the end of the world
10 November 2007 18:41:57
hola
well we made it back from the end of the world in one piece, didn´t fall of the edge or anything. I caught up with deri and hans in oliveirao, and actually made in before them. It was good riding on my own because i could go at my pace without feeling like i was holding anyone up, but i made good time, about 75k in just over 4 and a half hours - it wasn´t supposed to have been that long but i went too far north and, didn´t get lost but was a bit concerned for a while. The towns that i was passing weren´t on the camino map, eventually i stopped and asked someone and they said that i was 12 k away and gave me directions.
Met a load of new people in the albergue in oliveriao, most were really nice but there was an american couple - carl and andrea - .... they didn´t walk that far on the last day though so they didn´t make it to finisterre with the rest of us, ...... Finisterre and the towns leading up to it were really beautiful, i had to wait around for a long time for the walkers to show up, but when i was having food the girl sat next to me seemed to fit the description of one of the girl´s from the albergues (paula)´s friend who was catching a bus and meeting her there, and she was reading an english paper, so i started talking to her and it was the right girl. On the language front, since going to finisterre and spending time with a load of people who have been in spain a lot longer than i have i´m feeling pretty smug. Some of them (mostly australians and americans mind) can´t even ask for things like bread, and drinks, and when other people are talking to each other either in their language or for instance hans speaks german, and there seemed to be a lot of germans there - the australians get really fed up.., apart from that everybody was nice and we´re meeting them tonight for dinner.
One german woman - christina - had walked from her house in berlin, and reached finisterre on her 100th day of walking - isn´t that just perfect, you couldn´t get any better i don´t think. we went and watched the sunset last night from the most westerly point in europe (well actually there´s supposed to be one further west, only by a couple of meters, 5k north, but we´re not thinking about that) anyway sunset was at 6.16pm and we didn´t leave the town until 5.40, and had to walk a further 4k, we made it , just but had to run the final 1k, well i didn´t run i just walked quickly, but walking quickly is the equivalent pace to someone running (after they have walked 35k) so got there in time with our bottle of wine, dot dot dot ...... We haven´t been swimming, but we went for a paddle this morning, the sea was very cold, it wasn´t hot enough for swimming when we got there the day before, only 19 degrees, but it was nicer again today about 22. This kind of temperature isn´t normal for this time of year and i think spain has a shortage of water, because all the rivers and lakes are all dried up and there was a news item on it the other day. What floods are you talking about? i don´t know anything that´s happening at home, maybe someone could give me a weekly summary of the news, only like big news i don´t wanna know if the queen is visiting some town or the results of a football match, just major stuff.
Well we are back in santiago today, caught a bus that took 3 and a half hours. We have checked into a pension for tonight, it´s not that expensive really, and we both need a good nights sleep. Again someone was snoring like a jet plane in the albergue last night, the last 2 nights there have been rabid snorers, deri calls it ´the fat man snore´ or ´the french man snore´, when you get an albergue with an old french man you just know that they are going to snore, and it´s not quiet either. Apparently, according to linda a canadian woman, somebody woke up the french man a couple of weeks ago complaining about his snoring and his wife went mad and there was nearly a fight. also met up with a load of friends that paula has made along the way in finisterre, and we are all meeting up later. It´s hans last night and all of us have finished the camino so we´re going for a meal and aiming to get really drunk. an occasion like this is worthy of tequila i say - another reason why we´ve checked into a pension, so we have no bed time and curfew! It was so nice actually, i got out of the shower after spending as long as i wanted in there, and dried using a clean, dry towel! it smelt really good, and tonight we get to sleep in a bed with actual sheets, but i don´t think we´ll be in any state to appreciate it really.
We´re thinking we might stay in santiago for a couple more days, let deri´s feet recover, and i got an e-mail off vitor on the 8th saying he was 100k away, so we might wait for him. Amelie shouldn´t be too far behind us either. we´re a bit confused about what to do now, seen as there will no longer be yellow arrows to follow (the whole camino is marked by yellow arrows, spray painted on roads, buildings, trees, lamp posts etc) you would have thought that some smart allec kids would have gone to work with a can of yellow spray paint themselves and sent the pilgrims on a bit of a detour, but no signs of that sort of thing, in fact all the locals have been really friendly (except cafe owners) like hanging out of windows when you go the wrong way, or going around the round abouts a load of times pointing the way. Maybe they think they have to be friendly to the pilgrims or else risk god´s wrath, cafe owners don´t seem to care though. You try and pay them and they don´t seem to want to take it, they only serve spanish people at the table and you have got to go up and wave frantically at the bar, and yes i know we must seem to eat at what would be strange times to them, but they are on the camino and they did choose to work in this field, and it´s not like i was asking for things in english, so just .....dot dot dot cheer up!
we went out for a meal last night in finisterre, about 10 of us, and after the first course (soup - which was nice) when we tried ordering the main course, the waitress would take one order and then run away, without taking anyone elses, then someone else would get her attention and get their order in and then again she would run away. Only half of us ending up having a main course, and she only asked one person if they wanted a desert and that was in the toilet, how weird is that!
The two australian girls, paula and pauline, are coming back to the uk in a couple of weeks, and hiring a camping van to tour wales - in december - i don´t know why.
well have got to go and meet people,
adios beth
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