WILLERTONS WORLD

Padron to Santiago de Compestela. Spain.

April 17th, 2017

After a late night watching a Spanish music group at the Easter show in Padron, where I was surrounded by people young and old dancing, including 2 & 3 year olds, I got back to the hotel I never want to leave, at around midnight.

Dinner was also at the show and consisted of half a cow and a complete pig barbecued over an open flame with a few fries. Accepting this as a personal challenge I worked my way through meat mountain.

Sleeping in, I didn’t get going on what had dawned to be a cool crisp and clear morning until 9 for the 27km trip to Santiago. I wasn’t bothered by that as I was confident that I could chop it in around 5 hours.

Walking out of Padron, I took a while to hit the rural landscape that has become so familiar, walking on some dusty tracks which then gave way to asphalt and cobbles. I unfortunately came across a bus load of pensioners complete with dork poles clattering away like some sort of Zimmer frame orchestra so had to head off and get coffee to find my space on the road.

The scenery was a mixture of forestry and bush, villages and rural subsistence farming. Stunning in places and always interesting.

Hitting a few wee hills I finally got my heart rate into the fat burning zone, so I could justify having a lolly or two at the top.

Santiago was of course on my mind but so too was reflecting on the time I had, what that had meant to me and the subtle changes I was going to make when I return to reality.

Thoughts of young Jack Bissett a lad in our neighbourhood who dropped dead at 18 years old were with me too, as I thought about the importance of living each day as if it were my last.

Moving along nicely, I stopped for a drink and to get my boots off in what was becoming a very hot day. I ended up helping a trio of gorgeous young French girls who were struggling, by sharing some anti flam rub and panadol and lollies. The lollies were the biggest hit! (Dodgy a middle aged man handing out sweeties and drugs but hey they loved it).

The guy at the stall told me that I was the only Kiwi he could remember on the Camino!

From there on in it was all urban walking into Santiago so I got my head down and chopped 7.5 kms in 1:20 so arrived at the Cathedral pretty spent.

There was a bit of moisture in the eyelids when I arrived. I felt a great sense of relief that I had made it, my body had held up and my usual penchant of attracting (welcoming?) trouble had not eventuated. There was also a sense of achievement and fulfillment at what the journey had meant to me.

Having a look around the Cathedral was great. It’s as beautiful as you might imagine it would be, after hundreds of years of the Catholics fleecing millions of pilgrims.

Heading to what turned out to be a picnic bar of a hotel (ugly on the outside but sweet on the inside) I headed back to Pilgrims mass at 730. The service was entirely in Spanish and they didn’t do the swinging fumero which was disappointing. I did see all of the people I met on my stretch of the way, together in one place, which was fantastic and we all headed out for a drink and then most of us went for dinner. At midnight I eventually found my way back to the hotel after a rather circular route.

STEPS: 40,510

MLC THOUGHT OF THE DAY: I did it and loved it. I will be back.

WEIGHT: It better be a lot less otherwise the pain has not been worth it

SPANISH: Even more fluent after a cupa vino tinto de casa