compostela!

So many memories of this pilgrimage will be, unexpectedly, of the people we have met along the way. There are the kind ones who provided hospitality, meals and a friendly welcome at the end of each day's walking, and the ones seen only briefly, who wished us "Bom Dia" or "Buen Camino" or helped us find our way.

And then there are people like Gérard and Jésus, cyclists from Barcelona. We were standing next to them this morning at the Pilgrims' Office, waiting in line in the chilly dark from 7.30am until it opened at 9, to get a number for our Compostelas. We have never met before and may never again, but for that short time we were friends.

And people like Alan from England, who we met in Vila Nova de Arousa, when he couldn't get a ticket for our boat
to Padron. Alan is partially sighted and uses a white stick and he set off alone to walk from Porto. Today I was telling Luke about Alan and how he was due to arrive in Santiago today. I turned around..and there he was, just walking into the square. Some strange things really do happen on this Camino!

Luke and Chris arrived separately this morning and we will all be setting off tomorrow on the final part of our walk, to Finisterre (the end of the world!).