Josh Capaldi's Camino/Adventure Blog

So the last alarm of the Camino and I was out at 6am. Today's day is very front loaded the hardest part is the first 15k leaving the mountains and joining familiar civilisation. But no café's or bar's until then.

So the first part was a slog but thankfully it's cloudy today so no big heat. I finally made it and had coffee and cake for breakfast. Cee the town I got to is very familiar to me as Dad and I stayed here before so lots of memories.

I met two Irish women and chatted with them to pass the time to get into Finisterre. The last 3 days really have been quite hard doing 30k days for 3 days up and down hills, is a very aggressive plan. So any thoughts of relaxing after the main Camino won't start until tomorrow.

Pics from the day Pre Finisterre:

I reached my hotel in Finisterre but there is still 3.5km to go as the finish is the lighthouse but it's traditional to wait to go up there for the sunset. So food and a shower and snacks for later were the priority. I also picked up my Finisterre Certificate for reaching there. Then booked myself in for a hair cut.

Before:

After:

Feeling like a new man and armed with snacks I headed up the hill to the lighthouse with my fellow pilgrims. It was way easier to walk without my bag for a change.

Pics from the Final March to the end of the world:

So the sun set on my final day and my entire Camino experience for this time. 35 walking days, even if the way markers are correct and they lie a lot it's 860km in total, 535 ish miles. But don't worry about the stats just look at a map:

I have walked basically the entire width of Spain. It's been beautiful and wonderful but a lot of that is due to the participation of my fellow pilgrims....far to many to mention individually so even if you only gave me a nod to being a regular in my adventure I want to thank you for making the experience so good and memorable. I will not forget this one and I am super proud that I still have this in the tank. I finished today with my cup fully filled. It will likely take a while to reflect on the entire experience but this will be the last blog of the trip.

So what's left, I will get a bus back to Santiago and to fulfil a promise to myself that I will stay in the Parador a 5 start hotel in Santiago and live in oppulant luxury if only for one night as a treat to myself. Then il be in another hotel, relaxing and catching up with fellow pilgrims and eating cheese cake. I fly back Saturday so a few days to chill.

If this inspired you to consider your own Camino please do, it's a complete understatement to say pilgrimage changed my life for the better, it owns a large part of my soul. I am always happy to chat tips too.

The final thank you to those who sent me encouragement from the blogs and Facebook it really helped and writing the blogs everyday really does take a lot of time and attention so the likes really helped me keep it going even when I was very tired and I will enjoy reading them back in the future. So thank you and now I rest.

Another 6 am launch, it's been past 30 degrees the last couple of days so the early mornings really do help. This morning was a misty start so made good progress tho no coffee until close to 13k in. Again lots of roads and hill walking again.

My feet were definitely aching today but I largely ignored that. Probably due to the lack of rest stops. The terrain is very up and down leading me to conclude this Finisterre Camino is 3 long hard days so it's probably best to bolt it to the end of a longer Camino so your body is more conditioned to the abuse.

Yasser turned up in my albergue last night too and I can recognise a few more faces now but still not many walked on and even more than I expected are walking back to Santiago. The walk today was getting tough past 10 am due to the heat and open roads, but I was on a mission. Most people stop at the main stage towns but today I wanted to do the extra 3.8k to the next town at the top of the mountain. So I knew I was bringing more pain on myself but it would make the last day easier.

It was not pretty but I got in around 2ish. The albergue is super modern and even included a towel so it's definitely posh. This will be my last albergue of the trip tho. A hotel awaits me in Finisterre and my bus is booked to take me back to Santiago Tuesday morning with a treat lined up.

One last day and I will be officially done. Definitely looking forward to the rest.

Pics from today: