Camino Ingles – Day 5 Metanzo to Santiago 12km

Hotel San Vincente, or as James referred to it, Bates Motel, had a feed of toast, scrambled eggs and coffee ready for us before we headed off on the last leg of our adventure.

From here to Santiago was the shortest and probably the nicest part of the journey so far.  We walked along dirt roads, through enchanted woods where legendary witches lived and by endless rows of corn.

corn

Eager to reach the fabled city of Santiago for lunch, we put the heads down and stretched the legs, kicking up dust as we powered through the last of the Galician countryside.  Even the Burney Foot Syndrome would not slow us today. Another aspect of this little studied disease was that it never appeared until late afternoon. The stone kilometre markers that had taunted us for so long now began to drop away at a dizzying pace. To remind us of its power, the Camino claimed one more piece of technology when Tina realised that she left her charger back at the hotel.

head down

Finally, we hit the outskirts of the town and stopped for our mid-morning coffee outside a giant cafe in an industrial estate with more people than we had seen in the last four days. Then it was on through the suburbs. The horreos were replaced by large scale cemeteries and we began to feel at home as we passed hairdressers, machinery hardwares and ongoing roadworks. The misty green hills that we had followed for so long were replaced by rooftops, traffic lights and roads merging into larger roads.

pedestrian

Before we could reach our destination, the lads discovered a McDonald’s and that threw us off our pace. Myself, Tina and Ruth were saving ourselves for paella and piementos padron so we sat outside in the carpark while the others devoured burgers, fries and shakes. Once they had satisfied their culinary needs, we hit the cobblestones. We joined the throngs of pilgrims following the dying cat sounds of Galician bagpipes leading us along the streets towards the final markers in the stone centre of Praza de Obradoiro. We passed beggars on their knees with palms outstretched, bicycle tourists pumping their wheels and hundreds of other bewildered looking people just like us.

square

Once we reach the end of the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela we discover that the church is actually completely covered in scaffolding and plastic sheets for repairs and we cannot actually see a thing. Instead, we celebrate in our own way. Tony has seen a five star hotel in the square and after doing his business in the bushes for the last week he wants the luxury of planting his butt on some fine porcelain. Gemma has a massage booked for her aching muscles. I am going on a food tour to eat octopus and fried padron peppers. James has his name on a glass of Galicia Estrelle. Tina and Ruth want a fancy restaurant, vegetarian food and some souvenir shopping.

But first, before we get too carried away from our pilgrimage we indulge in a lively family argument which sees one of us leaving a final spiritual deposit on the Camino by throwing their rucksack down in the street and storming off.

What did I do_

When peace returns all that is left to do after that is take a tour on the worst tourist train ride in the world.

TRAIN (2)

 

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