Day fifty eight, 27 June 2015,
O Pedrouzo to San Lazaro
20 kilometres~5.00am till 12.00pm

I had it all planned! I was going to walk early, and stop about five kilometres outside of Santiago, then on Sunday morning I would walk into the town! Romantic idea of arriving on my own, sort of, contemplating the beauty of life and the Camino! Of course life is what is happening when you are busy making other plans! And indeed this is what happened!

I was up early as I thought Andreas had woken me up! This was not at all the case, but since I was awake anyway I decided to get up and move. I had planned just a short fifteen kilometres walk, only about three to four hours worth. The forest was pitch and pitch black. I had forgotten to buy new batteries for the torch so it was very hard to see and find the arrows. I would have liked to have had more daylight as this felt rather threatening. Especially when one dork rain from Brasil found it necessary to scream on the top of his voice as if he was in the middle of a horror movie.

The walk was easy and went well. The morning was pleasant filled with the usual honeysuckle smells, varied bird life and water trickling along in the small creek. I love these mornings in the forests, especially when I am alone. The way went through many small villages and as per usual I had my breakfast in the first cafe that was open. People were excited as we were so close! I had on purpose decided to stop before Santiago, but had booked a place, which I thought was out of the town! Imagine my confusion when we kept walking and walking and suddenly we saw the sign of Santiago de Compostela! At the top of the mountain, Monte do Gozo, I met up with Remy and Natalia, who were walking with Peppe and Maria Jose. We all set down for brunch and laughed a lot! My Spanish is getting rather good again, should really go and study it now, while it all has come back. Anyway the five of us walked the rest of the way together.

We came across a huge monument celebrating the pope’s visit I believe,we took lots of photos and were joined by a group of youngsters who were collecting money for a dog shelter! All the dogs wore bandanas and were quite excited to be out I think! I called these dogs “perro~grinos”! This was my very first Spanish joke! A play on words, wow smart I am!
There were also a lot of “touri~grinos”! Big bus loads of tourists so they could walk these last. Twenty kilometres into the tourist office! Easily recognised by their clean clothes, lack of bedbug bites, and the ease they were walking with! It was obvious that they had had no blisters nor any other problems with their feet!

As it was San Lazaro was literally only ONE kilometre away from the cathedral! It was not at all a little village outside the city! As we had walked the whole way by surprise, we decided to just check in to our Albergue and have a rest first. Pepe and Maria were staying in the next Albergue, so we all showered, not me since there was no hot water left by the time I had my turn!