It’s raining again on our last day
Cee to Finesterre
7 June 2014
Choices for Dinner
The only decisions we have had to make for the last 44 days were when to stop for a café con leche and what to have for the primero, segundo and postre of the menu del dia. (First, second and third course of the menu of the day). An easy choice as the menus are very similar.
Last night after a walk along the esplanade (I joked with the only two other peregrinos out in the miserable weather that ‘only peregrinos’ would be crazy enough to be out), Bronek and I enjoyed a great tapas of baby squid before joining Tim and Cathy and their friends for dinner. Suddenly there were plenty of choices to be made including which fish and more importantly which dessert.
We were brought some barnacles as an appetizer and had to be shown how to eat them. Grasp the end that looks like a miniature dinosaur foot in one hand. Grab the end that looks a bit like a round pencil in the other hand and twist. The ‘casing’ around the pencil-like end breaks off and you eat the rubbery bit inside. One was enough for me.
Our Last Day of Walking
Today I started out with a heavy heart. Our last day of walking. But there’s nothing like walking in the driving rain when everyone else is warm and dry inside to lift your spirits. I was soon striding along being careful not to slip having made it so far injury free.
It was wet. Very wet. The strong wind blew the rain into our faces as we squelched towards ‘the end of the world’. At one point I joked with a man who was looking out his window at the peregrinos trudging past that ‘somos loco’ (we’re mad). Perhaps he had done the Camino himself as he replied ‘no, nearly finished’.
And then we were. 0:00km
And Tim and Cathy were close behind.
As we walked along the beach I noticed a man taking off his boots, rolling up his trousers and wading into the sea. He punched the air and did a little jig. I learned that he had walked 1606km from his home somewhere in France. We walked just over half that. I wonder how he will adjust to life after the Camino. I wonder how we will.
Having finished the walk we spent the rest of the day chatting with others and reflecting on what we’ve done, what we’ve learnt and if we’d do anything differently if we did it again.
Perhaps I’ll leave those answers for another time. Thank you for reading this blog and for your supportive comments. They have meant so much to me.
If you are interested, I also walked the Camino Portuguese – carrying a pack this time.