Camino de Santiago Frances
INTROThe Camino de Santiago is a network of long distance pilgrimages throughout Europe, primarily Spain, leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Old architecture with consistent color scheme
I am currently on the Frances route which began in Saint Jean Pied de Port, France. This route is roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers). This is different from an other backpacking I’ve done; less wilderness, more showers/town food.
Day 26 - 28 took me from Gonzar, Spain - Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
I officially completed the trail!
OVERVIEWDAYS3
MILES/kilometers52.5/84
TOTAL ELEVATION GAINED5343 ft
TOTAL ELEVATION LOSS6281 ft
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Completing the Camino de Santiago Frances!
Finishing with such a lovely group of people and celebrating appropriately.
Perfect hotel and girlhood moments.
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Discovering I had bed bug bites from an unknown albergue.
Lots of roadwalking the last few days into Santiago.
Strange group dynamics so close to the end.
Entering Santiago!
In Depth
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Accommodation: Albergue Melide
Distance: 19.1 miles / 30.6 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1907 ft
Elevation Loss: 2292 ft
The day started extra early because of the poor weather conditions. It was again predicted to rain on and off all day but hey, I guess it’s Galicia? Myself, Kim, Felix, and Jonas all left with Alex and company ahead of us around 6:00am. We stopped at a coffee shop a few miles in around 7:30am when they opened and had breakfast:coffee to fuel the moody day.
I ended up hiking alone for a decent chunk of the morning, but even with my goal of hiking alone, there were still so many pilgrims that I of course ended up chatting to a few. I spoke with two women from the United States; one who spoke Spanish and we chatted about the intricacies of learning another language. And then I chatted about life with the other woman and it was refreshing. Both of them were solo women, but on a group trip. This company does trekking trips all over the world ranging from the ease and accessibility like the Camino to much more difficult wilderness trekking. Something that sounds interesting for a job perhaps…
I met back up with Kim, Felix, and Jonas. After a coffee, we set out again with the girls ahead of us. This day kind of blurred into the afternoon but eventually we all landed in Melide. This was a very comfortable hostel run by a Spanish-American, who had previously lived in Miami. I was able to ask a lot of questions about his opening of albergue. Similar story to many people that COVID-19 really shook up real estate and what people’s future plans were, and this was no exception.
I was craving pizza so the four of us went out for pizza and had a lengthy conversation about politics. Learning that countries are often more similar than different never ceases to amaze.
One thing I love about these long distance, hikes, and traveling in general is that there’s often less fluff in conversations. You speak about real things: your real life, your hopes, dreams, desires for the future, your fears in the present … all with people you seemingly just met. Always interesting!
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Accommodation: Cruceiro de Pedrouzo
Distance: 21.4 miles / 34.2 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 2284 ft
Elevation Loss: 2769 ft
If I was unmotivated to hike the day before, this day beat that. I didn’t end up leaving the hostel till after 8:00am - which for the last several weeks was unheard of. It felt like just making up miles until we got to the lunch spot for the day Aruza. This is where Kim and I had a lovely late breakfast and planned out the rest of the day. This is also where I booked my plane ticket back to the United States which was a strange feeling.
We were meeting most of the group in Pedrouzo, which would be our last night on the Camino prior to reaching Santiago. Along the track again it felt like there was energy buzzing because of so many people on the trail.
Most of us went out for Mexican food that night even though we just missed Cinco de Mayo the day prior. This made me excited for all of the Mexican food I will eat later this year on my next trail!
After ice cream, we headed back to the hostel to our private room due to our group size. This was a very well organized hostel that I would recommend. But this was also the moment that I realized I had bed bug bites. So it could have happened anywhere from 2-7 days before… and none of my group had them. Once I got over my initial disgust, I moved on. We went to sleep that night excited for the following day.
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Accommodation: Hotel Gaio 7
Distance: 12 miles / 19.2 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1152 ft
Elevation Loss: 1220 ft
The first thought that I had when I woke up was…let’s go to Santiago! The original goal was to get into town for the 12:00pm Pilgrims mass. And even though I am not religious feels like something that I should do at some point in my life as a way to celebrate. We all left at somewhat different times, but caught up with each other throughout the day. I stopped and had breakfast/coffee which delayed me a bit, but I eventually kept up or got caught up with the group.
It was several suburban/industrial miles into the actual old city center of Santiago, where myself, Kim, and Jac walked in together. Jac had been walking since the Netherlands; broken up into three stages. This was roughly 2500 kilometers and was an overwhelming achievement. Kim had already completed the Portuguese Camino so she knew Santiago well. And for me, it felt like I shouldn’t be done with the thru-hike already because it’s only been four weeks. My three hikes have really changed my sense of time and that if I’m not spending that minimum three months out then I didn’t do it. But what an actual reward to get Santiago de Compostela.
We all got our Compostelas, essentially a certificate. This signifies that we hiked the distance by presenting our pilgrim passport, which we collect stamps in along the way. I had heard horror stories of this process, taking perhaps hours, but there was no queue in the three of us got our certificates straight away.
We all went to the Square where we met up with Alex and her friends and hung out with Felix and Jonas as well. More pictures in front of the cathedral made the completion of this experience feel more real.
It was not yet time to check into the hotel where the six women (myself included) ended up getting some rooms to have a proper celebratory evening. So we all went to a bar with great outdoor seating and celebrated. It was a strange feeling knowing I did not have to walk the following day, but that I had bigger plans in store for two days after…
The ladies and I got to the hotel and settled in. Because it was an early morning with a lot of excitement, we were all a bit tired. After showers we put on our bathrobes and popped some bottles of champagne. There was a fantastic view from our balcony so it felt very surreal to be drinking champagne while looking at the cathedral celebrating roughly 500 miles on the trail!
Myself, Kim, and Alex met Jac out for one final drink where we reminisced on silly memories from the last three weeks together in addition to goals for what we wanted to do in the future. This is a sad goodbye because Jac felt like all of our father figure. He has three daughters and it just felt like a cohesive hiking group with the four of us.
That’s the problem with these hiking trails is that because the conversations contain less fluff and more deep feelings, the relationship develop quicker and it is sad when you realize you may never see this person again. There is a benefit to making friends all over the world by expanding your worldview, but it’s bittersweet nevertheless.
The hotel room had an interesting design so I had a loft space. The single bed to myself no bunkbed in sight. After such an exciting day, I slept through until 8:00am the following morning.
On to the next.
Xoxo
GALLERY
