Liz and Linda and El Camino de Santiago de Compostela Pilgrimage 2017

    There was a street party last night lasting well after 3 a.m. It had to be locals as pilgrims were too tired and used to being in bed by 8 or 9. Yesterday, the BBC website had an article on drinking a Galician special drink called the Blue Fire. Drinking it after a special incantation will purify you.  http://www.bbc.com/travel /gallery/20171030-galicias- mythic-drink-of-blue-fire  And the one night that is special for drinking this was last night, All hallows eve or All Saints Day eve. We slept in until past 8am. In clean sheets. For the second night in a row! We finally got active after 9 and headed out for café con leche and a pastry (looked like a sausage roll but with tomato sauce and cheese). Then off to The Camino office for the final credential  - parchment paper written in Latin stating we had completed the pilgrimage with our names on it. I saw Brian in the lineup, met Simon from Quebec and Melissa still in her yellow crocs, coming out of the office clutching her

Byron and Melita were quiet as church mice and I woke to the only sound they made - the closing of the door as they left around 6:30.  What a great feeling to sleep between sheets. Mats and I are off to a slow start. I let him sleep until 7:30 and we were on the road by 8:15.  We can either only go 18k to an albergue 4.5 k outside of Santiago  or go the whole way. It's beautiful day if we can walk all the way today we can beat the forecast for rain tomorrow. We decide to push for going the whole way today. Heck, it is only 22.5k. The guidebook shows an elevation profile of mostly downhill yet I keep seeing uphill trails. 'Mats, This is the last hill!' 'Ja. Then it is all downhill.' 'Oh, oh'. I spot a watering trough. I have seen a pattern and pointed it out to Mats- whenever you see a watering trough for feet or animals, especially those where humans can sit and recharge, then you just KNOW there is a hill coming up. I have tested this theory

A day to break all records! First, I am sleeping in a bed with sheets! A pair of sheets, I.e. One on top of me and a sheet below me! In a real bed, not a bunk bed. And it is a double size mattress. Whoppee! And there is towels for the shower! Real towels made of soft cotton loops! Paradise. The fact that there are three other beds and three other people in this room is immaterial. Heck, I have slept in a room with 30 strangers. Anyway, I know all three. Mats of course, along with Byron and Melisa from Winnipeg.  We ended up here in a Hostel, not an alburgue, because the last two were already full and two others had closed for the season. We ended up going 39k! 39k We are up in Thomas's league. We started at dawn and got here just as it got dark. That was a record breaker for walking.  Strangely my legs don't feel 39k worth of being tired. Most of the day was spent on trails through wooded areas. We stopped twice for a picnic, passed the Berliner and his godchildren a

We had chosen the albergue closest to the Camino coming and leaving town, but 7 am found us having to hike an extra .5k into town and back for coffee. But in the grander scheme of things, what is 1k extra? This was the earliest we had ever started out and all because my watch somehow jumped an hour ahead. I woke Mats up and he checked his iPhone as per usual and in his disheveled state sitting on the top bunk he looked down puzzled, 'Why, Liz?' I thought that was a silly question, 'because it is almost 7:30!' 'But why does my phone say 6:30?’ Oops. By then it was too late. He was wide awake. As we entered town in the predawn fog, we met Byron and Melita on their way out of town. They always seem to start an hour before us. We keep leapfrogging each other. We got to Palas de Rai but it was only 2pm so we stopped for a drink, 'Aquarius' for me. This was a drink to replenish your salts, a non-alcoholic drink Rob had introduced me to. Very refreshin

Goodbye shoes. We had aimed to stay at the monastery at Sarria but after going up and up through the old town we stopped near the top, and the end of the town and had decided to go no further and walked into the next albegue. It was perfect. We got our own room with four beds (two bunks), access to a spin dryer and clothes line on a roof top. Isabel and Judith were there too. Linda woke up with a deep chest cold which didn't bode well for the upcoming hills, so she opted to go on her own and take her time.  We would stay in touch via our phones. Today Mats and I said goodbye to my shoes. The Hokos had the best soles for rough ground. No wonder ultra marathoners wear them. I, unfortunately could only wear them a week before I could go no further with the blisters I unfairly received from them.  A bit big for me but luckily for Mats, they fit him. A bit tight but it gave him another pair of shoes to change into during the day. Foot options are good. Mats has done marathons, h

We choose to take a longer route via a river and past a Benedictine monastery. And extra 6 k but more scenic and less steep. At some point I find myself far ahead and when on a steep part of the trail I stop to check behind to see if I see Mats or Linda. Once spotted I continue on but at one point, past a tiny village with 4 chicken crossing signs and a lot of feathers within 500 ft on a very narrow road, I keep looking but not seeing anyone. I pull out my phone and open it at the exact time that Linda phones me wondering where I am. Mats is up on a road i crossed five minites ago, looking for me when Linda remembered she could phone me. It's unusual for me to be in the lead. Once gathered together again, we continue on.  There are very few people on this trail, most have gone the shorter route but this is a pretty hike despite some charred areas shoeing where a fire had recently been through. Yesterday at one of our rests at a bar café, Brian had told us about his new fou