Miles yesterday = 216
Miles today = 130
Miles so far = 686
Where are we? - Santiago de Compostela
Yesterday’s lack of blog was due to rather knackerdness, in turn due to driving mountain roads all day, often in the clouds, and occasionally with visibility reducing us to a crawl. So a good day then! But we didn’t arrive at our hotel until about 7.30, and by the time we had put the bikes away, we only had strength for beer, food and bed!
We were even reduced to watching England so nearly beating the USA on our phones at the dinner table! Clearly we had lost the art of conversation - temporarily of course.
I’m not sure about this VAR. I know England’s penalty was awarded due to it but the offside ruling out of the goal just before looked so marginal. Oh well, risk of sounding like sour grapes. Now who will we be cheering in the final to beat the USA? Might just find a pub in Santiago tonight, but not banking on it.
A good nights sleep and the dawn brought more low mist and cloud, such that we altered our route to hug the coast and use the main roads, rather than get lost in the mountains again. Then as we headed south and inland a bit, the sun appeared and suddenly we were shedding motorbike gear faster than we had put it on yesterday.
Lovely to be in the sunshine and warmth again. Must admit to feeling marginally guilty about arriving in Santiago by motorbike to see many pilgrims arrive having traveled hundreds of kilometres on foot. I am assuming "CAMINO RECTO" means the camino wrecked my feet!
The cathedral and the old town are certainly magnificent; pity the church is in such a state of disrepair that the major restoration work now ongoing has, at least temporarily, robbed it of its serenity and tranquility. Its hard to reflect in peace when you can hear a jack hammer in the background and most of the inside of the building is covered in scaffolding and plastic sheeting. At least the facade is now visible and there are many other lovely local churches to sit in for quiet and peaceful contemplation.
The other missing element was the swinging incense holder (its probably got a proper name but no idea what it is). It is massive but unfortunately is surrounded by scaffolding and not currently in use - so no bathing in incense for me!
All that said, great visit to a famous place - and sitting outside on pavement bars and cafes in shorts helps! Oh yes, and the massive ice creams!
