65km to go!!

well, its down to the final few days and can hardly believe that I am within 3-4 days walk from Santiago. Some people are speeding up to finish it off and a few of us are slwoing down and starting to unwind a bit.

Been VERY lucky and still have not had any more rain during the day. In Galicia (region) that is known for its rain and we have had beautiful ,c lear sunny days that are quite hot. Sat in the sun with three lovely people from Holland and had lunch and walked with them the final 8km to Palais del Rei. Nice to find people who also enjoy the slower pace and basking in a bit of sunshine rather than racing to the albergue each afternoon!

So at this stage I am looking at arriving in Santiago on Tues afternoon or Wed morning (depending on how I time it) and may catch a few friends before they head home. Will have a night or two in town then walk out to Finnisterre - so named because before Chris Columbus it was considered the end of the world. Will be nice to reach the coast.

The mountains that we have passed through were really spectacular and I realised that I really like being up high - everything about it is different and it uses a whole different group of muscles. Climbing O Cebreiro involved 8km of uphill climbing that took about 3 hours. Strenuous but very beautiful - wound through little valleys and forect paths til coming out the top to an amzing view behind of the smaller mountains that we had traversed without realising. Following the ridge line to the top. Thinking that was the worst for the day I was pretty unahhpy to find a surprise hill in the afternoon that came out of nowhere and nearly killed everyone. I had a little tantrum over that one and needed a little beer to console me. Thankfully everyone else felt the same so we ended up with quite a little party. Appropriately the town name was Alto de Poio and is now known amongst our little grouap as "Top of the Poo"!

The people I know on the walk are all quite scattered but I think we should all meet up at some stage in Santiago this week and that is such a lovely part of this trip. Every new town that you walk into, you are guaranteed to run into a dozen or so familiar faces at the first bar and there is a knowing nod passed amongst peregrinos - identifiable by the sandled feet and slight limp as we shuffle to the nearest restaurant. There is something comforting about this community and something that we will all miss when we are back to being unknown and faceless in the big city.

Hve some funny stories to share and some more`pics so stay tuned - this blog will continue when the walk is down so if you are bored at work I can do what I can to keep you amused for a few minutes at least.

Ciao for now

kel