Day 17 El Camino - Getting closer

Walking El Camino has been a great experience. There is the physical exertion required, the interesting people you meet, the beautiful Spanish countryside and the rural communities that take you back time to a simpler way of living. Today was a summary of all those things!

Breaking the 40km mark brought in a second wind of energy, but it was still slow going getting in 20km today at my much slower pace since the shin splints...nevertheless, after several long pit stops, we made it to Arco Do Pino, less than 20km from our final destination, El Catedral de Santiago de Compostela.

As we were entering the town, a car pulled over and a guy handed us a brochure for a "casa rural"...a private residence that rented rooms. Since we had stayed at a "Pension" the night before, we decided this would be good, especially after staying in Gonzalos grandfather's mill a few nights before, and enjoyed the homey atmosphere. We are here now and not at all disappointed. The owners grandmother left them this house which they have fixed up very nicely. We got a huge room with 3 beds and a great view to the countryside.

As far as the walk today, it started with just Dave and I strolling along some rural paths and him practicing his guitar. Within an hour we started seeing more people, a number whom we already new. In terms of new people, we walked with an older couple, Frederick and his wife from Germany for a bit while he took many photos and complained about how Charles Degaulle took all the credit for saving France from the Germans when it was the Americans who saved them.

A little bit later on we stopped for a light lunch and met a group of middle age women of Asian descent but from Canada. Several of them were lawyers and one of them had their daughter who had also just graduated college like Dave.

The clouds started rolling in and we started getting a light drizzle and the trail was more sparse than normal. We did come across two young ladies who were from Germany and had been hiking the northern route of the trail, which had just intersected with our French way. They said they seldomly saw anyone on the trail for many many hours and we were the first ones they spoke with after 10 days of being on the trail. Anna and Julia were best friends who had just graduated college although they were in their mid-and late 20s. We discussed politics , sports and general life events. After walking together for about an hour we decided to have some coffee and stopped at a small local bar. When I asked David to do all the ordering in Spanish I suggested that he play a song for a discount. The bartender actually took us up on it and David played for the entire bar. People broke out their camera phones and videotaped it. He sang a couple of songs after enthusiastic encouragement from the small crowd. It was a blast and we got a huge free croissant!

Back to the casa rural, we asked for a recommendation for dinner and they sent us to a very local home cooking style place. We were shocked and so excited to see our good friend José sitting at a table near the entrance. We hugged and discussed plans to attend his birthday party tomorrow. He and us were so excited to see each other again.

Almost 11:30 now...better get to sleep for our big last push! Thanks for reading along!