Day 15 Santiago!!

Friday 9th May 2025

We have 16km to do today, quite a hill to climb and we would like to go to midday Mass. so we set off about 630, I hadn’t factored in the fact that the sun wouldn’t be up yet!! So it was headtorches out and a dark walk through the wood! Always a bit risky as you can miss the signs but we managed ok. We went through some very small villages and came to this cross, the oldest one in Galicia apparently. Robin said how go they know? No answer to that!

We passed 5 wash houses this morning. I could have photographed more but they were private ones in peoples gardens. I particularly like the one that is in the stream. They have dammed it and put in the scrubbing stones. I would love to see it used!

We walk over the top of the hill and in the distance have a view of Santiago. If you look very carefully you can see the cathedral spires. Down to the valley, through the wood and over a stream. We are so close to the city now but it is very quiet, not many pilgrims at the moment.

Then we reach the outskirts of Santiago. We still have a way to walk to get to the centre but it’s lovely to be here.

We stop for a coffee on the way in so we get to the cathedral about 11am, in plenty of time for Mass. we go to the square for the obligatory photo and it is packed!! Apparently 65% of pilgrims do the French way so not surprisingly there are loads more people than we have seen on our way. It is great to be here at last. It feels like a long two weeks. I can hardly remember Porto and all those boardwalks!!

We go round to the cathedral entrance at about 1125 and there is a big queue. After about 10 minutes we are in the cathedral but there is nowhere to sit. It is full already. After a bit of a walk round we find a place to stand where we can see a bit of what is going on. It’s difficult to tell what’s going on as it’s all in Spanish but there were lots of priests there, much more than I remember before. I did hear pope Leo’s name mentioned so I wonder if it was because of that. At the very end when I thought we were finished they lit the Botafemeiro, what a wonderful thing it is. I have been to mass here three times and each time had the privilege of seeing it. It makes me cry every time. I don’t know why.

And here is my certificate!! I also got a distance one which says I walked 280km. Feels like an achievement. I have three of these now, I must work out what to do with them when I get home.

We have a very nice hotel close to the cathedral right on the street that everyone who does the French way takes to the cathedral! Tapas later which was delicious and then we went to a bar we liked last time. We found it was still open and still had the same barman much to Robins delight!!