It's official

Got our compostellas, went to pilgrims mass, finally got some good paella. Off to paris in the morning!

The last day.. We made it!!

We walked STRONGLY into santiago today reaching our last albergue at 1.30. We quickly got rid of our packs, sticks and shoes and headed out to find the famous cathedral of st James.

Lots of people singing and doing the happy dance along the way today. Walked in more eucalyptus forest today into a sunny santiago. First stop after the bank was ice cream.. Then vino tinto and cerveza. But we are cooking tonight!


We happened to be at the cathedral at the same time the Japanese emperor was making an appearance so lots of guardia and media around. Also heard the bagpipes playing Celtic music which is traditional in Galicia province. It was wonderful to meet and congratulate others we met at the cathedral. We expect to see many friends tomorrow at mass.

We were welcomed into town with fireworks display.. Cancel that.. An audio only fireworks display if you could call it that.

We can't quite believe yet that we have walked the camino... Now time for some shopping, showers and private rooms(after tonight)

Two camino Trekkers signing off from SANTIAGO de compostela.

Thank you to everyone(!) for their encouragement, support, emails, comments, Facebook posts.. All of it! We are so grateful and miss you all

Day 26

A nice easy 16 km day from arzua to santa irene. Thank goodness because we didn't get much sleep after the concert of snorers last night

We had a first today! We went backwards.. Well we went to our town which was basically just the albergue(lovely) and we were hungry so we went back to the last town 1km away for a bite. So make that 18km today!

Although it was a warm sunny day we lucked out because the trails were mostly shaded. The camino weather goddess has been good to us.

We have decided to walk all the way to santiago tomorrow.. About 23km. Gonna be lots of excitement on the trail.

Walked through a more prosperous farming area with some different vegetation.. See photo with palm tree!

Looking forward to a communal dinner tonight with friends.. Friends who we spent our first dinner with! Crazy. Albergue is super cute.. We even got lovely sheets and towels! Spoiled. A sweet garden area and only 14 beds so crossing our fingers for a more quiet night.

Some friends from Australia who we hadn't seen in a few days ended up in the bunks beside us last night. See photo.. Jon and Cathy. After a long day they went out for dinner last night.. Jon was cracking jokes when he got back. At one point he said. "I'm sorry, I'm intoxicated". Fun couple.. They are going to Thailand after the camino with their kids and grand kids.

The number of "tourista pilgrims" seems to have really increased in the last 100km. Check photo. Wearing tiny runners and carrying a purse and no pack. Dead giveaway. Trail also felt like Tour de France today.. So many cyclists!

Now we sign off! Santiago tomorrow!!!!! Wowza. We can't believe it!

Love from santa irene. Xo

Day 25

Wowza only 40km to go! We walked 24ish today. Another hard day. Walked from San xulian to arzua.

Last night we had another good meal as a group with our hostel-mates. Ended up seeing some familiar faces and met some new friends. Tonight we opted for making our own salad.. Too many good meals we thought we should balance it out with a light healthy meal. Hit the spot.. Budget wise too.

Met up with Dolores our Argentinian friend and Deva on the trail today. So nice to see both of them. Dolores had quite the camino event.. She ran into friends FROM Argentina that she didn't know were here and vice versa. Crazy

We started out in the rain this morning.. Rained for a couple hours but wasn't too heavy. Mom loved it she didn't even have her jacket on. More Westwood like trails today

Looking forward to our own room and bath when we get to santiago. Only a couple more sleeps. Short walking day on the books tomorrow

Thanks everyone for cheering us on! Clearly it worked because we are well on our way now! Adios xo

Day 24.

Another day in the books.. We are getting seriously close now. Today was about 26kms.. Felt long. I think our legs are really getting tired

Last nights dinner was just awesome!! 8 pilgrims and the host and his two volunteers from South Africa. Mom got dressed up for dinner.. lip stick, earrings, rouge and she combed her hair! They served a super sweet meal and the company was great. Not such a great sleep though.. There was a super snorer in the house. Oh well.. Tonight promises to be quiet. Only 3 of us ladies in a 4 person room

We hit the trail early as to beat the heat. Our host from last night gave us a good tip to bypass the next community so we wouldn't have to spend time walking through the town and rather around it and back on the trail. That was really helpful

Each day we meet more cool people. My favourite part of the day is seeing old friends, meeting new ones and hearing everyone's stories. We seem to keep running into this mother and son from Washington, D.C. and we have a running joke that we are following each other. Today we ended up at a cute little albergue past the main community where most pilgrims stop.. We were sure there was no chance of seeing them. Then.. Without fail they walked in about half hour after us!!! We had a really good laugh about that. They said.. We were sure we would out-walk you today! Crazy.

