Palas de Rei to Santiago De Compostela
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2011
1
13
Trip End
Sep 24, 2011
Where I stayed
Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Thursday, September 22, 2011
We had worked a lot the other day on our computer and stayed there for dinner. After a good nights sleep we woke up at 8.30 and got breakfast just before they closed down on us. All the "walking pilgrims" were already away of course, chasing their time tables. But there was more to it, something had changed getting closer to our final destination, but lets get on with the days story...
Our packing was fast and professional as always, i even checked the tires for pressure and wear. After that we left the hotel, it was straight downhill the first 3kmand we passed most of the pilgrims by then, after the first hour 22km were reached of the planned 70.
Compared to yesterday, it was still up and down hills, but you had the feeling it was going more down then up, therefore our speed was very good.
I Mentioned before that something changed at about 100km short of Santiago: it is the pilgrims. A lot of "wannabe pilgrims" start of just short of the minimal distance to Santiago to get there certificate of pilgrimage: either 100km on foot or bicycle, or 200km on horse. And you could tell by the way they walked, talked, didnt greet, etc... that they were different from the pilgrims we had met on our journey the weeks before. What a wake up call, angry civilisation was back!!!! No more "buen camino" calls between the pilgrims. The wannabes were also taking away the place in the hostels and hotels, so the real pilgrims had trouble finding a place to stay!!! We saw also several wannabes take the bus, which is stricktly forbidden on the pilgrimage!
Anyway, we stayed on the national N-547 just short of the Airport of Santiago, there we had to take the foot path trail for the last 10 miles. It was actually what we wanted, because there is a little stream at Lavacolla where you are supposed to take a bath to appear cleaned and fresh in front of the cathedral. Apparently we were the only ones that knew that story, but we managed to get our clothes off and take a mountain stream bath without troubeling the other pilgrims... and the police passed by car only 3 minutes later.....
It was all small roads, ups and downs untill we were at monte Gonzo. Picture with dad, and pushing the bike to the cofee house i noticed that the back wheel had loosened itself considerably!!! Only the weight of the bike + trolley had saved my life, or i would of certanly crashed on the fast downhills the passed hours... call that luck!
We drove down to the valley, but still did not see the cathedral due to the new buildings on the towns outskirts. Our ride into Santiago was quiet and slow to say the least, we were really taking it cool. The moment we saw the beginning of the inner city we got of the road and rode through small streets, looking up to the sky like children: our orientation where the tips of the large cathedral, wich we followed untill we were at the central square.
There we stopped, took a deep breath, fell into each others arms and wept a little, our challenge had been met!
WE WERE FINALLY THERE: 6 Years, 3500km and about 35000m climb!
This is the end of my blog, its the simple story of a son taking his father on a pilgrimage across europe.
"we took the road less traveled by, and that made all the difference" RF
