May 24 , the final run into Santiago de Compostella.
Started early in the dark at 6 am, was tricky finding the Way marks for the first hour as we were winding our way out of the town through back alleys and farm lanes. First coffee at 2 hours in, then a long push to make it into Santiago before noon. The plan was to attend the pilgrim noon mass, we made it in time , but didn't attend mass, we will do that tomorrow.

saw this tile set on the wall of an old farm house, this is such a big deal here.

The walk today was not that scenic, and the last hour was more about the suburbs than country, but I would expect that coming into this place. The first glimpse of the cathedral came between the buildings, was quite a feeling of satisfaction finishing this leg, but not as emotional as I would have thought,,,maybe that's why I gave been called to do the Francais Camino,,,. this ones for me.

the cathedral is covered in scaffold for renovation, so not that attractive right now, but the town, and all its alleys and squares is great

I really want to get my iPod fixed, so I asked around. The guy in the phone shop turned me  on to a repair place, he said it was about a 20 minute walk to there,,,,,,,,,20 minutes walking, there is no way I'm walking 20 minutes, I said,,,then realized how stupid that sounded. I'm standing there with my pilgrim wristband etc and he just smiled, you could hear him thinking, right pilgrim, remind me again, just how is it you traveled 400 miles from Lisbon to be here.   I go  it, I smiled back sheepishly, and said thanks, then walked out, turned left, went to the corner and caught a cab anyway.

No fix, so no iPod for this walk, oh well,,hakuna matata.

had dinner at a taperia to say goodbye to the gang, including Sheryl from San Fran, and Christian from Germany. Tomorrow we get to catch up with Mark who was with us earlier, he gets in at noon tomorrow. After dinner, a chocolate crepe from the street vendor hmmmm. Hmmm.

Got to go to the casthederal and get my final credentials stamped, and my compostela that proves I'm a pilgrim, then got to find a way to France to start the next leg, I think a 12 hours bus ride might be in my future.

I think my next leg, I will start a new blog called " Camino Francais" , but I'll let you know how to find it when I sort that out, ,,for now , a few days rest, then  a new adventure
Buen Camino