Day 48 - 40 Kilometres

Ribadiso to Arca Do Pino to Monte De Gozo

The morning´s walk to Arca was 23 Kilometres. That is nothing for these seasoned pilgrims, except that it was raining. It rained nearly all morning. Not a heavy rain, but a good soaking one. Luckily our boots are waterproof, and we had ponchos to protect both our shoulders and packs, but from elbow to fingertip, and wrist to ankle we were soaked. Surprisingly, it was rather pleasant walking in the rain. It seemed to keep the bulk of the tourist pilgrims away, softened the edges of things, and sounded nice as it fell. When we arrived in Arca, the sun came out, and we thought it a good idea to do some laundry. The sun was fooling us, and a new deluge drenched our nice clean clothes. Luckily Cz had prepared a hot lunch - the kitchen at this albergue actually had pots, a rarety in Galicia. The nice meal and the arrival of The Irish Boys helped me get over being pissed about the clothes.

We had only planned on going as far as Arca, but the energy in the Albergue was really bad - Unsettled, tense and competitive. Perhaps I was as much grumpy over that as over the wet laundry. When the Irish Boys and The German showed up and told us their plans to siesta and then continue on to Monte De Gozo (only 5Km from Santiago) it was enough to convince us that this would be a good idea.

After buying a bottle of champagne at the local grocery, we headed out. The rain had stopped, the evening was clear and cool, and we were entering the eucalyptus forests that according to Irish Boys´guidebook hearken the approach to Santiago. We had the trail nearly to ourselves, and in general had a fine time.

The Albergue in Monte De Gozo has 800 beds. We were expecting horrid, huge dorms. Quite to the contrary, it is set up like a little pilgrim village. Not only did we (the Irish Boys, the German, and Cz and I) have our own room, we had a dryer for the clothes, and a bar open for snacks...

And Santiago is only 5 Km away! Tomorrow morning we will roll out of bed and arrive in the city in time to see the sun rise over the cathedral. No rush, no fuss, just us and the road and the end.