Santiago de Compostella

Got on the road early and enjoyed the crisp start to what was a glorious day. I was thinking as I was walking, what will I miss about the Camino, and concluded the top thing will be the early mornings, watching the dawn turn into day across the countryside, up to the glorious moment when the sun hits you and you throw an enormously long shadow on the trail ahead.

The way out of Arzua is very pretty without being spectacular. In the bar in the first village was a Canadian lady who had fallen face first a short while before, with a painful looking graze on her nose and forehead. One wrong step or moment of inattention and things can come unstuck, even on the last days. I was extra attentive for the rest of the day.
My plan was to get to Lavacolla for lunch, and see how I felt. Lavacolla is around 9 k to go. I thought I could either find somewhere round there, or head onto Monte de Gozo , but I knew it would be hard to stop so close, and so it proved to be. So I kept going and got here round 3.30, to be greeted by the three Korean girls who started the same day as I did, back in St Jean, 30 days ago. They were really nice - I could not have asked for a better welcome.

A couple of senoras with habitacions to rent were hovering in the wings of the square and I got a nice room a few minutes from the square for 25 Euros which is an alright deal I think. The main challenge is finding the building as it is located down a little street off a little street and the old town is a bewildering maze of little streets.

Had a cerveza sitting in the sun in the square then queued for a ridiculously long time to get my Compostella at the Officina de peregrinos. The queue stretched out into the street, but the office had only 3 of a possible 9 service desks operating. But I got it, then had a slightly up market dinner to celebrate safe completion of this phase of the trip, then managed to find my way back to my room.

So tomorrow, sleep in!