Scores on the doors 20.4 km, up 180m down 244m
Last night we did not get to bed untill 11:45 (a very un-pilgrim like hour) so as a result had a very leisurely start, the latest yet at 8:45.
We set out to a misty day with a light drizzle walking through woods of eucalyptus trees
an Australian who I had met yesterday had said that except for the lack of Koalas & Kangaroos, he could have been walking in the hills outside Melborne.
After an hour and a bit we passed by the airport, and then stopped in the village of Lavacola for breakfast of toast and coffee. Lavacola was the place where pilgrims traditionally washed before the final approach to Santiago.
We carried on and after another hour got to another landmark on the pilgrim trail, Monte del Gozo (Monxoi), which was the hill where pilgrims would get their first sight of the Cathedral at Santiago. Unfortunatly the hill was levelled and a large monument errected
to comemorate Pope John Paul II visit to Santiago in 1989, now all you can see is trees and the suburbs of Santiago, we stopped by the little church and said morning prayer, before continuing our journey.
We decended towards the town crossed a motorway and eventually reached the outskirts of Santiago and the city sign.
It was another 3/4 hour before we got our first view of the Cathedral, but before we had to pass through busy suburbs and modern housing estates. During this time the familiar yellow arrows deserted us and we had to rely on civic signage. At last when we had nearly given up hope of ever seeing the Cathederal we got our first glympse of it's spires sticking up above the city
With a renewed bounce in our step we carried on and at a crossing over a main road, we saw on the other side of the road Roshine from Ireland and Andraias from Holand, they had just come from the pilgrims Mass having got into Santiago at about 10. A few minutes later we passed the South door of the Cathedral and saw the two Finnish doctors, who had walked 40km the day before. After greetings and huggs we carried on through an arch and into Praza Do Obradoiro, the Cathedral Square and we had arrived at last after walking for over 1500 km.
Last night we did not get to bed untill 11:45 (a very un-pilgrim like hour) so as a result had a very leisurely start, the latest yet at 8:45.
We set out to a misty day with a light drizzle walking through woods of eucalyptus trees
After an hour and a bit we passed by the airport, and then stopped in the village of Lavacola for breakfast of toast and coffee. Lavacola was the place where pilgrims traditionally washed before the final approach to Santiago.
We carried on and after another hour got to another landmark on the pilgrim trail, Monte del Gozo (Monxoi), which was the hill where pilgrims would get their first sight of the Cathedral at Santiago. Unfortunatly the hill was levelled and a large monument errected
We decended towards the town crossed a motorway and eventually reached the outskirts of Santiago and the city sign.
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