THE END

19 Aug 2010 Well folks, its all but over now. Now in Santiago and already have the train ticket back to France which will be tomorrow.
Arrived here on last Sunday morning feeling wretched after a cold sleepless night waiting for a bus to here in Ponferrada. The less said about that the better – still feeling angry about the situation I ended up in. A good friend of mine, Neil, had decided to come to Santiago de Compostela and spend a few days, so we did a bit of exploring.
Santiago itself had many similarities with the cathedral towns I saw on the way except that the number of pilgrims is quite overwhelming, plus a large contingent of ordinary tourists – like me for instance. Affordable accommodation is of course hard to find in such circumstances but as Neil arrived the day before me, that problem had already been sorted. Thanks Neil.

Neil Rees

Monument to General Moore

For a day trip we took the train to A Coruna which is a port city on the coast north of Santiago. It was great to smell the fresh sea air again after such a long time in land locked CZ Rep. However, during my travels I had heard of an incident that happened there during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s. A Coruna has at least 2 distinct links with Britain – the first in 1589 when we went there to have a go at the Spanish fleet to stop them doing anything again, like in 1588. The second we were on the Spanish side trying to kick Napoleon out of Spain but it turned into one of those glorious defeats we seem to be so proud of. General Sir John Moore, senior officer, was killed there (Jan 1809) whilst keeping the French at bay so that his troops could board ships and scuttle back to England in true Dunkirk fashion. His French counterpart was so impressed with Sir John’s bravery that he set up a memorial to the gallant lad. A small park just above the old harbour area is exclusively dedicated to this fallen hero.

Roman lighthouse. A Coruna. Original Roman stonework inside

The square in A Coruna

The towers of Santiago de Compostela

Tourism

The pilgrims office where they get their Camino certificate.

Bust of General Moore in Coruna park.

What about the camino, I hear you say? To put it simply – its just a very long walk with some interesting places along the way. Some of it I found to be very boring but many of the cities or towns were great places to wander. The most striking features were the narrow streets and the many pavement cafes to relax in. I missed out a large section (about 120km) between Burgos and Leon because of its flatness and the heat. The last 100 km, I thought, was to be avoided at all costs because of the huge numbers going along that section. This last 100km is significant because it’s the only part that has to be done to get a Camino certificate. I dropped out of that one.
There you have it. A strange but interesting month.