I’m flying to Barcelona as I write this and leaving the Camino. It started to rain just as we caught the bus to the airport. Quite unreal to see the Camino go past the bus windows and the trip took about 35 minutes. On Monday we walked past the airport into Santiago and for us it was at least another hour and a half walk into town from the airport.

We went to the pilgrims mass in the cathedral on Tuesday and a nun sang and the organ played. The priest read off the nationalities of pilgrims who completed the Camino the previous day. He mentions how many of each nationality started where and there was only one South African who completed the Camino from St Jean Pied de Port – proud moment.

It still hasn’t sunk in that I’ve done it. Even sitting through the mass it was an unreal feeling. The Monday evening before dinner we went to the cathedral and that was a special moment.

Two nights in a row we ended up in a little tapas bar round the corner from where we stayed. Great tapas and with much laughter and recollections. After tapas last night we went to a bar where Jonas, Robin and Frank were able to watch football. The fact that I don’t have a 22:00 curfew at the albergue and I don’t have to get up, pack my backpack and leave by 08:00 and then walk for at least 7 hours ensured that too much beers were consumed. However no hangover from that I just fell asleep immediately.

This morning Jonas woke up with a full blown cold and had to spend most of the day in bed. Robin and I spent walking round the city and I found the book on the Camino which I was looking for. We met Sabine from NZ and David from Australia in another great tapas bar. I met Sabine and her friends in Burgos and since then we’ve walked into each other along the way. From Sarria the kids of her friends Rachelle and Sedrick joined them; the eldest 12 and the youngest 8 for the last 110km’s. Apparently the 8 year old doesn’t like shoes so by mid morning he was walking bare foot. Whilst standing in the bar I saw four more people from early days and that have completed their Camino’s. It has been sad not to run into Sam again. It was good to say “hasta luego” to these people.

Today is a day of too many “hasta luegos”. This morning we saw off Frank, Laura and Martí who flew to London. Jonas and Robin are sitting next to me on the plane to Barcelona. They will stay at the airport as they have an early morning flight to Münich and Mark is fetching me. I stay two more days in Barcelona. So another “hasta luego” coming up which I’m not looking forward to.

So here I am; in Santiago after just completing the Camino de Santiago and about 800km’s later. Mixed emotions today as the walk into Santiago was boring. There was however no rain until we got to Monte de Gozo when the heavens opened up and the rest of the Camino was in a torrential downpour. I did not see the cathedral until we were about half a kilometre away when it cleared all of a sudden and there were the towers.

Gratitude for my (and our) safe arrival was my emotion. I think it will hit me when we go to the pilgrims mass tomorrow. We are lucky that we are the “last” of the pilgrims for the season as the square was empty and we had time to look around and take photo’s. Three of us started in St Jean Pied de Port and the three of us acknowledged our Camino’s with a hug and a look. I got my Compostella with my name in Latin.

The emotions after that was I’m cold, wet, need a shower and I’m hungry. We found a little hotel off the square and the first three have been take care of and now I need food.

We had sun today for the first time in three days. The rain was constant and relentless. Do not buy a cheap poncho; invest in a good one. I had to upgrade a couple of days ago and at €6 it was worth the money. We walked through beautiful forests where we were shielded from some of the rain. However after 27km’s it’s not funny anymore. And that distance we covered two days in a row with quite a few hills in between. It always seems as if the last hill is the one before the albergue. Gatvol is dan ‘n mooi beskrywing.

The last 300km’s with Robin and Jonas have been fun; and laughter is the best medicine. It has been a different Camino than the first 500km. I cherish both and am grateful. I am fit and have no issues with feet or anything else. My German has improved as well. LOL. A roof over our heads, hot shower and the promise of a cold cerveza and vino tinto later makes huge difference. The joke now is “what is a few km’s between friends”. I’ve never eaten so much chocolate as of late. At the end of the day Jonas always asks who wants chocolate and from somewhere a slab appears. The six of us always end up together at the end of the day.

In Palas de Rei we ended up in town with the only open albergue. The guide book warns that it’s run down but it’s nearly dark and raining so we chose to stay. Laura and Frank wisely chose a small hotel. The showers and toilets are not very clean but we make do. As we head out for supper a “real” Peregrino comes into our room. He looks like he has been on the road for a long time. When we get back after supper the stench of someone who has not used a shower in a long time is so bad that we race out of the room. I walk the town to try and find alternative accommodation to no avail. When I get back I tell the hospitalero in my broken Spanish to smell the room. She wakes him up and he says he did shower. We refuse to sleep there and remove all our stuff. After some prodding she gives us another room and we then share the room with a German guy who according to Robin “sawed the whole Black Forest” that night. None of us had much sleep and by 07:30 we were up and out of the albergue.

We are now in O Pedrouzo and 18km away from Santiago. I am grateful for every step of my Camino. It has been hard but I do not regret one step of my way. I have mixed emotions; looking forward to go home but I’m going to miss the Camino and my friends. How do I explain the Camino and experiences back home? I can tell the stories but I cannot explain what it has done to me. My only purpose each day is to eat, walk and sleep. What is it going to be like not to do that? It never has been the destination of Santiago when I started, now that it’s so close I do wonder about the end.

We are warned about the last day and the busloads of tourists so I will walk into Santiago with no expectations.

I end this with a photo of my Camino fashion trend at night. You will not see me like this in Cape Town.

The walk was beautiful today through forests. It looks like Ireland in a way. Due to it being small 5 house hamlets with farming it continuously smells like cow sh!t. But still beautiful.

Today I nearly had a sense of humour failure after 12,5km and with no bar but constant rain. Luckily laughter is the best medicine and thanks to my walking mates the moment passed. In German they say “pissig” and that’s exactly the say in Dutch and at some point that’s the way I felt. Relentless rain and sh!tty poncho. However grateful to be alive and to have such and experience.

We are in an awesome albergue with a kitchen today in Portomarín and Robin and I cooked tonight for the six of us. We are now sitting in front of the fire with some vino tinto and Robin and Jonas with beer. It’s cold and cloudy but no rain. Life is good!

At this pace we reckon Santiago on Tuesday!