On September 17th Judy, Irma, and Beech (aka Chris) started to walk a Camino de Santiago from The Church of Saint Mary of the Conception in O Porino, Spain to The Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in Santiago de Compostella, Spain. A full, traditional, but short, Camino of 104 km (~66 miles) walked by foot.
The Church of Saint Mary in O Porino
Walking Day 1 - O Porino to Mos
Because we got to O Porino late in the day it was a relatively short but pleasant introductory hike of about 4.3 miles from O Porino to Mos. As we left town the trail quickly got prettier and quieter. For this initial part we saw relatively few people.
Walking Day 2 - Mos to Arcade
Still lovely. The stone walls are everywhere. Everything is made from stone the houses, the walls, stone pilars hold up the grape vines. Galicia is a land of rugged mountains that isolated it and caused it to develope differently from the rest of Spain. It was never conquered by the Moors, and some would say not by the Spaniards either. Stone is everywhere, it is to there what wood or steel are to most other places.
Walking Day 3 - Arcade to O San Amaro (Barro)
This trail is pretty well marked. I'd say it would be hard to get lost (but we did). These markers are pretty regularly seen and in towns and vilages there are a constant stream of these "Golden Arrows" that point the way. No big surprise these stone markers each are enscribed by the exact distance remaining. As I said, everything is made of stone.
Walking Day 4 - Barro to Caldas de Reis
Coming out of the woods to find Caldas is a pleasant surprise. Nice hotels and restaurants!
We had pushed pretty hard up until here and needed a break so we stayed 3 days
Walking Day 5 - Caldas se Reis to Valga
At Caldas the trail is joined by another branch of it (the Littoral Way, we started on the Central Portugese Way) so the number of people starts to increase. Still quite rural and pretty though.
Walking day Day 6 - Valga to Armeniero
In Valga another pretty hotel and nice restaurant. We stayed here a 3 night while we walked the area and rested up.
Another trail (The Spiritual way) merges here so the number of people on the trail again increased
Walking day Day 7 - Armeniero to Santiago de Compostela (THE END is near!)
Needless to say we were thrilled when we saw the first marker under 5 km to the Cathedral.
Almost there . . .
After a little of cleanup. At our goal in the Praza do Obradiorios, in front of The Cathedral
It was a wonderful walk, and a great experience. Hard at times but worth it in the end.
On this day we were three of hundreds of happy pilgrims who had completed the journey.
Judy's Compostela (above) is the official document of completion.
In 2025 over 530,000 pilgrimes received this document of completion.
It was a wonderful walk, and a great experience. Hard at times but worth it in the end.
We walked for 7 days and covered 104 km (~66 miles).
