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Day 47 - Camino Francés: O Pedrouzo to Santiago f · WCBH

• 0:25
  Good morning. It's early day 47. It's the final day of walking.
• 0:30
  We have about a 20 kilometre, slightly under 20 kilometre walk from Oprah Druso into Santiago today.
• 0:40
  And then we will make our way to St. James Cathedral.
• 0:45
  And that means the walk will be done. We're all up bright and early.
• 0:50
  We're very, very excited. Sherilyn, how do you feel?
• 0:53
  Yeah, I'm very excited. glad it's the last day and we get a sleep in tomorrow,
• 0:58
  which is nice and hoping that the weather finds up just a little bit for us.
• 1:03
  It feels a bit like Christmas morning.
• 1:05
  What are you more excited about? The sleep in tomorrow, the fact that we don't
• 1:10
  have to pack the bag, the fact that we don't have to change the hotel or the
• 1:15
  fact that we will have completed 790 kilometres.
• 1:18
  I think it's all of the above packaged into one.
• 1:22
  So we'll update you across the day, but we are excited for the final day of walking.
• 1:29
  Well, we're on the path now, and would you believe it this morning, it has been raining.
• 1:36
  One of the things that we're not great at is getting out of the accommodation bright and early.
• 1:41
  And it's actually played well into our favor this morning because, what is it?
• 1:46
  It's 9.20, we're on the path, and clear blue skies above us just coming through the clouds.
• 1:54
  So maybe the early bird doesn't always catch the worm.
• 1:59
  Maybe this is one of the tortoise and the hare stories.
• 2:04
  So that's good. last day 19 kilometers
• 2:08
  on the way marker i thought i was going to walk into santiago looking uh very
• 2:13
  scruffy but two days ago i had a shave because i had to do something on zoom
• 2:17
  and then chan and i went for a walk last night found a barber and so got my head shaved,
• 2:25
  all with a fresh cut so i'm actually going to walk into santiago looking somewhat
• 2:30
  respectable But I said last night I was going to wear the Kangaroos Rugby League jersey into Santiago.
• 2:35
  I packed it this morning and it's in the bag going forward.
• 2:39
  So I'll get it out of the pack tomorrow and I'll go there and get a photo in
• 2:46
  front of the cathedral in the Kangaroos jersey.
• 2:49
  Chan, last day you decided to wear your backpack on the final day.
• 2:53
  You wore it for the first four days.
• 2:55
  How do you feel? I feel great.
• 3:00
  You're proud of yourself? It's been a 47 days of journey.
• 3:05
  I am proud, but I'm more excited about getting there. I think we're all a little bit excited.
• 3:12
  Why did you decide to wear your backpack on the last day?
• 3:16
  I just thought if I wore my backpack on the last day, I could make some room
• 3:24
  in the black bag that was hand-forward and I can carry a little weight.
• 3:29
  I think it's quite amazing that you're wearing your backpack on the last day.
• 3:32
  I think that was a good decision.
• 3:34
  It's amazing how a bit of sunlight and a clear sky can really lift your mood. Let's hope it stays.
• 3:41
  Now, it is the final day, so if you've been listening from the start,
• 3:45
  well done to you and thank you so much for listening to all of these podcasts.
• 3:51
  Amazing how many people have actually listened to an episode or two or sometimes
• 3:55
  a whole lot more. just having a look at where the listeners have come from.
• 4:00
  Venezuela, Uzbekistan, Togo, Syrian Arab Republic, Saudi Arabia,
• 4:07
  Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, Nigeria, Moldova, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Jamaica, Indonesia,
• 4:14
  Guatemala, Egypt, Algeria, Dominican Republic, Azerbaijan, Hungary,
• 4:19
  Greece, Costa Rica, Colombia.
• 4:22
  Brazil, Bangladesh, Armenia, Pakistan, Mexico, Jordan, Italy,
• 4:26
  Israel, South Africa, Croatia, Iraq, Canada, Argentina, Singapore, Montenegro, Turkey,
• 4:33
  United Arab Emirates, India, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Serbia, Ireland, France,
• 4:39
  Hong Kong, Vietnam, Germany, Spain, United States, and of course, Australia.
• 4:43
  I can't believe that we've had people from really all around the world listen
• 4:48
  to our ramblings as we walk this path.
• 4:51
  But if you've just listened to a episode or if you've listened to them all, thank you very much.
• 4:58
  Well, there's a large park reserve on top of an alto just before we make our
• 5:05
  way into Santiago, Monte Dagozo.
• 5:11
  There's a statue of two pilgrims.
• 5:15
  I had a photo there, which means we're now four kilometres, four kilometres
• 5:22
  away from the finish point, from reaching the Cathedral of St.
