Day 25 – Padron to Santiago De Compostela – 01-Jun-2018
Boy we have been lucky with the weather. We woke at 5:00 this morning with the intention of leaving at 5:30. The rain was absolutely pelting down and we all thought oh oh – it’s going to be one of those days on the trail the walkers do not really enjoy. So we collected and packed our stuff as quietly as possible, so as to minimise as much as possible the disturbance to the people who were not such early starters.
By 5:30 we were ready to leave, complete with wet weather gear, all prepared for a soggy walk into Santiago De Compostela. As we got outside, the rain eased off to a light drizzle which continued for about two hours. This was as good as we could hope for in the circumstances. Of course it was dark for quite a while but the street lights were our friends initially, and once we got out of the Padron suburbs, Jose’s head light did the job.
By the time we found an open cafe for breakfast at a place called Glorioso, the rain had stopped completely, so we could put the wet weather gear away.
The rest of the walk was a bit of a blur, as we hurriedly covered the requisite distance to Santiago De Compostela. Suffice to say that there was a mixture of paths, ranging from good bush tracks, to country lanes in agricultural zones, to busy roads and highways.
We managed to walk into the main Plaza of Santiago De Compostela, by about 11:15. The objective was to get there before 12:00 for the pilgrims mass, which we did easily. The cathedral was packed full of people of all nations and cultures – we could not even get a seat, so we sat on some steps.
Once Mass finished lunch was a priority, as we’d only eaten a light breakfast and been on the go since early morning.
Michael and I had a cursory look around the old town – we will have a closer look at some of the more famous points of interest. It was especially lovely to come across several people that we’d met along the way, who also had just walked in.
The whole of the Plaza Obradoiro was a buzz with people walking in from different paths – Portuguese, French, Norte. The emotions on people’s faces were fairly consistent though – joy, relief, disbelief, achievement, comeradary – pretty much the whole gammit.
This evening we had dinner with a couple of people that we’d met along the way, as well as one of their friends – a pleasant and enjoyable occassion sharing stories and experiences and after all, that is one of the really important aspects of the Camino.