2022 Camino Day 15 (27)

Good weather.  Good health.  Good albergue.  You can’t ask for much more.  It was another 22+ mile day today. I ended up in Portomarin. The albergue is mostly empty, so that’s a plus. In our room, there are eight beds, but only 3 people. I walked alone all day and passed several people.

I really walked quickly right off the bat and stayed that for a couple hours. Then I caught my second and even third wind. I’m really impressed by how fast I walk with a 30 lb. pack on my back.

I’m in the final stretch… The final 100 km. Now I have to get two stamps a day in my pilgrim’s passport to get my certificate.

The path has more people on it because a good percentage just come to do the final 100 km. A person will receive the same certificate that I will get if they do just the final 100 km. It pretty easy to tell these “nouveau peregrino” by their clean clothes, and either huge or tiny backpacks. Also, the smell – or lack there of.

The cities are becoming more commercial with stores selling hats, walking sticks, shoes, and even backpacks. I’m told it’s tough to keep the same spirit in the final stretch as before, but I’m going to try.

At 7 I went to mass tonight. It was in a massive old church that they moved brick by brick in the 60’s. You can still see the numbers on many of the bricks to identify their locations. It was a good mass.

Nothing notable happened today, except the landscape is really getting verdant and thick beyond the rock walls on the side of the path. Take a look at the landscapes.