Day 111 – Santiago de Compostela to Fielato (29,8 km) – Thursday 19.10.2023
After I achieved my long-awaited goal yesterday, I stayed in bed a little longer this morning and didn’t go to breakfast until around 8 a.m. Since I had only planned about 20 km, I took my time and kept getting up to get something from the buffet again. I didn’t leave the hotel until around 9 a.m.
Unfortunately we continued directly into pouring rain and I soon met the first pilgrims wearing rain ponchos. On the other hand, I was once again wearing shorts and was soon pretty wet again. The first few kilometers went through the forest for me. With all the water, the path turned into a real stream in some places and every now and then I walked through puddles where my shoes went very deep into the water before they hit solid ground. Soon my socks were completely soaked and it felt like I had water in my shoes.
When I passed a bar after a few kilometers, I took off my shoes to change my socks. When I turned the shoes around, water actually came pouring out of them. I could probably have filled an entire glass with the water from one shoe. I put the wet socks in the outside pocket of my backpack and put on a pair of fresh, dry socks. Then I bought myself a warm coffee in the bar.
Unfortunately, things didn’t get much better after that and soon the new socks were completely soaked again. Nevertheless, I continued to walk around the area for a while. When things got a little better around 12 p.m. and the rain eased a little, I changed my socks again. Since it was my last pair of socks, I hoped that they wouldn’t get wet again.
As the weather changed, I continued running through forests and meadows. Sometimes the sun shone briefly, then it rained again for a few minutes. In between I passed a beautiful old bridge where the water was rushing through underneath and yet it was clear that the water level was quite high.
Surprisingly, after almost 20 km I arrived at my planned destination in bright sunshine. Since it was only 3 p.m. and the sun was shining, I decided to walk a little further and take advantage of the good weather. The nearest pilgrim accommodation was only about 10 kilometers away, which I was supposed to do in two hours. So I was motivated to walk to the end of the city and was happy about the warm rays of sunshine.
However, the good weather didn’t last long. As soon as I left the city, it started to rain again and I ran through the forest again with a rain jacket. I trudge around the area completely soaked for the remaining kilometers. I couldn’t wait to finally be in dry accommodation, take a warm shower and change into dry clothes.
Towards the evening I finally reached today’s pilgrim accommodation. After the soothing shower, I chatted for some time with an American who was one of my roommates today. Later all the pilgrims sat together for dinner and we made fun of the bad weather. While we ate the delicious food, we talked about the different tours that each of us had done and reported on our experiences. There was a lot of fun with one or two glasses of wine and we had a great evening together. At around 9 p.m. we all went to our rooms to rest for the next day.
Day 112 – Fielato to O Logoso (30,2 km) – Friday 20.10.2023
Today I got up again at half past eight. Afterwards we went to the restaurant to eat toast for breakfast and drink coffee. Shortly after 8 a.m. I left the pilgrim accommodation again.
The weather had gotten a little better again. Instead of constant rain, I had to contend with quite strong and cold winds this morning. So I ran through the hills with a strong headwind and was happy when I could run through a small depression where the wind wasn’t so strong.
Otherwise not much happened today. I walked around the area in a relaxed manner and the weather always changed between sunshine and rain. As soon as I took off my rain jacket, it started raining again and I unpacked it again. At least the rain today wasn’t as bad as yesterday, so I still had dry socks and was able to enjoy the landscape with a blue sky every now and then.
At some point I came across a bridge that would take me over a small stream. Since it had rained so much in the last few days, the water not only flowed under the bridge, but at one point it also simply flowed over the bridge. But since I couldn’t find a detour, I had to walk through the almost ankle-deep water to the other side. Afterwards my socks were completely wet again.
At least I didn’t have far to walk after that. After almost 30 kilometers I arrived at my current pilgrim accommodation. There I met some pilgrims from yesterday. Since there was no dinner together today, I later went to the restaurant and ordered a pilgrim menu. A few minutes later I was joined by a fellow pilgrim from Latvia who I had already sat with yesterday evening. While we ate we talked about various topics and thought about where we wanted to go tomorrow. At a late hour we went back to our beds.
