A week ago I was on my way home. It was a long flight, 8 hours to Toronto and then another 4 to Calgary. Then drive back to the West Kootenays.
It’s good to be back!
The first few days back were hard. In part it was the time change – my body needed to adjust to the 9 hours difference between here and Spain. The smells and sounds also are different – I had become accustomed to the smells and sounds of Spain. But the biggest adjustment was getting used again to sitting in a car. So much sitting in a car! A week later I still am not liking it.
Nevertheless, it’s good to be back. I got my camera, a couple lenses and the tripod out of storage today – I am looking forward to work on pictures again!
Jerry and I said goodbye at the bus station in Santiago, where I took a bus to Porto, about 3 hours away.
I am staying at a hostel in the centre of Porto. It is quite comfortable and very convenient to walk around and see a bit of this lovely city.
Below, a selection of pictures from Porto:
I ended the day with a 50 minutes boat ride on the Douro River, where we heard about the bridges spanning the river.
It now is the morning of June 12 and today I fly home to Canada, to my home in the Slocan in BC. I greatly enjoyed this adventure, but I am very, very happy to be able to go home!
Tonight we’re staying at the 43rd albergue since starting this adventure.
It’s a very nice, small, family run place. It has 4 bunk beds (8 beds total) downstairs, and some private rooms upstairs. The hosts prepare a meal in the evening, everything homemade using local, fresh ingredients.
It’s been raining all day, so people staying here are hanging ponchos and other things wherever they can to dry them out.
Staying at a different place every night, night after night, has been probably one of the more wearisome aspects of the pilgrimage. A different bed, pillow, different people in the same room with you … sometimes you sleep very well, other times not so much. Sometimes the host/s will go out of their way to make your stay pleasant, other times they are hardly there at all. Sometimes the place is old, sometimes newer, sometimes really well maintained, other times not so much. And so it goes.
The very first we stayed at, in St-Jean-Pied-de-Port
The second and largest we stayed at, in Roncesvalles
After what was probably the most tiring of all the walks, we got to have this whole big room with 10 beds all to ourselves. We slept great!
The Municipal in Burgos, inexpensive first come first served, but really good.
The host of this albergue personified kindness and patience more so than anyone else I met here so far. Thank you, Pedro!
And finally, in Fonfría, a fantastic place. Great service, clean, comfortable, excellent food and a good show of Galician music at the end.
I have 5 more left to go before flying back home. I am looking forward to my own bed, blanket, pillow …. Yeah!
We started the walk to Fisterra. We walked 2 short stretches, June 3 to Ventosa, the next day to Negreira.
View of the cathedral in Santiago from a high point a couple kms out of Santiago.
There are a lot of eucalyptus trees in this part of Spain. It makes for a great smelling walk.
The towns have much newer houses than those we walked through before. There are also less albergues and restaurants catering to pilgrims. There are less pilgrims.
But it’s been a pleasant two days of easy walking, even though the trail goes up and down a fair bit.
We are very much looking forward to getting to the coast!
Tomorrow a new chapter, our last in Spain. We start to walk to Fisterra, on the Atlantic Ocean. It should be a couple of peaceful walking days, getting to the end of the world as the Romans knew it – and getting ready to go home and resume “normal” life.
Ursula's Photos 