Day 6 driving - Santiago to Muxia and Finisterre

We decided to hire a 9 seater minivan on our last day so we could spend a day visiting Muxia and Finisterre. My youngest was very happy to drive us around for the day and after the initial challenge of collecting the car from the railway station and negotiating exiting the city we set off westwards. The weather was perfect, dry and sunny, not hot but warm enough. we had a short snack stop just outside Negreira where once again we received superb hospitality from the local people. Without exception this was the case everywhere we went and made our visit to this region of Spain very memorable.
We arrived safely in the lovely town of Muxia and parked out by the Church of "Our Lady of the stone boat" .We had heard about the fire on Christmas day and it was sad to see the interior of the church so badly damaged. This church held a very special place in our hearts as it was a church for the seafaring community and had many boats displayed inside.
Despite the damage to the church this is still a very special place and I think we were all agreed that this was the completion of our camino journey. I know I am so fortunate to have shared this journey with all my adult children, 2 partners and my very close friend.
For those that weren't able to travel with us and for some close friends with health problems we carried them symbolically by  bringing quartz pebbles from Donegal all the way along our walk and finally left them at the sea in Muxia. A very special moment for everyone.
While there we spent some quiet time on the rocks and some of us did the required 9 times under the pedra dos cadris in the hope of obtaining a relief from back problems.
Finally a few of us ventured up the hill of monte corpino to admire the views of the surrounding coast.

under pedra dos cadris

eighth time under!

relaxing on the rocks

ninth and final time

taking our pebbles to the sea for those who weren't able to be there or with special intentions

the lighthouse

church of "Our Lady of the stone boat"

 

 

contemplation

contemplation below the pedra de abalar

special moments

silent thoughts

view over Muxia town from Monte Corpino

Prestige oil disaster monument

back down from the viewpoint

Muxia mile marker

mile marker and prestige monument

 

 

So with our camino now completed we set of once again to visit Finisterre believed at one stage to be the "end of the earth". On our way through the town we visited a small supermercado to get the goodies for the picnic before drive the last couple of kilometres to cabo Fisterra. By now the sun had come out quite nicely and the picnic proved to be an excellent call. Lovely fresh rolls with cheese and ham rounded of with chocolate and crisps. Following the picnic we walked over to the headland to see the charred remains of pilgrim shoes and clothes and the youngest decided ,in true pilgrim style that he would burn his hat and jacket and the temporary walking pole was also added to the fire.

the picnic

worn out pilgrim!

at the zero marker

at the zero marker

at the zero marker

at the zero marker

at the zero marker

amigas at the zero marker

getting the fire going

still trying!

success at last!

well lit now and lots of people taking photos

some more contemplation

 

safely back in Santiago on our final evening

 

Day 5 walking - Lavacolla to Santiago

We set off shortly after 9 am with a view to arriving at the Cathedral by 12 on Sunday morning, as on the previous days it was cool but bright and sunny initially. Monte Gozo seemed to be further away than on my previous visit but never the less we were still on schedule and had just enough time for a brief drink and photostop. By now the path was very busy with many walkers aiming to arrive in the square for midday. You are not permitted to bring rucksacks and walking poles into the Cathedral and this proved a bit of a problem as we did not have sufficient time to deposit our bags so not all of us made it into the cathedral for the pilgrims service and decided we would return to the cathedral later after checking in to our hotel, getting dried off and getting some food. We returned later to collect our certificates and had to queue for ages in pouring rain and hailstones!

getting near MonteGozo

Almost there

Monte Gozo

 

my children, partners and my friend as we were about to complete the very last stage to Santiago

The walking pole

entering the city

 

 

 

the flying botafumeiro

all of us outside the cathedral in the Praza Obradeiro

sheltering from the pouring rain!

 

but eventually the sun came out once again

and we had a lovely evening overlooking the Alameda park

Day 4 walking - Arzua to Lavacolla

Today we decided as it was our last day of long walking we would make frequent stops for coffee, drinks and snacks with a lunch break at Santa Irene. This worked very well and the walking on this day was all within my comfort zone so I even managed to get ahead at a couple of points. My training in Ireland was well suited to the terrain of the day whereas some of the group were now struggling with knees and ankles and my daughter even succumbed to using a walking pole.

leaving Arzua

rest break!

hooray sunshine!

groupie at the morning rest stop

beautiful flowers near Salceda

got myself a sun hat

sampling the local beer

 

happy walkers

getting ever closer

trekking around the airport

 

Having taken so many little stops on the route our final rest stop, quite late in the day,  was at Amenal. It was at this point I recalled the long uphill and the trudge around the airport was still ahead before our stop for the night at the Xan Xordo just beyond Lavacolla. So my daughter and myself  set off ahead of the others to complete the journey. The long trudge around the airport provoked many questions about St James 's way and the route around the airport perimeter and took much longer than we had anticipated so we decided we would stop at the San Paio at Lavacolla for our evening meal The boys were all keen to watch the "big" football match after dinner. As previously the meal at the San Paio was superb and the football enthusiasts stayed on for a while to watch the match whilst the rest of us walked back to the hotel. It was a lovely evening but surprisingly cold for the time of year.