A very relaxed, laid back sort of a day. It was nice to wake up and not have to Vaseline the feet, carefully put on the toe socks, lace up the shoes, load the daily needs into the pack, swot up on what we will see today and remember to take the directions to, and name of, the hotel we are heading to.

A slow breakfast and a wander round some of the squares and narrow streets. I like it when they are empty, the street cleaning trucks have left the cobblestones wet, only a few earlybird cafes are open and it is so quiet. A few souls go into the churches for the early mass. The 500 pilgrims who arrived yesterday are still in bed sleeping off last night’s celebrations. It is far too early for the 500 new pilgrims who will arrive today.

At 10 o’clock we were waiting outside the information centre to check out the buses to Finisterre which we will use tomorrow. Then we settled into a table in a strategic cafe on the Camino path to watch the pilgrims come by. In the warm morning sun, over coffee and chocolate cake, we wished them buen camino as they navigated the last few streets. Some were bright eyed and eager, almost skipping along. Others limped, slightly stooped under their loads, doggedly putting one foot in front of the other. Everyone has their own personal camino.

At 11.30 am we were at the Sagrado Corazon tattoo and piercing parlour. Not for a piercing, but a tattoo. We had decided before we left NZ that if we completed our camino we would follow one of its ” modern” traditions and get a tattoo. Just a small one, in a discreet location. A lovely young Frenchman, with a steady hand, did the deed. We now each have a stylised scallop shell on our leg, just above the ankle. We chose the leg because for the last five weeks the legs have done all the hard yards. The Camino may not have changed us in any profound way, but now part of it will always be with us, we can never forget it.

Last night we went to mass in the cathedral to see the swinging of the Botafumeiro (“smoke-belcher”), a giant incense burner that hangs on a thick rope from high in the dome. The ritual requires half a dozen attendants, tiraboleiros, to get it swinging. Originally it was used to fumigate the sweaty and possibly disease ridden pilgrims. This is a large cathedral and seats 1,000. We arrived an hour early and already every seat was taken. At least another 1,000 of us were standing and eventually the doors were closed to stop even more from entering. It was a full mass and communion with a lot of singing. The singing was lead by a nun who had an amazing voice and with the organ it was magic.

The swinging of the Botafumeiro was started with an almighty blast on the organ. Straight out of The Phantom of the Opera. At the beginning of the service they said there was to be no photography but as soon as the swinging started a thousand iphones, tablets and cameras came out, all popping off their flashes. We were not in a good location so didn’t get a good view due to the large crowd.

Our hotel here, the San Martin Pinario was a huge monastery (20,000 sqm) built mainly in the 17th century and is now a hotel, church, museum, hostel and seminary. As with most of our accommodation it is beautiful, a mixture of the old and the modern. It has three cloisters and is on the south side of a plaza, facing the north side the cathedral. This plaza is one of the sunniest and so attracts a lot of buskers and street performers.

All day people arrive in the square in front of the cathedral. The tradition is for walkers to lie prone on the flag stones, and cyclists to hold their cycles above their heads. Early this morning a group of horsemen rode in dressed in ceremonial costume. They were Cavaleiros de Paz from Brazil. They performed some form of ritual that involved kneeling and a sword being placed on their head. A bit like being knighted by the queen. We heard reports these guys drank an awful lot of beer on the way to Santiago and it was only because the horses were sober and knew the way that they got here. Two other guys on beautiful small horses also arrived. We had seen them yesterday on Monte del Gozo.

Tonight we met up with a bunch of our friends Helen, Carolyn, John, Jackie, Peter, Alison, Vee, Evelyn and two other Aussies for a celebration drink. Everyone was pretty happy to have made it. I had my first Spanish beer. I have been drinking vino tinto all the way and had decided I would wait until I reached Santiago before a nice cold beer.

We’re here! Arrived in the square (Praza do Obradoiro) in front of the Compostela Cathedral at 11.45am. It was absolute chaos. Half the square was a mass of hundreds of pilgrims most either in a state of ecstacy or collapse. A large area was fenced off into little pens. In each was a guide with about 30 tourists. Each guide had a placard on a stick and an air horn. The guides yelled at their charges and every minute or so sounded off the air horn. Another area was fenced off so kids could race around a track on bicycles or go-carts. It was crazy.

We took the obligatory photos and decided to get out of there. We went to the Pilgrim Office, Oficina del Peregrino, to get our Compostelas. Inevitably there was a long queue and it took 90 minutes waiting in line before we reached the issuing counter. Our pilgrim passports were full with all the required stamps, dates and signatures. I was issued a Certificate of Distance and the second class Certificate of Welcome because I walked as a tourist and not for religious or spiritual reasons.

They obviously had advance warning that Saint Barbara was approaching and saw the halo above her head, as she got a Certificate of Distance and the coveted Compostela for those who have completed their journey for religious reasons. She swears it was all a mistake and misunderstanding. But you can’t fool God.

