June 8, 2018

Our last official day of walking again started this morning in light drizzly rain – just for something different. We left under the cover of darkness at around 6:00am, with the thought of getting to Finisterre in the early afternoon, so that we could take a look around, and also get to the light house, at the official lands end.

Our walk today (29km) is very isolated, as there are no cafes or restaurants until about half way, so Eloisa suggested we take the welcome opportunity to have a coffee at an open cafe in Muxia before leaving.
The walk today continued through the Galician coastal areas, and was exceptional in its beauty, with vistas of coast line and ocean at times alternating with thick lush forests at other times. It really was a pleasure to be walking through the area, despite the light drizzle.
As the morning wore on, the weather gradually began to improve, to our pleasant surprise, to the extent that when we stopped for an way lunch at a place called Lires, the wet weather gear came off.
The remainder of the walk into Finisterre was most enjoyable, through lots of hilly  bushland on very good tracks. We eventually reached our destination at around 2:30and found our albergue – the albergue Finistellae, which was comfortable and private – we had a room for four people with our own bathroom facilities; now that’s real luxury on the Camino. To our very great surprise, Leanne (we had been traveling with her over the last few days) was at the same albergue.
After settling in, we did the customary look around the town and port area, and of course had the customary refreshments, only to celebrate our achievements of course. We felt so fortunate that the weather had changed completely for the better. The sun was out  and shining, warming us and drying some of our wet gear. Michael even got brave and adventurous and waded into the waters of the Atlantic. Leanne was telling us that when she came into Finisterra yesterday, visibility was less than 10 meters, so she saw very little of the place.
The four of us (including Eloisa) caught up with Leanne for an enjoyable dinner in the port area.
We had not visited the light house as yet, so after dinner, we all piled into a taxi and headed out there.
Jose and I had already visited this area back in 2015 so it wasn’t new to us, but it was for Michael and Leanne. We took the opportunity to take a few photos of course, talk to other pilgrims about their experiences and have a general look around. Finisterra is so named because it was once considered to be the end of the known world, in early Roman times – ‘fin’ indicating ‘end’ and ‘ terra’ meaning land, so ‘lands end’.

Before we realised it, it was 9:30 so we decided to make our way back to the albergue. Time in the evening here gets away from you very quickly, as the sun sets at about 10:30.

And with the end of this day, came the end of the walking. In a sense, it was appropriate that we ended our walking at ‘Lands End. Tomorrow morning, we’re catching a bus back to Santiago De Compostela, for a couple of R&R days and then we all go our separate ways to different destinations.