Day 113 – O Logoso to Finisterre (30,1 km) – Saturday 21.10.2023
Strangely enough, since I was alone in my shared room today, I slept wonderfully. Very motivated, I packed everything up in the morning, had a quick coffee in the restaurant and ate a sweet snack.
Then we started again in the dark. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see much for the first few meters because it was just too dark. In contrast to the other pilgrims, I didn’t use my headlamp because I could see the route quite well. It slowly became brighter and I was able to marvel at the sunrise while running.
In between I had a nice tourist photo taken of me.
After a few kilometers I came to the last junction on my journey. Here I had to decide whether I wanted to walk south to Finisterre or north to Muxia. Since the weather was reported to be good this evening, I wanted to watch the sunset in Finisterre, which is said to be particularly beautiful there. I turned left and followed the path further to Finisterre, which was already known to the Romans as the “end of the world”.
Afterwards we walked through fields for a while and the surrounding area was beautifully illuminated by the still low sun.
Then the path changed into the forest, where it continued for a long time. On the 15 kilometers to the next town I hardly met any other people and I didn’t pass any real houses. Only a small chapel in the forest offered me a place to sit, which I used again to make myself a coffee.
After that I continued through the forest before I finally reached the sea after almost 20 km.
From here we pretty much walked along the beach to Finisterre. I booked a room there today. When I got to my room, I took a quick shower and then, carrying light luggage, set off for the Cape, which was almost 3 kilometers outside of the city, and where I wanted to watch the sunset.
When the weather was good, I got there around half past seven. At first I was happy about the marker stone with the symbolic number of kilometers 0. Then I walked past the lighthouse and sat on one of the rocks and looked at the sea from there.
Around half past eight the sun slowly set and like many other people, I enjoyed the sunset at the sea. When the sun had completely set, I walked back into the city in the dark and went straight to sleep there.
Day 114 – Finisterre to Muxia (29,4 km) – Sunday 22.10.2023
After a restful night, I didn’t go for breakfast until 8:30 a.m. today. When I left the hotel around 9 a.m., the first pilgrims were getting on the bus to go home. I, on the other hand, made my way to Muxia, almost 30 kilometers away.
At first it went through small villages and later more through forests. The route was very quiet and pleasant to run. There were always ups and downs, but there were few strenuous climbs. In between I could always see the sea and a few beaches.
While I hardly met any other pilgrims in the first few hours, that was soon to change. First I met familiar faces from the last few days in a bar and later I met people who were walking from Muxia to Finisterre and therefore in the opposite direction. It was always funny when I bumped into people I had already met on my trip. So I stopped more often and chatted briefly with the pilgrims I had known from the last few weeks.
Shortly before Muxia I came across a beautiful little beach. Since I didn’t have far to go, I didn’t let the 16 degrees outside temperature deter me, went down to the beach and went for a swim in the sea. There were only three other people on the beach next to me who were comfortable on the sand and watching the waves. When they saw me going into the sea to swim, they really cheered me on and were happy that at least someone was going into the water in these temperatures.
After my short swim in the very big waves, I dried myself off and quickly put warm clothes back on. Then I set off again to complete the remaining kilometers to Muxia.
Shortly before the town I caught up with two pilgrims who I knew from the last few days. One was the pilgrim from Latvia with whom I had already eaten two evenings and the other was a younger pilgrim from South Korea with whom I had spent some time walking the day before yesterday. We walked the remaining meters together and then stopped together at a pilgrims’ accommodation.
After making our beds and putting our things there, we walked to the coast. There we looked at the church and marveled at the rocks and the sea. Somehow it felt more like the end of the world here. Apart from a few pilgrims, there were hardly any people around and the rough waves showed that you were right on the ocean. Although I hadn’t booked a return flight yet and therefore didn’t know whether my trip should even end here, it felt like an end to this quiet place for me too.
After we had enjoyed the time a little, we went out to eat a typical Galician meal together in a restaurant. We treated ourselves to a plate of pulpo with fries and salad one last time. We talked about the last few days and toasted the end of our journey together. After eating we went back to the accommodation and went to sleep.
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