• 5:28
  James in Santiago de Compostela. We're excited. it.
• 5:33
  I don't think it's going to be a sense of like crossing the finish line with people cheering, etc.
• 5:41
  But I think there'll be a quiet sense of achievement once we get there.
• 5:47
  Well, we made it to Santiago, to San James Cathedral.
• 5:52
  What were your thoughts?
• 5:54
  Um, it's a little anticlimactic, really.
• 6:00
  Last time we came, we were allowed
• 6:02
  into the cathedral, were able to say a prayer and go visit the tomb.
• 6:08
  This time, there are all the gates up and the people standing there, you have to pay to go in.
• 6:14
  I saw pilgrims being turned away. It was a little, we touched the wall and it
• 6:19
  was like, oh, yeah, we made it.
• 6:20
  But it didn't feel, I don't know, like we finished.
• 6:24
  Did you want some music and some ribbon and band and fireworks?
• 6:30
  Well, yeah. Come across the line? Well, it was funny because on the trail in
• 6:34
  that last 10K, there were little stalls everywhere that were selling ribbons.
• 6:40
  You know, San Camino, Santiago and, you know, wax stamps.
• 6:44
  It had more of a celebratory feel than coming into Santiago.
• 6:49
  There was nothing in the square. They're no one selling anything, anything at all.
• 6:54
  But there are a whole stack of pilgrims just sitting there who I thought were
• 6:59
  a bit like us, just sitting there just dealing with the fact they'd finished,
• 7:03
  but also trying to soak something up.
• 7:05
  Yeah, it's an intrinsic thing rather than an extrinsic thing where you've just
• 7:12
  completed the big journey.
• 7:14
  You should feel really proud and really good about it. But it would be nice
• 7:18
  if there was something reciprocal from, I don't know, the organizer of Santiago
• 7:26
  City had put something on.
• 7:28
  I imagine if it was in Singapore, there would be so many things happening to
• 7:34
  celebrate the fact that you had done this.
• 7:38
  But it wasn't. It was, you're on pilgrimage, you're on the journey,
• 7:44
  you're walking, walking, and I know you're finished.
• 7:46
  Yeah. Just to be allowed into some part of the church would have been nice.
• 7:51
  Like, here's your pilgrim credential.
• 7:53
  You're able to come in here, say a prayer or see the tomb and leave. We'll go back tomorrow.
• 8:00
  I think I said at five kilometers out that we knew it was going to be a little
• 8:05
  bit underwhelming because we knew, you know, we've finished it before.
• 8:11
  But it is a little bit like you're on it and then you're not and there's no ending.
• 8:17
  We got our Compostela. We did.
• 8:20
  That was a very streamlined process. So we've got our certificate,
• 8:23
  which is in all in Latin, includes our name, includes the distance.
• 8:28
  That's all great. And we got our final stamp in our credential.
• 8:34
  We well and truly filled our passport.
• 8:37
  We were stamping on pages that weren't even meant for stamps. So we did all of that.
• 8:43
  Yeah, I suppose we'll have more reflections in the next few days,
• 8:47
  but it's going to be a weird thing tomorrow waking up,
• 8:51
  whenever we wake up, not to an alarm, no need to pack a bag,
• 8:56
  no need to get out onto the course, and it'll be different to a rest day because.
• 9:04
  We've got a couple of days here before we have a couple of days in Madrid.
• 9:08
  Yeah, it'll be nice not to get up, to pack the bag, to get all the gear on,
• 9:15
  put on the backpack, particularly if it rains, which we've been blessed.
• 9:19
  Like today was, it drizzled a little bit. Just held off enough.
• 9:23
  Yes, so we actually got to come in and it was dry, but it'll be nice to not
• 9:27
  have to do that and not wake up to an alarm.
• 9:30
  I was thinking that you're right, like it is intrinsic and that the reward is
• 9:36
  each day of walking all the things you see and the people you need and the experience you have.
• 9:42
  But it's like when you come in, every village you would go into at the end of
• 9:46
  the day, there'd be some sort of experience you have. It's like when you come
• 9:49
  into Santiago, there's nothing.
• 9:52
  And I was thinking about that across the final day.
• 9:56
  All the amazing cities, towns, villages that we've been to.
• 10:03
  All the people that we've met, be it other pilgrims or people that we've met in the towns.
• 10:09
  Think back to day one when we were starting and we were going to go this way
• 10:14
  and this old man stopped his car and then said, no, no, no, you go this way.
• 10:17
  Like all the amazing people that we've met on the journey. The food.
• 10:21
  All the great food that we've tried.
• 10:24
  All the great food that we've tried and then got sick of suddenly.
• 10:29
  Tortilla. Yes. Ham. Ham. More bread.
• 10:35
  But we've eaten some amazing food.
