We started walking at 5:40. We pretty much walked over two hours in pitch black darkness. Crazy enough, right? Plus, it was raining the entire time, which made for one of the most horrid experiences ever. But now that we look back to it, it was kind of an interesting experience, as long as we don't have to do it again!
Initially we stuck to the road. Mainly because it was easier not to get lost this way, and also because we would be missing out on the view anyway. After the first few kms we got back on the natural pathways of the Camino and started playing a game we called "don't step on the salamander". Seriously, we were walking with a not so powerful headtorch which made it very hard to see the many salamanders that were just sitting on the way at this hour! We counted a total of 14 until dawn, by the time there was sufficient light to see them properly there was none to be seen.
By that time the rain finally stopped ans the sky started clearing up. That was also the moment we got to see the ocean for the first time since we started this journey. With a new boost of energy after this sighting, we speeded up til Finisterra. By the time we got there, many pilgrims were already sitting by the beach, enjoying the view of the ocean. I took my boots off, walked to the water and let the waves touch my bare feet. I also took the opportunity to bathe both our shells in the salty water once again. It felt great! But we couldn't take too long, as we were on a tight schedule.
The municipal albergue was closed until 15:00 (the same time as the bus would be leaving), so we couldn't get our last stamp there. Still deciding what to do, we started ascending by the road to the lighthouse at the end of the world. We walked as fast as we could. We got there, walked to the cape itself, sat for a moment, took some photos and said our goodbyes to the sea. It was time for us to get back!
I did a quick browsing on the tienda next to the lighthouse and bought a bracelet with a scallop shell for myself. We started descending, only 45min left to get on the bus! While going down, we passed by every pilgrim we had seen at the beach, and everyone of them asked something like "are we there yet?". We were almost running down the road, cheering them up as we went.
By the time we got to the village it was 14:40. We made a quick stop at a supermarket to buy something for the way back. We ran a little more. Finally, we got to the bus stop, 14:45. As we had a little extra time, I went into a bar and asked where we could get the final stamp. At the ayuntamiento, I was told. It was about 300 meters from the bus stop. Can we do it? Of course we can!
We ran to the ayuntamiento. The clerk said she could stamp our credenciales and offered to photocopy them and send us the certificate of Finisterra by mail, all we had to do was to get a ready-to-go envelope from the post office, that was next door. I ran to the post office. Closed. They photocopied our credenciales anyway and said they would try to mail them to Portugal. We thanked them and ran to the bus stop once again, and just in time. The bus was about to leave! I slept almost all the way to Santiago, otherwise I would get carsick as I usually do on buses, but Luís very much enjoyed what he said to be a lovely ride by the seashore.
All this running around made for a very hard day, but it was great to get to Santiago early enough to enjoy the narrow streets and buy some recuerdos and regalos. And to have a little rest, as our journey has not ended just yet. Seeing that we would get to Santiago earlier than expected, we had decided that we would keep on walking.. Back to Portugal. Yep, that's the reason of all the crazy 40km long days, to have sufficient time to get to Oporto until March 7th. That's how much we enjoy walking! :)
I've got a question. I noticed that you are using rain covers for you packs. How did these work for you? In the rain did water enter the pack in the area against your back?
ResponderEliminarHi Dana. We put the rain covers on every time there was the possibility of rain (which was almost every day, in our case). In our experience, its efficacy depends on two things: how heavy it rains and the direction of the wind. As long as it didn't rain too hard, the pack covers were good enough to keep everything dry inside, even if it rained all day long. However, if the rain hit us sideways, it got to our backs easier (the gap between our back and the end of the cover was bigger on the sides than on the top) and one time it even pooled on the inside of the pack covers, getting the bottom of our packs wet when we took them off.
EliminarBut although their aren't perfect, it was great to have them specially when there were rain showers. Unless we were expecting lots of rain, we avoided putting the ponchos on as they made us sweat as hell and therefore were not comfortable to walk in. In any case we had the contents of our pack protected within plastic bags and zip-lock bags, as precaution, so we never had a problem!
Thanks Rita for the response. Enjoy you walk home.
ResponderEliminar