It seems so long that we had the luxury of a sleep in, which we did today.  Felt really good.  After breakfast we went to attend the noon mass at the Cathedral.  Because of the large turnout everyday, we decided to arrive by 11.00am so that we will have the chance of seats.  But .. the cathedral was already full.  Imagine, people show up way before 11.00am for the noon mass!  Most of the congregation were pilgrims and tourists. more…

We have arrived … We have survived … the road to Santiago de Compostela. Today at 5.00pm Spanish time, we arrived at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela and that marks the official completion of our walk on the Camino Frances after 28 days of walking. The atmosphere at the Cathedral defies descripition. Hundreds of happy pilgrims sitting around the square – exchanging stories of their journeys, sharing experiences, elated to meet up with friends they have made along the way or just simply happy to see familiar faces. more…

Today we were determined to beat the weather at all cost. Before we went to bed last night we said that we would walk the entire distance of 20.95km no matter what the weather would be. We started off with a light drizzle and did the first 8km in very good pace despite encountering four steep ascents within the first 4km. The continuous rain over the past few days has created not only soggy muddy paths and tracks but today we were faced with long flooded stretches. We had to resort to acrobatics of all sorts to twinkle toe our way through. more…

The bad weather interrupted our programme again today. Once again we had to cut the front section and started walking from Melide for 20.44km to Arzua. The route saw quite a number of up and downs with particularly sharp descents in two locations. Rain brought lots of mud to the paths and tracks and that took some joy out of the walking. Not forgetting that when the paths and tracks are muddy, it is very difficult to differentiate dung from mud and I really do not relish stepping on poo! Since Sarria we have noticed an enormous increase of dung on the route. more…

The weather forecast continues to be dim – more rain. Without ponchos we were not able to continue with our walk, not when the rain goes right through our rain coats. So, the first thing we did in the morning was to go in to the village to get some. Today was supposed to be a 24km walk but we managed only 8km from Areixe to Palas de Rei due to time constraint. The route today was a little boring as most of the terrain was asphalt. We just found out that Li Leng is terrified of worms (of any kind) and because of the very wet weather, lots of worms are surfacing on the muddy tracks. more…

I am so sorry but we have an apartment without any heating, it’s freezing, all 5 of us moved into one room, just to keep warm, and I need to go under the blankets now so I can’t continue with my writing.  It is pouring outside and the weather is just so very cold.  Will try to put up Saturday’s and today’s by tomorrow.  If I continue to write, I will turn into a block of ice – no joke!!

Today was Li Leng, Steven and Teddy’s first day of walking. They did very well given that it was not exactly an easy route. They went through a good mix of terrains and other conditions – asphalt, smooth earthen paths, rough rocky paths, gravel paths, walked through streams, walked over all sorts of dung (wow, we have never had to walk over so much dung before on this journey – the paths were so covered that it was no longer a matter of trying to avoid them, it was choosing the oldest patches! Oh, I just found out that Li Leng is terrified of creepy crawlies. She met with 14 of them. In the 26 days that we have been walking, we rarely see any – perhaps 2 or 3 at most. more…

There was a mistake in our schedule and it resulted in us having to take the bus from O Cebreiro to Sarria today in order to meet Li Leng, Steven and Teddy on time.  The distance by bus was 38km.  There is only one bus everyday for this route so we had to be at the “bus stop” by 6.30am.  It was still dark but we could see thick fog covering the valley below.  It felt as if O Cebreiro was standing above the clouds.  Exactly at 7.00am a little bus came to a half exactly where we were waiting.  There were only Joy and I going to Sarria and an Irish lady going all the way to Santiago de Compostela.  The journey took an hour and fifteen minutes and were were in Sarria’s bus station by 8.15am.  more…

We are not prepared for the extreme cold and it is cold up in the mountains. Within half an hour of setting out this morning, our fingers were frozen. Thank God for my Buff that has helped to keep my head and ears warm. We were so cold that we had to stop for a cup of tea – that really helped. Today’s journey is the continuation of yesterday’s – the climb up to O Cebreiro. O Cebreiro is almost 1300m high – a little lower than Cruz de Ferro. Steep ascents awaited us, mostly on unspoilt rough rocky paths, with very little plateaus. We took our time and made the 13km to O Cebreiro in 4 hours from Vega de Valcarce – quite a good pace for trekking up a mountain. more…

Joy and I woke up in the morning all psyched up for a difficult day. We have read in the camino books and have been told by so many pilgrims that the most beautiful route to O Cebreiro is the toughest route which has very steep ascents and equally steep descents. The alternative would be the road route. After careful deliberation, we felt that since we have already come so far, it would seem such a pity if we missed out on the beautiful scenery on the tough route. The first 9km to Villafranca de Bierzo was uneventful but the route did take us through lovely vineyards. more…