Chuck's News: June 22, 2023 - Day 53 - to Fisterra - 8.0 miles - +1083’

Only 8 miles today!! Our last day of walking! 49 days ago we left St. Jean Pied De Port and today it comes to an end. Not happy to have it ending. It is a wonderful way of life, yet we do miss our life back home as well.

Don’t be sad it’s over, be glad it happened.

As was the case yesterday, we planned to take it easy this morning, but we were up before 6:00am. I cooked the Spanish equivalent of Mac and Cheese for breakfast (spaghetti noodles in a cheese sauce) and we packed up, preparing Sally’s pack to be shipped for the last time. We didn’t get out the door until 7:50am. We placed Sally’s pack outside the shuttered doors of the cafe and headed down the street. We met the negative Italian woman within 100’. She demanded to know if we weee shipping our pack, where it was and could she leave hers with ours. We said yea and helped her figure out how to ship it, then we were on our way.

Another gorgeous day. Cool morning air (about 62°, sunny). We followed the stone markers, occasionally checking FarOut to see if it got this portion of the route correct (it did). We were again passed by walkers in our direction but didn’t see one’s coming from Fisterra for an hour or two because it was 8 miles away and unless they left very early they wouldn’t be here yet.

At one point we sat down in a bus stop shelter to use its bench. The Italian woman passed and told a man in her albergue had insisted in leaving the window wide open all night and now she was feeling sick from the cold air blowing o her all night. She forced a cough a few times to emphasize her point. We expressed our sympathies for her and she soon left. We reviewed the temperature last night, never dropping below 62° and decided she has a fragile constitution or is as negative today as yesterday.

We walked into Fisterra and entered town walking on the stone path along waterfront above the beaches. We had decided to just pass through town and go to the end of the peninsula, the “End of the Earth”, the furthest most western point of Europe and then come back and check into our hotel as it was only 11:30am. We stopped and bought food for a lunch on the point and as we approached the part of town familiar to us from four years ago we ran into Cindy, Rose, John and Fran. What a hoot. We made plans to meet Cindy, Rose and Melissa at the end of the cape and to have dinner together tonight. Then Lucie from the Checz Republic walked up and I introduced her to the group.

Sally and I headed out to the point, walking the 2.5 miles to the end. We sat below the lighthouse(?) and had a snack but couldn’t contact the girls because there was no cell service. We got our credential stamped at the End of the Earth, layed down under a tree in the tall grass and enjoyed the view and the weather, then walked back to town, checked into our room and prepared to go swimming.

At the beach we were in the middle of a group of kids playing soccer. Sally went swimming, then John and Fran arrived. John swam out quite a ways while we talked. Sally and Inwalked up to an old stone building odd some sort with a good view of the water and again saw Steve. We had some ladies that had done the Porto Camino take our photos. Then it was back to our room, a little rest and then off to dinner. Sally bought a dress for Barcelona across the street.

I texted Lucie to see if she wanted to meet me for coffee in the morning before we left for Santiago. I got a yes answer back, but then got mixed messages after that. So I am not sure if we will meet up or not. She is a funny person.

Dinner lasted about 2 and a half hours, until 10:00pm. Cindy, Rose, Melissa, Joh, Fran, Tony, and two others. It was our final goodbye to the three ladies, but we will see John and Fran in Santiago tomorrow as we are both bussing there in the morning. Finally to bed about 11:30pm. A nice way to end the walking portion of our adventure.

Oh, and by the way, our 8 miles turned into 13.0 when we added on the 2.5 out to the End of the Earth and back. So much for a low milage day.