SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA: We have made it here

September 18, 2013

Well we with hundreds of others have made our way to Santiago de Compostela. We have qued up, had our credentials checked to see if we have got the correct number of stamps to prove we have ridden our bikes here and have been given our Compostelas with our names written in them in Latin and are recorded as two pilgrims arriving by bicycle from London on the 18th of September.

Today’s ride was once again a challenging one. Galacia is sure a very hilly part of the country, there was no flat riding all day, we were either screaming down hills or slowly toiling up. When the going is like this 56km certainly seems quite enough. Nearly all of the time we were on a pretty busy road with lots of traffic at times, particularly unpleasant were the logging trucks. Most of the time there is a good hard shoulder and the fact that there were a lot of cyclists using it I think (or hope) keeps the drivers alert. Our coffee stop was at Arzua and about 20km later we stopped at O Pedouzo to have what has become our favourite lunch. It is a mixed sandwich with egg. We didn’t know quite what we would get the first time. What you do get is a kind of toasted sandwich with cheese, a thick slice of ham and a egg on top of the ham. A hole is cut in the top slice of bread so the yoke can peep out and the cut out round put on the egg as a kind of hat. Very yummy.

It was good to get to Monto de Gozo, this is the place where the ancient pilgrims first saw the spire of the Cathedral. It must have been a very emotional time for them as the hardships and dangers they had to encounter on the way were very real. They washed their feet in preparation for the elation of reaching Santiago Cathedral. Today you see hundreds of happy pilgrims milling around, seeing again people they have travelled with and every day at noon there is a mass for recently arrived pilgrims. They call out where they have come from and how they got here so tomorrow they will call out 2 pilgrims have arrived by bicycle from London. The most amazing person we met today was a lady from Ireland, she had arrived today from Sarria (this is the minimum distance you must walk to get your Compostela, a bit over 100km) The difference with her though is that she is 86 ! She certainly felt proud of herself as she should.

Ken and I are treating ourselves very well and are staying in an absolutely beautiful hotel here and will have two nights in Santiago. I am looking forward to having a day off the bikes before we start the next part of the adventure – we have some planning to do.

We love these signs. There are double lines going up hills and when you see these it means you are nearly up to the top

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 2,755 km (1,711 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0