Day 106 – A Fonsagrada to Vilar de Cas (40,3 km) – Saturday 14.10.2023
The night in the hotel room was very quiet and I woke up feeling rested. I got up at 7 and packed everything up. There was no breakfast at the hotel, but there was free coffee in the lobby. So I quickly had one out of the machine and drank my coffee in the hotel. Then I set off in the dark.
At first it was not only very dark, but also very foggy. Therefore, I could only see a few meters away and hardly noticed anything of the landscape.
After a few minutes I passed a house where classical music was playing over loudspeakers, which sounded very interesting in the otherwise quiet fog. Motivated by the music, I ran around the area today at a walking pace and quickly covered a few kilometers. Since I didn’t take any breaks, I had already completed the first 15 km after a short time.
Shortly after 11 I met a pilgrim who was actually traveling just as fast as me. We walked around together for almost an hour and talked about various things. He had now traveled almost 1000 km and had also traveled around the world a lot. After climbing Mont Blanc for the second time, he is currently planning his first 8000m peak in the Himalayas, but that is not that easy. After almost an hour I took a short drinking break and each of us went our own way for the time being.
After 4.5 hours I reached the first smaller town where I wanted to eat something. At this point I had actually already completed almost 25 km and had climbed over 700 meters in altitude and over 1000 meters down.
When I entered the first bar I came across, I met the pilgrim from the morning again. He just took a break here and wanted to go to Lugo, which meant another 30 kilometers. When I sat down next to him, we also started talking to another pilgrim who also wanted to go to Lugo. While I ate pizza, I chatted with them and found it impressive that they both wanted to run 53 km. Before I was finished, both of them continued walking again and I then set off alone.
Even after my break, I continued to walk quickly through the area and since the fog had now cleared up, I was even able to enjoy the landscape a bit. For today I had targeted an accommodation that was still a few kilometers away. So I continued to move forward quickly and noticed that I was now healthy again.
After almost 9 hours, I reached the accommodation I had chosen after more than 40 km. There I got a place in the very posh-looking accommodation. After taking a shower and washing my clothes, I joined a few other pilgrims who were sitting in the garden and chatting.
Later we all sat together at dinner. Today there were two other Germans, a Portuguese, a Spaniard, an Irish woman and two Italians in the accommodation next to me. We chatted over a very tasty dinner and drank a glass or two of wine and later a little schnapps. After a very entertaining evening, we all went to bed late at night.
Day 107 – Vilar de Cas to San Romao (35,9 km) – Sunday 15.10.2023
When I got up in the pilgrim accommodation this morning, most of the others were already on their way. After a quick breakfast, I was the last to leave the accommodation, even though it was still quite dark outside.
In the early morning hours I initially walked around the area in the dry. But soon the rain started and it didn’t take long until I was really wet. Since I couldn’t see much today due to the fog and didn’t want to take any breaks because of the rain, I quickly ran through to Lugo.
There I reached another milestone on my journey. From here I only had 100 kilometers to complete.
I was very happy when I finally passed a sign that said less than 100 kilometers. So from here I only had a double-digit number of kilometers to complete, which was a very strange feeling. Because on the one hand I was happy that the goal was slowly in sight and on the other hand I didn’t want this path to end soon.
Then I walked through the gate of the city wall and from there walked to the city’s cathedral. I looked at it from the inside and visited the associated museum.
When I was finished, I ran to a bar and bought one of those delicious bocadillos and drank another espresso. Strengthened, I left the city and ran through the persistent rain again. After a few more kilometers the rain gradually subsided and soon I was even able to continue walking without my rain jacket.
Unfortunately, today I was on the road for a long time, and after almost 30 kilometers my feet started to hurt. Due to the rain, which was also reported for the night, I didn’t want to pitch my tent today, despite there being suitable meadows. The accommodation I had chosen wasn’t far away, so I just kept walking. After 35 km I reached my today’s goal. There I immediately met familiar faces from the last few days. After a shower, I joined the others and wrote my diary like all pilgrims.
Later I sat outside for a while with Christopher, the Swiss who started on the same day as me, and we talked about our future plans over a beer. At around 8 a.m. the hostel father came and we finally got the long-awaited dinner. Today I only sat at the table with people I had known from the last few days and funny conversations quickly developed. As we ate our food, we enjoyed our wine and had a great conversation. When the hostel father saw my empty and beautifully cleaned plate, I was even given a second steak as a second helping.
After our dinner together, we went back to sleep to rest for the final stages.
Day 108 – San Romao to Melide (28,5 km) – Monday 16.10.2023
Strangely enough, when I got up this morning, all the pilgrims were still there. At around 7:30 I went down and had breakfast with a few other pilgrims, which consisted of coffee and jam bread. Apparently the last two longer stages had taken their toll on most of the pilgrims and so I was one of the first from our group to leave the pilgrims’ accommodation today.
Still in the semi-darkness, I ran quickly through the forest. When I wanted to overtake a pilgrim, he asked me if I was the German who had set off from home. As it turned out in the next few minutes, he had started in Würzburg the day before me. But since he had ridden a few hundred kilometers on his bike, he eventually overtook me and in the meantime I caught up with him on foot. I walked for almost two hours with the young forester who was on a sabbatical and wanted to use this time for his Camino. But he quickly made it clear to me that he was already sure that he would hand in his resignation afterwards and wanted to continue traveling. We talked about our experiences so far and future plans. When he needed a break after two hours of exercise, I continued running without him.
After a few more kilometers I took a break at a bench and made myself some coffee for the first time in a long time. Afterwards I continued through the hilly landscape of Galicia in the pouring rain.
As I had a little refreshment in a bar along the way, I was asked again whether I was the one who started from home and was sleeping in a tent. Apparently the word had already gotten around among the people here and so I always quickly got into conversation with people. So I answered their questions again and this made this break longer than planned. At least I didn’t have much longer to walk after that.
At every stone I passed, the number of kilometers still to be covered continued to decrease. By now it was almost a frighteningly low number of kilometers that I still had to complete until Santiago. When I arrived at today’s destination at lunchtime, it was only about 53 km left. Due to the now very small number, running today felt more like running out for me. Like the other pilgrims, I slowly became aware that I would probably arrive in Santiago in two days and thus reach my long-awaited goal. Somehow it felt surreal to me that my trip was about to end and the closer I got to Santiago, the weirder the feeling became. On the one hand, I was happy to arrive at my destination soon after such a long time, but on the other hand, I didn’t want the journey to end. So I continued walking through the rain with mixed feelings.
When I finally arrived in Melida after another hour and in pouring rain, I immediately met a lot of pilgrims and realized that from here I would be switching to the most famous pilgrimage route, the Frances. From now on, the lonely hiking in nature was over and I quickly found myself in large crowds. I ran to a pilgrim accommodation and reserved a place there. After a long shower, I took a short nap and then chatted a bit with other pilgrims.
In the evening I went out to eat in a nearby restaurant, which at least didn’t offer food until 8 a.m. After a long day I was really hungry and so the Galician pulpo tasted particularly good.
After the delicious meal, I returned to the pilgrims’ accommodation and chatted a bit with other pilgrims. First with a group of South Koreans and then with a young woman from the area who lives near Finisterre, less than an hour’s drive from Santiago. So instead of running from home, she basically runs home. Since I have a somewhat longer route ahead of me tomorrow, I said goodbye around half past ten and then went back to bed to sleep.
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