End Of A Journey

Posted bynickletjogPosted inDiary

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Day 13: Sunday 7 June 2026 – PADRÓN to SANTIAGO de COMPOSTELA (26 [+3] kilometres)

Arriving in Santiago – as you can see, I was not the only one!

They say that it is all about the journey but, for me, today’s last leg of my Camino Portugués experience certainly had a hint of destination about it. I was up early, and was walking by soon after 7.00 am, initially in quite cool conditions – so I walked a bit faster to keep warm – and I stopped only once, about halfway, for a good brunch. My haste was in part to get ahead of the procession of pilgrims leaving Padrón, but this tactic also meant that I arrived in Santiago soon after midday, with time for a cold drink before joining the partying masses in the Praza do Obradoiro in front of the Cathedral.

The journey completed . . .
. . . and in more detail, my final day’s walk

Despite my somewhat blinkered mission to reach Santiago post haste, there were some fine sections of path to enjoy this morning, as the trail meandered once more through mixed forests of eucalyptus, pine and oak, and between the farmsteads and hamlets with their neatly-tended vineyards and vegetable gardens. These sections of joy were interspersed with stretches of sendas – bland footpaths alongside main roads – and there was also a final urban stretch through the town of Milladoiro, and then the long main road incline into Santiago itself. But the mood amongst the peregrinos was ever cheerful, at times ebullient, with walkers in high spirits as the finish line approached: indeed on several occasions such merriment extended to some ad hoc chanting (more Football Crowd than Gregorian) over the final kilometres. Here are a few pictures of my day.

The early risers leaving Padrón with the dawn
Which way now – she’s watching!
The church at Iria Flavia . . .
. . . and then out into the fields . . .
. . . and villages . . .
. . .
. . .
. . . eventually reaching A Escravitude, and the Santa Maria church
Vineyards . . .
. . . forestry tracks . . .
. . . and into the woods
The start of the climb up to the day’s highpoint . . .
. . . over a rocky path . . .
. . . then quiet tracks . . .
. . . to Teo village . . .
. . . and a welcome break
A cat in the sack . . .
. . . as we neared the top of the hill . . .
. . . through Milladoiro town
And suddenly, laid out before us, our destination of Santiago de Compostela – still a few miles off
Crossing the railway . . .
. . . then the AP-9 Motorway . . .
. . . and the Rio Sar, the last of the many rivers to cross on our Camino path
In Santiago we completed the last climb as I glanced back down the hill . . .
. . . before entering the busy Old Town of Santiago . . .
. . . to arrive, at last, at the Cathedral
The Praza do Obradoiro is a place of joy, as pilgrims converge from all the paths into Santiago (more pictures to follow tomorrow)
But for me it was graduation time – receiving my Camino Certificate . . .
. . . and a chance to show it off to Vivek . . .
. . . who arrived here yesterday with Daniel . . .
. . . before a drink to celebrate (I’m not sure why I am being identified as the guilty one – it was not my cake)!

I now have the spare day (that I allowed in my itinerary for unforeseen eventualities) to enjoy in Santiago, so I will have some time to see the sights. Hence I am not signing off quite yet, and I will report back tomorrow with some pictures of Santiago – and in the next day or two with some reflections on my Camino Portugués experience. But for now our Camino ‘Gala Dinner’ beckons – and a chance for me to catch up with some old friends.

The last supper – with Daniel, Vivek, Nora and Connor: Five Nations Under a Groove!

‘End of a Journey’ is a wonderfully reflective piece of instrumental music that I found recently, by the Irish-Norwegian neoclassical duo Secret Garden – and the song’s title makes for a rather fitting Blog heading for my arrival today into Santiago de Compostela. The band comprises Irish singer and violinist Fionnuala Sherry and Norwegian composer and pianist Rolf Løvland, who rose to prominence as the winners of the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest (for Norway, and with some Norwegian lyrics added in order to comply with the Contest’s rules) with their composition ‘Nocturne’, before going on to record a string of albums. ‘End of the Journey’ appears on the LP ‘Storyteller’ from 2019, and the band composed the piece ‘to capture a profound sense of closure, nostalgia and quiet resolution’. The piece happens to feature accompanyment from a nyckelharpa, the ancient instrument I mentioned in my Blog two days ago. A nice way to end my Camino Portugués walk – and certainly worth a hearing if you have time to look it up.

More music by the wayside – classical today

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