I’m writing this final installment of my 2024 Camino posts from Paris, after getting over my parting gift from Santiago: a bout of food poisoning. Ooh la la.
The end of this Camino was much like its beginning: foggy, rainy, and cold, with low visibility, so the line of pilgrims along the way sported ponchos and other rain gear. However, when we reached Mount Gozo and the outskirts of Santiago were in sight, no one cared about the weather. We made it!
But, I’m getting a little ahead of myself. My last post left off in Ponferrada, where I stayed in a wonderful albergue with great services. Subsequent days took me to Cacabelos, Trabadelo, Las Herrerias, O Cebreriro (a dreadful climb and weather),
Triacastela, Sarria, Portomarin, Airexe, Melide, Arzua, and O Pedrouzo. My lodgings were generally good, but sometimes not that great.
After O Cebreriro, it’s not quite all downhill but it seems that way and once you reach Sarria, where all the tour groups jump in to get the minimum kilometers required for a compostela, momentum and excitement help propel you forward toward the finish.
Each time I met Americans on this hike, and there were many, I carefully brought up the upcoming U.S. elections. I don’t often get to talk to people I don’t already know, from across the U.S., these days so I wanted to do so here and to listen to their views. As it turned out, almost all of them had the same political feelings that I have. I guess going on the Camino may reflect a certain world-view, so sharing those feelings is not that surprising. It was nice, though, to find that Americans from states like Louisiana, Texas, Idaho, and Montana are nicer, more thoughtful, and more progressive than their media stereotypes often suggest.
It continued to rain throughout the weekend after my arrival in Santiago. My New French Wife, Marti, flew in and joined me a few hours after I arrived. We enjoyed our reunion and in the following days dashed around through the rain to various good restaurants for some excellent Galician meals. We went to the official Pilgrim office and I collected my Compostela certificate, a process that is all automated now, somewhat impersonal, and without the hand-lettering of your name and details. It looks like this:
The rain continued to come down throughout our stay in Santiago and it really was pretty miserable at times. What I would have given for some sunshine! Our flight back to Paris went smoothly and now I’m sorting through my gear and decompressing.
As reported earlier, my poor feet took a beating and I’ll probably lose a toenail, but they’re slowly recovering. I’m happy to have survived the physical and mental challenges once again, and I’m enjoying the post-Camino downtime. As before, it’s a bit of a shock shifting gears from speaking Spanish to speaking French.
Looking back over the last seven weeks, I’m a little sorry that the Camino seems a bit too touristy now. At times it seemed that there were just too many pilgrims, and many who saw it as a lark, in my opinion, so some of the specialness of it has gone. Maybe that’s a symptom of a post-pandemic, pent-up demand resulting in generally high tourism levels everywhere, or maybe it’s just the consequence of walking the Camino for a third time. At the moment, I don’t even want to think about doing it again, but I know that in six months or so the rose-color hindsight will take effect and I’ll start imagining my return. We’ll see.
Once again, thanks for coming along on my journey and for your encouragement. Cheers.
The Occasionally-Examined Life 
Great achievement and thanks for Sharing ! Jack and Vern
Congratulations on completing your third Camino, despite the challenges. Thanks for sharing your story. We enjoyed following you on your trek. And big congrats on your marriage! All the best.