El Final

Yesterday, we did the last walk of our Camino, 29K from Finisterre to Muxia. It was the quietest and most remote hike of the last six weeks going from one small fishing village to an even smaller fishing village. We saw only a couple of other peregrinos all day and the tiny villages we passed through were too small to even  support a bar/cafe. It was a tough day -- no bars for a coffee stop or mid day cerveza.  Good thing we decided to have breakfast at our hotel in Finisterre. 

Like Finisterre, Muxia is a fishing village located on a rocky peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic. It is quite picturesque with deserted sandy beaches tucked in very rocky coastline. 

The town is very small and sleepy. Not much is happening. Very few peregrinos make it here and there are only a handful of tourists that wander in (probably lost). An occasional tourist bus comes into Muxia to disturb the peace before heading out a half hour later.  

Therese and I will spend three days here before taking the bus back to Santiago. It is a perfect ending for a little R&R after our journey. We will enjoy the empty beaches, eat the local seafood, drink the local wine, and take a siesta every day. 

This will be the last post for this blog. We have completed our Camino and so my reporting has come to an end as well. I will, however, continue to post pictures and statuses on Facebook. I hope that you have enjoyed reading my posts. This journey has been amazing and it's difficult to show that in words and pictures. Hopefully, it has given you a tiny glimpse of life on the Camino. 

Buen Camino. 

Mark and Therese

To the End of the Earth

Yesterday, we arrived in Finisterre on the northwest coast of Spain.  Over the last 36 days, we have walked 882K (554 miles) from St. John Pied de Port, France  across the entire county of Spain to its west coast. It's hard to believe that we actually did it. 

It was another quiet day through the high farm country and them we spotted the ocean in the distance. It was quite a sight. And the cool ocean breezes were welcomed. 

From our first view of the sea, it was still a good four hour walk to Finisterre. It seemed as we would never get there.  In Cee, we got lost because there was a gigantic flea market all over town with thousand of people. It was impossible to see the waymarks (which weren't that good to begin with). The final 2K into Finisterra were along a wide, white sand beach. It felt good to dip our tired feet in the cold Atlantic. 

We decided to stay on a hotel rather than albergue for a couple of days to celebrate our arrival. It will be nice to have our own bathroom and not to listen to the snorers. 

Finisterre is a fishing village with a bit of summer tourism thrown in. It is very picturesque with beaches tucked in between rocky coastline and towering mountains plunging into the sea. We had a great seafood dinner at a restaurant along the harbor -- mussels, swordfish and shrimp with a nice bottle of Albariño, a local white wine. 

After dinner, we decided that we needed to walk a few more kilometers to the end of rocky peninsula, the traditional end of the Camino Finisterre. It is here overlooking the Atlantic where peregrinos  contemplate their journeys. Many complete rituals such as burning a piece of their clothing or leaving something from their Camino. 

We found a perch on the rocky cliffs and quietly watched the sun set into the western horizon. It was a wonderful conclusion to our day and long journey. 

We walked back to town in the dark and slept soundly for a change. 

On Tuesday, we slept in late (until 7:30, ha!) explored the town a bit, them went to the supermercado for food and bottle of wine for a picnic lunch. 

We hiked a short distance across the peninsula to a beautiful secluded beach. Hardly anyone was there save for a couple of hippies living in tents and a couple of caves at the edge of the beach (really). We went for a short swim; short because the water was probably only 60 degrees. We ate our lunch and drank our wine in perfect temperatures.

As we sat on the beach, a couple of women strolled by and were sunbathing topless. It didn't faze us in the least; we've seen it all in the last month. 

Tomorrow we are hiking to Muxia, another fishing village about 28K to the north of us. It will be our last hike. Although it will be good to have our walking finished, it's hard to believe that the daily Camino routine is over. We will spend three days in Muxia relaxing before taking the bus back to Santiago for our flight to Ireland next Sunday. 

Today's good intentions are for our son Matt and his wife Kristen who celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary yesterday.  It seems like such a short time ago that we were in Ithaca for your wedding. Time flies. We wish you many more years of love and happiness together.