Day 19 - Santiago de Compostella to Negreira

With my Camino Family one day behind me I decided to stick around until they arrived before hitting the road to Muxia and Finisterre. 

Their ETA was about midday, so with time to kill I ticked off a laundry list of menial tasks and attended the very moving Pilgrim’s Mass at the Pilgrim’s Office, then hightailed it to the Praza do Obradoiro in time to see them round the corner into the square. There were smiles, hugs, congratulations, and photos aplenty before I regretfully had to bid farewell and make my way westward. 

Man, I’d love to be in SDC tonight celebrating with Pablo, Elaine, Emili, Gayle, Karin, Michel, Katrin, and Lorenzo, but instead, I find myself in the town of Negreira, completely shattered, after a hard afternoon’s slog through the hottest part of the day. 

With the temperature hitting the high twenties by the time I reached today’s highlight, Ponte Maceira, I was about ready to strip off and throw myself off said Ponte and into the waters below. In the end, however, the thought of diving into an ice-cold beer won out and I pushed on, arriving at about 5PM.

I can honestly say that afternoon walking sucks and there’s no way I’ll be doing that again. Its daybreak starts for me from here on in, including tomorrow where I have to tackle the biggest distance on this Camino, a whopping 33.8 kilometers! Tune in tomorrow to see if I make it!

Distance - 20.9Km 

Difficulty - ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Camin-oh no! - The late afternoon sun.

Camin-oh hell yeah! - Grapes! Forget peaches, these are the OG sun-soaking bulges in the shade. They are everywhere along the road here so I’m forever picking bunches and eating juicy grapes right off the vine. It’s so satisfying.

@caminoagogo