18 August - day 23 - A Coruña to Sigüerio to Santiago - 15kms

Last day. Our total distance walked over the Camino will exceed 400kms today. Mixed feelings. 

Broken sleep as the girls in the next room came home around 2am and talked and laughed 4:30am. Our alarm goes off at 5:40.

At bus station by 6:10. Coffee, bananas and croissants while we wait. The station security guard stops to chat and ask where are we going. Confirms we are at the right platform, the time the bus is due, and that we can buy tickets on the bus. Super nice! 

1 hour and 5 mins we arrive at Sigüeria. It’s cold. The coldest it's been this trip. Find a coffee shop to warm ourselves up.  Caffeinated and fed we are ready for our final leg. The first way marker we see leaving town tells us we have 14.252km to the cathedral in Santiago.

As we make our way out of town we are met with a stream of pilgrims on the road ahead. Most are day trippers with tiny backpacks.  We soon pass bidding everyone Buen Camino.

We walk on mostly on road, except for a short walk through a forest where moss is growing up the trees and over the rocks. It’s magical and a beautiful place one would want to pause time. 

The terrain is pretty easy, and we soon hit the outskirts of Santiago about 5km from the Cathederal we are headed for. 

Our first experience of Santiago is uninspiring industrial and commercial buildings. Its just after 10am and we haven’t had breakfast. We pop into the first bar we reach. It seems to be where all the local factory workers go. The tortilla and coffee is great! Love eating where the locals do. 

The industrial makes way for unremarkable residential.  Strangely the arrows we have been following the whole Camino have become fewer and more elusive to spot. We miss one and head in the wrong direction. Two Spanish pilgrims following begin call us back onto the way. They have walked the last 100km over the last week. They ask where we started and our distance. We tell them Bilbao and today we hit 400kms. They tell us we are their hero’s. Super sweet. 

As we approach the center we are now walking through city parks snd along streets. We can now seen the cathederal in skyline only a km away.  Soon we hear the Spanish bagpipes. They are playing in the arched entrance to the plaza and stand in front of the cathedral with hundreds of other pilgrims and just as many tourists. 

Kim:  I have a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes reflecting on our journey. We may have not walked the whole way due to lack of time but we walked 400kms and I am proud of that. Our minds and bodies served us well. I didn’t get a blister (which is a miracle with my overly sensitive feet!) and Daz only 2. We didn’t come on the walk to find ourselves or heal ourselves, we came for freedom, the experience and the adventure and we got all of it!  Will we do another Camino - hell yes!

Daz: I have mixed feelings as we enter the plaza. Pride, satisfaction and joy, but also disappointment and sadness that it has come to an end. Looking upon the cathederal, I realise that reaching this place this is not the purpose of the camino, at least not for us. What makes the Camino great is that everyone has the same destination regardless of their reasons. That common goal creates a bond between the pilgrims regardless of religious or political beliefs. Experiencing that connection with otherwise complete strangers, the solidarity and comradery is a big part of what I will take away from this adventure.

We sit in quiet contemplation in the plaza for a while, before we slowly move off to find our AirBnB.

We are hungry. Late for lunch even by Spanish standards...4pm. We are recommended to go to a gourmet food court by our AirBnB hosts. It should still be open. 

Mercardo la Galiciana is described on their website as an eclectic array of global delies, food stands and bars. Sounds perfect. When we arrive, we nearly walk past it. The entrance looks like any other shop front. Going in, it opens in to a huge converterd warehouse space. It is still bustling. We walk the perimeter to peruse all the offerings. Discover none of them take orders. You sit at a table, download the menu for the entire place and order from the waitstaff. Kim has a Cervieche-raw fish marinated in lemon juice. I have the Paella of the day, which was full of roasted ham chunks. Yum.

Need to walk off our late lunch. We spend the afternoon wandering the cobbled streets of the magnificent and expansive old town. Stop in at the numerous small plazas to enjoy an alfresco beverage while taking in the ambience until its bed time.