and I were thrilled to be walking in to Santiago with them. We'd spent so many lovely times with them, it just seemed right. And I knew how important this moment would be for them. They have been making their way to Santiago since 2007. They are not particularly religious people. Like me, and so many others, they like to walk, and they like the freedom and comraderie that the Camino offers. Theirs is a nice story to finish with.
Martine and Guy started their Way from their home near Lille in France in late 2007. Each year they would walk for two weeks. By their chosen paths, it would take them five years to reach Santiago. In 2008 and 2009, circumstances prevented them from walking, but they resumed in 2010. From Lille, they walked South through to Vezelay, then on to Le Puy en Velay. They walked the Chemin le Puy which eventually took them to St Jean Pied de Port. From SJPP, they made their way to Irun to begin the Camino del Norte across the northern coast of Spain. Last year they had walked the northern route as far as Oviedo. This year, the final stage, the Camino Primitivo, from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. Speaking to them in the final few days, after more than 2,500 kms, they could hardly believe they would soon be in Santiago.
As we approached the last one hundred metres before the cathedral, Dominique and I quickly walked ahead so we could take photos of Martine and Guy arriving. It was such a special time for them, and for me. And I know Dominique felt the same. That square in Santiago has seen many smiles and tears over more than a thousand years, and now Martine and Guy are part of that unique history.
From there it was to the cathedral for the pilgrims mass, where we were all excited to see the swinging of the Botafumiero. Lunch of tapas and vino tinto followed and the sunny afternoon (an added bonus in Santiago) was for strolling, taking photos and running in to the Primitivo pilgrims we had met along The Way. As is the Spanish Way, everything comes alive after dark. We had a wonderful 'tapas' crawl for dinner - Jill and Martin maybe you recognise the place in these photos? It was as good as ever!
We ended up at The Parador for a night cap and a 'sticky beak', including peaking in to the gorgeous main restaurant. It was almost 11 by then so, of course, the Spanish were just getting started. As Martine and I wandered through the exquisite reception rooms, Guy and Dominique briefly disappeared. When they returned, they asked if it would be convenient for Martine and I to join them for dinner tomorrow night (tonight) in the main restaurant of The Parador? Oh, the French! What can I say? What a charming way to celebrate the Primitivo and our last night in Santiago. The pilgrim's life is full of surprises!
So I'd best get ready. Not that I have any appropriate clothes to wear. But that's the great thing about pilgrim cities like Santiago, or Pamplona, Burgos, Leon, Conques, Cahors and Oviedo. Pilgrims are welcomed with open arms - even in The Parador.
Time to go. Love and best wishes amigos. Thank you for following my Primitivo adventure. And thank you to my friends along The Way - Danielle and Didier, Michel, Luis, Miriam and Mary, Maurice (Monsieur Chevalier), Guy and Martine, and Dominique.
Muchas gracias. Merci beaucoup.
J xxx
