The Last Post

Well folks that wraps it up, nearly five weeks walking across Spain from St Jean de Pied Port in France to Santiago! We talked the talk and now we´ve walked the walk. Tonight we catch the train to Madrid and tomorrow morning our flight home. I hope you enjoyed following our travels, for those planning on doing it themselves, nothing can really prepare you for the experience (but do what you can anyway!). At the start of the blog I paraphrased the great American essayist Henry David Thoreau, the last words go to his associate Walt Whitman -

Afoot and light hearted I take to the open road

Healthy, free, the world before me

The long brown path before leading wherever I choose

Henceforth I ask not good fortune, I myself am good fortune

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing!

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms

Strong and content I travel the open road

It is safe -I have tried it-my own feet have tried it well- be not detained!

Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen´d!

Let the tools remain in the workshop! Let the money remain unearn´d!

Let the school stand! Mind not the cry of the teacher!

You road I enter upon and look around, I believe you are not all that is here ,

I believe that much unseen is also here !

From The Open Road (Leaves of Grass) Walt Whitman

Photos

Here´s a few extra photos from Santiago. Cervantes (author of Don Quixote), St James (the compassionate, hacking a few heads), buildings with canons ?etc Met the two Sydney boys today, how they made it I have no idea (they were drunk every night of the walk!),also ran into Young German boy who just kept repeating ¨we made it¨. Irish Adrian is walking 3 more days to Finnisterre! and Liverpool Paul is heading for home today.

Taking it easy-NO WALKING!!!!

Thankyou to everyone for all the good wishes!
Santiago de Compostella is a beautiful city of 130,000 people, with about 3.5 million tourist days per year! We are staying in the Centro Historico which you may have guessed is the old city and it is delightful, the buildings (particularly the cathedral at night) are awesome! The Centro Historico is a warren of streets, some of which are just bars/cafes and restaurants. Seafood is the speciality of the region and most restaurants have tanks full of live crabs, langostines, crays etc ( a bit cruel) and you can order many types of fish, mussels, razor clambs, horse barnacles and the most delicious seafood soups .

Santiago was founded by decree in the 11th century, it was basically a propaganda scam organised by the Catholic Church- the whole myth of the body of St James magically arriving in Gallicea (in a stone boat no less!) from the Holy Land and the subsequent pilgimage route Camino de Santiago (the third most important after Juruselem and Rome)- to mobilise support for the struggle to expel the Moors (Islam) from Spain (La Reconquista). Santiago and the Camino became a focus and symbol to the extent that St James was often seen (and is often portrayed) charging the Moors with raised sword! Santiago is now a modern city with a large University but the St James mythology is still strong as it is now a big moneyspinner!

Oh Yeah!!!! Living large in Santiago!!

We made it to Santiago de la Compostella about 12noon. We´ve got a great pension above all the bars/cafes. This town is unreal, I´ve never seen so many Bars/cafes/restaurants, hundreds of them! So many impressive historical buildings. So far all we´ve done is pick up our compostella certificate and eaten (mejillones, sardinas, pulpo, chorizo al vino and sopa de pescado - seafood every where you look). Ran into Liverpool boy who had arrived the day before! Irish boy (Adrian) walked in with us. Time to do some serious relaxing, siesta first then sight seeing and more eating and drinking (we´ll soon put back that weight- Ray lost about 8.5kg while I only lost about 5.5kg). We have until Monday night to enjoy Santiago and then it´s night train to Madrid and a plane back home.

A few extra photos

Almost in Santiago!

We walked into Arca today about 20 km from Santiago de Compostella - tomorrow is the big day, we should get in about lunchtime! Will we be welcomed by brass bands? Do we get the keys to the city? Will we get a room? Will my leg get back to normal size? Stay tuned for answers to these and other profound questions. We´ll post more photos over the next couple of days.

greetings from Arzua (O Coruna)- Gallicea

Hi Greg great to hear from you I hope you´re enjoying a well earned retirement and yes I hear what you say - each step closer to the finish... (I´m trying not to think about!). I´m glad your enjoying it and yes photos posted are highly selective!!!! .. and Spanish history is an interest of mine.

The day before yesterday we walked close to 48km, we had to as the albergues in Sarria was full, the next one was full and the one after that was closed! The number of walkers increases every day as more and more short-walk pilgrims join. There are even groups of seconday school students (lovely well behaved kids, sure they pass around funny smelling cigarettes...) A group of about 6 fresh faced, singing school girls raced us for an albergue, we knew if they beat us the would take up all available beds; at one stage with 100m to go I was tempted to hold them back with a stick while Ray dashed to the albergue but this seemed to go against the spirit of the camino (and as it turned out it was the closed one!). We ended up having t0 go to Portmarin, even here the first two albergues were full but luckily we found a very nice one with enough room and washing machines and driers.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we walked to Palas del Rei, 26km and when we got there the albergues were again full. We decided to walk on and sleep out but on the way out we noticed a house called La Casa de Ruben, Ray felt this was a sign and when an old guy walked out he asked if there beds around. He took us to a very nice hotel, talked his rich relatives into giving us a room (for 25 euros!), and even carried Rays pack up the stairs for him! A nice old guy, ex-sailor called Ruben who told us a bit about his life and travels around the world. Every time things look bleak something good happens.

Today we walked about 30 km to Arzua, only 42 km from Santiago. The number of walkers is really increasing now, every bar and cafe and albergue is packed.The truth is we both developed swelling and pain on our right shins (tendonitis?). Anyway bandages and pain killers do wonders! Again we expected to be sleeping out. The walking tracks and the weather are exceptional, through forested gullys lined with ancient mossy oaks and then uphill to dairy paddocks and maize fields always surrounded by forest or hedges. We stopped at a lovely little bar for lunch and one of the French walkers ( a tiny middle aged women) sang a wonderful rendition of Je ne regret rein - I regret nothing (forgive my French but those who know this song will know what I mean; she was fantastic! she sounded just like Edith Piaf , it was a special moment. I n the last few km we began to see eucalypts scattered within the forests. It´s quite bizzare to see Blue gums and Manna gums amongst the indigenous trees of Spain and the smell of eucalytus in the afternoon breeze is so evocative of the aussie bush (sniff!). In fact we had a siesta on the side of the track amongst bluegums and squirrels! About 7pm we got into town and the first albergue was full but luckily there was room in the next. It´s a great 5 storey, modern albergue with all the mod-cons and the best internet services yet and the restaurant across the road served the best Pilgrims menu we´ve had (Caldo Gallego, pescado/pollo and mousse chocolate washed down with a bottle of Gallician wine)

Tomorrow another camino joins ours (camino del norte) so we expect the number of walkers to keep increasing as we approach Santiago.

It seems to me that there is an inverse correlation between religious belief and the degree of control humans have over their immediate environment. In the past if you were a victim of weather, storms, volcanoes, floods, war etc you invented volcano gods or gods that can control the weather etc, in that way you could placate the relevant god (eg with sacrifices or prayer) and this gave you some control. But the big one is death itself, the very basis of existential angst. The religions of the book (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) offer the ultimate for ¨death has been defeated, Jesus Christ has been resurrected". The basis of all religion is blind, unthinking faith which is the antithesis to rationality. Why can´t humans except that like all organic life we come into existence, we live our span and then we die.

Two days to Santiago and they are both relatively short walks, about 20km each!