We retired to a cafe for a peregrino lunch and celebratory vino tinto. When we went back to the square it was a different place. All the pens, guides , air horns, tourists, kids, go-carts, gone. It was quiet with small groups of pilgrims sitting or lying on the cobblestones looking happy and contented.

So how do we feel?

A mixture of feelings. Grateful to have made it. Not smug or self satisfied as we met people who tried so hard and suffered so much.

Releived not to have to walk tomorrow. Not that at anytime did we want to give up.

It feels a bit of an anticlimax. We had never really concentrated on the destination, we were just happy to be experiencing the journey, and now the journey is over.

Our passports full of stamps mean more to us than the certificates we collected today. Every stamp is a memory of somewhere along the way. There is a stamp from every accommodation we stayed at. With the passport, the blog and the photos we can relive our journey. The certificates will be put in a drawer and forgotten.

A bit confusing and a shock to be back in a city again. It would have been nice to have walked in with our friends but they are all a day behind us and will arrive tomorrow. We hope to catch up with them tomorrow afternoon before we all go our separate ways.

Tonight and tomorrow we will explore this vibrant and colourful city before going on to Finisterre.

Today’s walk was pretty easy, only 15km. Everyone was in good spirits as you would expect. We went around the end of Santiago airport and under a large red and white striped structure which only contained a few runway lights. There were three large sculptures on the way into Santiago. The first is on the top of Monte do Gozo, Mount of Joy, and commemorates the visit of Pope John Paul II. The second is of two pilgrims looking toward the cathedral. The cathedral spires are now hidden by sprawling suburbs. The third , on a traffic roundabout, is a tall structure with reliefs of notable historical figures connected with the camino.

Today was the easiest walking day so far. Temperature was cooler because of cloud, the path was under the shade of trees and there were no big hills. The path was mostly compacted clay. It makes a huge difference to your legs and feet depending on the surface.

The very worst is probably ankle deep mud and cow dung. But after that the surface from worst to best is: uneven cobblestones, rocky ground, concrete, asphalt, compacted clay or dirt. The last with a layer of dry leaves is absolutely the best. You can tell what the path has been like by the tenderness of your feet and the tightness of your leg muscles.

We crossed over a huge abandoned civil engineering project today. At first I thought it was a canal, then maybe a motorway. Turns out it was part of the high speed train network, abandoned in the 2008 financial crisis.

We didn’t see our adopted singing children today but did spy the blue stealth bus, lurking in a quiet farm lane.

We had some walking alongside a busy road but the vast majority was through woodland. A lot of eucalyptus again today. Several of the 134 Australian species were introduced here in 1865 for use in construction, for which it proved to be unsuitable. It is fast growing, has no natural controls, drives out local species, messes up the ground with its leaves, nuts and bark and is enormously consumptive of water. Today the only difference we have noticed is the Australians we meet are enormously consumptive of alcohol.

Today was our penultimate day, only 15km to Santiago. We are definitely looking forward to a rest. We have kept fit, healthy and strong but there is an accumulating background fatigue that is slowly wearing us out.

The secret to our camino has been Barbara’s ‘Revive and Restore miracle muscle balm’. She was first introduced to it at the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. It is anti-inflammatory, muscle building, tendon and ligament strengthening, circulation promoting and scar tissue reducing. It contains organic beeswax, organic hydrosol of manuka, arnica and calendula infused in almond oil, castor and rosehip oils, oils of black pepper, cajeput, elemi, eucalyptus, radiata, ginger, immortelle, lemongrass, nutmeg, peppermint, lavender and vetiver. The 21st century miracle needed to complete the Camino.

Saints are pretty big in Spain. I can only think of two towns in NZ named after saints: St Arnaud and St Bathans.

A brief biography of St Barbara: legendary virgin martyr, allegedly killed ca. 303. Her father imprisoned her in a tower to keep her from men’s eyes. When she became a Christian against her father’s wishes, he nearly killed her, then handed her over to a judge who condemned her to death. A lightning bolt killed her father. Barbara protects against sudden death and is the patroness of things that go boom: lightning, artillery, mines and explosives. Emblem :the tower.

A brief biography of St Paul: Roman, known as Saul before his conversion on the road to Damascus. With Barnabas, took the message of Christianity to gentiles all over the eastern Mediterranean. Missionary and writer. Beheaded in Rome. Emblems: sword and book.

Ipod theme song for the Camino :Louis Armstrong, When the Saints go marching in.

We are travelling in the footsteps
Of those who’ve been before
But we’ll all be reunited (but if we stand reunited)
On a new and sunlit shore (then a new world is in store)

Oh when the Saints go marching in
When the Saints go marching in
O Lord, I want to be in that number
When the Saints go marching in.

No mist today. The mist has gone away. This means instead of it staying cool until midday, it stays cool until about 8 am. A hot day. We are in for a shock when we get home.

