walking (and running) to Finisterre

10 November 2007 18:19:42

Back in Santiago!

Aha!

I made it! And now i can bearly walk for the pain! Seriously crazy pain! At one point on the second day thought i was gonna be sick i was in so much pain! But i made it! I even ran for large parts of the last kilometer- I couldn miss the sun set....

Anyway!

Yeah first day. We left shortly after i last e-mailed and set off into the mid day sun-which is hot! So we spent a lot of time sweating an i made a rather chunky walking stick out of a eucoluptus tree. It all went rather well exept one bit where we got cought trying to hit some apples out of a tree with our walking sticks but we made off with a couple of hidden apples so all was well. We walked 22k that day but then had to walk back into town about a k to get some food from the closest shops so in total we walked about 24k that day an i was feeling fine...ish. But pretty good!

There arnt so many albergues or pilgrims along that cammino so on the first night we got to meet the people we would be spending the next few nights with (everybody walks their own pace but generally ends up in the same place at the end of the day). They generally all seemed nice an (even better) perfectly willing to share food an wine so we all got on pretty well though there was a bit of predgudice against me an my bike but whatever!

Second day. 33k Thats actually quite a bit. (like ...loads!) I was ok for the first 20k.... An then it slowly started to become too much! Almost the whole day was spent walking on tarmak roads! It really gets painful when you know you cant stop for another 7k..... 6k..... 5.5k.... 5k..... arrh! Yeah that was horrible! but then i had a shower an hobbled to the resturant (in the middle of absolutly nowhere) for a three course meal in front of an open log fire. And then, on the insistence of the waitress, we all try some locally brewed liqure! So once i got to bed i slept very well.... Ready for the 36k (!) tomorrow!

36k. I dont know... well i started with getting a new, lighter walking stick that i didnt have to lug with me! Then Hans gave me some ibuprofen in a big 600mg tablet an we set off! I didnt go too baddly an we were making good time an spent walking quite a bit of it with an american couple we had met two nights ago. We came to the top of a mountain and saw the ocean- The first time id seen the ocean since i crossed it to get here! It was wonderful- So the ibuprofen carried us throught the cold morning and the knowledge that we were get closer with every step to the end of the old world and the atlantic ocean carried us through the rest! My feet were hurting (But not my legs as well like the day before) but i had learned to ignore it! When we came to the first beach i ran down and took my shoes off to walk bare foot along the sand. It was very soothing for my feet but very tiring for the rest of my body walking through sand so i made it back to the path, put my shoes back on and carried on the final 3k to Finisterre. But now there was sand IN my shoes an that started to couse me problems- i ignored it cos we were NEARLY THERE! THE END OF THE WORLD!! But actually the end of the world is another 3k beyond finisterre. Which we hadnt counted on so we were a bit short of time to get to the end of land in time for the sunset! So we powered on! Up the final 3k up a hill that leads to a cliff overlooking the ocean! When we realised that we might be too late to see the sunset we found whole new energy reserves! I havnt walked for three days to miss the sun setting at the end of the world! So we started to run. I dont know how we did it but me and hans ran for large parts of the last kilometer. Stopping only to hobble on as fast as we could to catch our breath for a moment.

We could see the sun falling behind the mound of land before us and so we pushed ourselves faster! And then we got there...! That cliff was actually pretty high and once we were there we could see that we had about ten minutes to spare before the sunset. So i sat down and got comfortable to watch a sunset over the widest expance of ocean ive ever seen, on a cliff on the edge of the the old world.

I was so happy i was blinking back tears! ... anyway...

Yeah! That was great! but then i tried to move again- it was getting cold an dark fast an we had three k to walk before we could find any kind of comfort- and i hurt so much! So i had one drink with everybody cos i couldn get out of it- we had all achieved something great! And then i went to bed, without even a proper meal, just so i could stop using my legs. So then i woke up an thought "well ive come to the end of land, can i go any further?" So i went an paddled in the sea for a bit- it was very cold an very nice on my feet! Then i got on a bus. Back here to santiago! And now im gonna go an drink a lot an sleep well! Speak to you soon!

Deri