Another great walking day

May 5th. A much shorter walk today. 12 miles and I reached my Alberque by 12 noon. If I hadn’t paid for my bed in advance, I may have kept walking. I started my day in the woods and fields of Galicia, as I have the past two days. I can’t explain how beautiful it was to walk through this landscape. The paths would wind through the woods with streams , moss covered walls and trees, then I’d move into a farmers field with cows and horses and old stone farm houses, then back into the woods. It was all so idyllic. Not sure what my next days will bring, but these have been great walking days.

An administrative word on the Camino… to earn the “Compostela”, which is the accreditation document that shows you’ve walked the Camino, a person needs to show that they’ve walked at least 100 kilometers of the Camino. I am at the 100 kilometer mark on the Camino. The result of that rule means that church groups, high school classes, religious organizations, senior citizen groups are all joining us on the Camino now so that they can walk their 100 Kilometers and earn their Compostela. The path is becoming very crowded. It’s not good or bad…but the “character” of the Camino is now very different. It’s the road weary “veterans” of “The Way” versus the new walkers, who don’t smell like we do! They also haven’t learned some of the etiquette rules for sleeping in then alberque. Someone described some of the Camino now as a Conga Line, with all of the extra people, walking on what can be very narrow paths. We welcome everyone on the Camino. These new pilgrims are just adding another dimension to our last few days.

I’ve got a little bit longer walk tomorrow. As of now, it looks like I’ll be getting into Santiago on May 9th. Time to start thinking about booking my flight from Santiago to Paris. Can’t believe that this adventure is coming to a close. I am looking forward to getting home, but also conflicted about this wonderful experience coming to an end. It’s everything I imagined it to be. It’s 9pm….time for my 59 other bunk mates and me to get to bed.