A long day, 30km, over six river valleys. Climb up a hill, across a ridge and down a hill, cross a little river, climb up a hill, across a ridge etc. All day. Very nice country though. A lot of shade from the trees. There is a lot of eucalyptus which was introduced for paper pulp and lumber. It thrives here, but their forests are relatively sterile with little bird life. There were also woodlands of birch, willows, ash and oak shading a large variety of ferns. At the rivers many people took the opportunity to cool their feet. The rivers weren’t quite big enough for swimming.

Since coming over the mountains at O Cebreiro there have been far fewer wild flowers. No poppies! We so miss the poppies. They had kept us company all the way from Roncesvalles. Now it is just dandelions, daisies, thistles, etc. The usual stuff alongside a well used path. We haven’t seen sun flowers at all. Probably too early for them.

We walked with the same group of teenagers for a while. They had fresh tee shirts today and are still full of energy. They are so friendly and they like to sing. Barbara wants to teach them the words to “The ants go marching one by one, hoorah, hoorah,” It’s all a bit hard to explain and translate.

And still lurking in the background is the big blue bus. It is here at the hotel again tonight. The guide is a big guy with a pot belly but quite young. He likes to strut around as if he owns the Camino. Maybe he works in the off season at Oktoberfest.

Just two more stamps to get for our passports. Today, by paying a euro, we also got a blob of red wax with the impression of two feet stamped in it. We are now not sure if this was a good idea as it looks so different to all the other stamps. I also missed getting a photo of the wax being melted onto the passport. Oh well, I’m not going back.

Since we entered Galicia there have been white obelisks about a metre tall, with the distance to Santiago on them. Their location is completely random. Sometimes within fifty metres of each other and sometimes nothing for several kilometres. The distance given is down to a metre eg 143.864. The figure is never rounded off to five or ten. Weird or what!

Every little village church has a story or legend. This one was from the church of Santa Maria at Lobreiro, which we passed today:

A heavenly odour and, at night, a shining light emanated from a nearby fountain. Villagers dug up an image of the Virgin there and placed it on the altar of their church, but the next day could not find the image, for it had returned to the fountain. This happened for several days, until the villagers carved a tympanum for the church entrance and dedicated the church to her. At this point the image remained calmly on the altar. This Virgin, with the lovely smile of someone who has gotten what she wants, is still in the church. In the 1960s some villagers believed that she returned to the fountain every night to comb her hair.

Theme tune for today (not on the Ipod):

The ants go marching one by one
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching one by one
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down into the ground
To get out of the rain
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

There are now so many more people walking the Camino. I can understand how people who have walked hundreds of kilometres in quiet contemplation hate the last 100 kilometres.

As we left Potomarin we got mixed up in a large group of teenagers. They had so much energy and enthusiasm. Hopefully some of it rubbed off on us. The boys were playing pranks on the teachers but the teachers had thick walking sticks to deal with any nonsense.

After the kids had raced ahead we were behind a group of about twenty Spaniards. At their front was a very loud lady who at about every hundred metres waved her arms and yelled out what sounded like whamo, whamo, whamo. I thought if this goes on for six hours you’re the one who’s going to get a whamo, lady. They also stopped to take lots of group photos and when they get home will wonder who the strangers were who kept popping up in the back row.

Potomarin was an old village each side of a river in the bottom of a valley. In 1956 they decided to build a dam for hydro electric power. The church and some other historic buildings were dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt on higher ground. Then a new town was built around them. The old town was then drowned.

Mist again this morning. This seems to be the pattern since we have crossed the mountains and entered Galicia. It makes for very pleasant walking. Today is our tenth day in a row of walking. Our previous longest had been nine days between rest days. We have three more days to Santiago.

Barbara has named a new species of pilgrim: coconut ice pilgrims.  As we are moving east to west, the sun is always behind us. For those who have come from winter, or who just don’t like the sun, the backs of their legs are sunburnt and the fronts still white. Hence coconut ice.

We are being stalked by the big blue bus we first saw yesterday. It was at our hotel last night and was at two cafes today. It is at our hotel tonight. They are a group of about fifteen with a guide and seem to do a bit of walking each day. They are dressed like they are going shopping at the mall. They travel very light, maybe carrying just a drink bottle. At dinner they sit at a big table and have a briefing from the guide. Unfortunately we can’t understand a word.

We have to get two stamps per day now, so we stopped at a tiny church to get one of them. There was a priest stamping the passports. He was talking flat out in Spanish the whole time. We didn’t realise at first but he was blind. I got an upside down stamp in my passport and Barbara got a stamp on the back of her hand. All the females got a stamp on their body, maybe he wasn’t quite so blind.

One of the most interesting things we saw today were the remains of a Celtic Fort, Castromaior. It was only about 50 metres off the Camino path but we were the only ones there. The sign and information board were slightly off the path and I think everyone else missed it in the morning mist. The fort was occupied up until about 1 AD. It has been partly reconstructed but the houses, streets, walls etc are all there to see.

Ipod theme tune for today: Cliff Richard, Travelling Light.

I got no bags or baggage to slow me down
I’m travelling so fast my feet don’t touch the ground
Travelling light, travelling light
I just can’t wait to be with my baby tonight.