Another 14.5 miles complete. Now about 12 miles left to Santiago - a shorter day. We should get there between 1-2PM tomorrow. We will get an earlier start to avoid some of the heat, but will likely miss the noon Mass.
Today felt kind of like that bittersweet time at end of finals week, but before graduation. We are ready to be done.
And the landscape has changed. The path, though having detours through 'forested' land, is largely along highways, developed farms, and towns. Very little space for wildflowers or wild nature.
We have now been fully consumed by the Serria crowds. There used to be opportunities to have multiple hours on the trail with a handful of encounters, but now the stream of folks is continuous. I am happy for the large Spanish groups that are doing the last 100km as part of their cultural history, and for the families walking together, and for the folks who have limited time and doing the maximum distance that they are able. But the dynamic on the path is different.
We also found ourselves in the middle of a bicycle race today. 2000 entrants (when I asked a local what race it was, he kept saying it was the Dos Mil - which at the time I did not understand was two words for 2000) raced 82km and ended in Santiago - and we were in their path.
Let there be no doubt - we are very much looking forward to meeting friends at the finish line at Santiago. Thisis absolutely important to us. And we will certainly celebrate, and stay in Santiago for a couple days. But (after tomorrow), we will be ready to stop the long walks for a bit.
Birds today were minimal. 18 species seen, no new ones. The birds seem to be avoiding the heavily trafficked paths, the eco-zones are pretty constant, and there is just a lot of background noise that makes it hard to track bird calls.
A relatively typical late start for us recently, at 7:04 AM. Just before sunrise
Those European Stonechats never disappoint, even with crowds present:
Sunrise on the horizon:
As we get close to the end, much of the walk today was along roads, or on forested paths close to highways:
The mist in the nearby valleys slowly lifting with the morning light:
A European Serin on a house antenna:
Jana and one of our Camino friends making early morning eyeballs:
Shortly after breakfast, we encountered a 50+ school group with their identifying orange flags:
One thing that Jana and I never obtained were our Camino Shells. If you start in St John, they gift you one. We started a few miles after that, and never purchased one in a shop. Today, we passed a bench, and this shell was sitting on it. Inside the pouch was a note saying that this was a gift, and if the shell spoke to you - take it. Read Jana's facebook post for more.
We did not pass many wildflower fields today, but when we did, I took pictures:
Barn Swallows on a wire;
At a brief rest stop at a coffee shot, a Common Chiffinch was playing the role of a house sparrow, begging for crumbs. Haven't seen these birds in domestic areas before:
More folks on the trail:
Robins are also much less timid here than what we saw in the eastern part of Spain.
The path came up to the road. A bunch of police motorcycles drove by - I tried to catch the last one, but instead got the peloton for the Dos Mil bicycle race. 2000 bikes is a whole lot of bikes. This started to thin out somewhat, but continued for the next 30 minutes as we walked up the trail next to the road.
Fortunately, by the time we had to cross the road, the density had somewhat reduced, and there were gaps where we could cross the road:
At one point on the trail today, on a wooded section, we were serenaded by Galician bagpipes.
Wildflowers growing out of an old stone wall:
A Black Redstart in O Pedrouzo close to our beds for the night:
More tomorrow, when hopefully we complete our walk!!
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