Also made good friends with a lady from Argentina.. She is most lovely and acts as our translator between some Spanish friends. See our friend below in photo.. Well we have seen him for a few days but he only speaks Spanish so finally last night we all sat together and had some actual conversation. However at one point she accidentally started speaking English to him and Spanish to us.. We quickly corrected her. She is wonderful and we hope to meet up with her again

Another father and son we haven't seen in a few days ran into us today. Everyone seems to have injuries.. Him included. Today when we asked how he was he said.. Good just need more drugs. Have taken my ibuprofen use to the recreational level. Goes for a few of us I think!! My breakfast always includes 400mg

We were sure that we heard some guys that must be "Tidesman". Cause each stop they were singing up a storm and were quite entertaining. Not that we knew what they were singing..

More beautiful scenery as usual.. More German Shepards... They are the Spanish equivalent to labs.


Kathleen.. Have you seen these vending machines..?! We thought of you. Coco cola lights will never be the same.

Now time for another meal.. One week till home time!! Only a few more days of walking.. !! Love from San xulian

Day 23

Hola, Audrey here!

We had a great meal last night - lentil soup, two kinds of egg tortillas, yummy salad,piece of fresh fruit and almond cake. Two good pilgrim dinners in a row - bueno. What a great place with beautiful landscaping (see photo).

Today's walk was long again but fine weather with decent walking surface, not too many rocks. Some paths reminded us of Westwood Lake. Saw lots of rock fences to keep the sheep and cattle in or pilgrims out?? Creatures of the day were swans and an ostrich. Again the Camino went through farm yards and in fact the place we are staying tonight is almost in the farmyard. We are both sniffling from cats and the barn; otherwise it's good and we are waiting for our chicken dinner.

Today we saw two pilgrims with dogs attached, not sure if they will have trouble finding an albergue with dogs in tow.

Many more pilgrims on the trail today as lots of people start at Sarria which is the beginning of the last 100km to get your certification. We could distinguish new pilgrims from old pilgrims by the cleanliness of the shoes.

Our new friends are two neighbours from Roberts Creek and Delores from Argentina. Said goodbye to Deva this morning

I'm ticked because I haven't lost my gut or any chins, how could that be. We haven't even had any ice cream since Leon.

We are really looking forward to Santiago time and to chucking some things from our packs. I left an old turtleneck behind today.

Love to all from Vilacha, after our 24km walk.

Day 22

26ish kms today.. We had a little detour so we aren't sure exactly.

Last night we had an awesome meal as a group in a weird round house across the street from our albergue. It was so fabulous.. Great food, vegetarian option(yay) and sweet company. Everyone introduced themselves, where they were from and when and where they started their walk.

We left our albergue this morning as our fab group of four, stopped for a coffee and French toast breakfast.. Yum!! That was a lovely surprise spot. Then dropped Kathleen off in triacastela after a few more kms. We miss you already. Then we went the wrong way.. Turned around went back and took the right way. Walked and walke and walked.. Up and down. I guess we didn't really realize how far we had to go

Beautiful scenery- farmlands, forests, mountains, some lovely tree sheltered paths. A few too many farmyards.. stinky. Not many pilgrims on the route today it seemed..

Creatures.. Snake, earthworms, slugs on steroids, roosters, sheep and goats on the path too. Everything here is "free range" so to speak.

We have been walking a little bit longer than our daily guide these last few days. Booked our accommodation for santiago.. A nice pension with private room- yippee!

Mom was stoked about her salad for lunch.. I am stoked about a vegetarian dinner tonight! We have been researching places to stay since the trail gets really busy these last 100kms. Found some sweet spots.. Today is great!! Lovely outdoor garden area to hang out and nice clean accommodation. However.. I think in a week we will have had enough of living out of a backpack.

Looking forward to seeing our island people.. Adios from San mamede