• 10:39
  The weather, okay, the Lethean region, just like last time, was wet.
• 10:45
  But pretty much all the other time, we've been really quite fortunate it with the weather.
• 10:51
  The scenery that we've seen, like waterfalls, forests, we've seen some mountains,
• 11:00
  snow-capped mountains, beautiful plains,
• 11:04
  crops growing, vineyards, livestock.
• 11:09
  We've seen lots of great things.
• 11:11
  They're the rewards and that I think that's what we will grow in appreciation,
• 11:18
  the crossing a ribbon, you know, a band playing.
• 11:23
  I know that's not what you're after, but like that sort of thing is not necessarily the reward.
• 11:29
  It's thinking back and go, wow, 47 days on the journey.
• 11:35
  How many rest days? Five? Four. Four.
• 11:39
  Pamploma? Yes. Burgos? Leon. Leon.
• 11:43
  Saria. Okay, so 43 days of walking, four days of rest day.
• 11:49
  Oh, wow, just even thinking back to Pam Ploma.
• 11:53
  Have you got a favourite town, village that we've been through or is that something
• 11:58
  that we'll sit down, we'll go through the photos, we'll go through the list?
• 12:03
  I think it's something to think about. Still in my head are those little mountain
• 12:09
  villages that I absolutely loved, you know, where we made the ascent and then
• 12:14
  we were across the ridge. There were a whole string of them.
• 12:17
  They were just beautiful and the locals were lovely and every castle we stayed
• 12:23
  in was just beautiful and the views were beautiful. So that would be up there.
• 12:28
  But, yeah, to single out one would be really hard.
• 12:30
  So maybe we give it 24 hours and we come back on and we do a follow-up pod around
• 12:35
  best thing that we've eaten, best town that we've visited, best accommodation,
• 12:41
  most beautiful, I don't know, maybe we do that, maybe we don't.
• 12:43
  But there's been lots of great things about it. Are you feeling fitter?
• 12:49
  I do feel fitter. today you were saying
• 12:52
  you know we today was quite hilly we were
• 12:54
  going up and down a lot of hills and some of them were quite steep and
• 12:58
  unrelenting they went forever and you were saying do you notice our fitness
• 13:02
  and i said i still don't like hills like i'm always feel like i'm out of breath
• 13:06
  and said no we we're just powering past people because they're on the last 100k
• 13:13
  and so they're sort of day five,
• 13:17
  maybe day six, because they're doing the last 100K.
• 13:20
  And they're still developing that where we're, you know, that was us 40-something days ago.
• 13:27
  We did. We went up the hill. There was no stopping. So I do feel fitter.
• 13:32
  What I wanted to say before is in the ending, it's not a ribbon or whatever,
• 13:36
  but to be allowed in the church.
• 13:39
  To be able to experience a church, to finish with a Mass because we started
• 13:43
  with a really nice pilgrimage in Robson's Vias.
• 13:47
  But we'll do that. We'll get to do that. We will.
• 13:49
  And I know that, but that would finish it. Yeah.
• 13:54
  Like another thing that which is really nice is you're walking and at some point
• 14:01
  you say, let's stop now for a coffee or let's stop now for something to eat.
• 14:06
  And then, you know, that's really nice as well, those sorts of things,
• 14:11
  like all the little bars and cafes that we've pulled into.
• 14:14
  It's been cold, have something nice to eat, nice tea and coffee,
• 14:18
  conversation, whatever it is, but, you know, those sorts of things as well.
• 14:22
  Yeah, and there'd be tiny little places, quite cute, and there'd be a whole
• 14:26
  bunch of pilgrims and we'd all chat.
• 14:28
  That was really, really cool part of the experience as well.
• 14:32
  We're very fortunate all three of us are in one piece no serious injuries no real problems.
• 14:45
  No real injuries, really, to speak of at all. No blisters, no foot problems.
• 14:50
  I had a couple of problems with my toes on my right foot for a couple of days,
• 14:55
  but just changing from the thicker sock to the thinner sock.
• 14:58
  Early on, putting a bit of compete
• 15:00
  on, but then I didn't even have to use that, and that was that done.
• 15:03
  I cut my thumb with the knife cutting the baguette one day.
• 15:09
  That was a bit of an injury. got sunburned
• 15:12
  one day but you know but but we've been really really
• 15:15
  fortunate around those sorts of things as
• 15:18
  well and like not everyone has like i i'd
• 15:21
  noticed today a couple of people were limping and using their stick because
• 15:27
  they were injured not because it was assisting them and there was that poor
• 15:31
  fellow that we met i don't know maybe two weeks ago i don't even know how long
• 15:36
  ago, maybe a week ago. No, more than a week.
• 15:38
  But he was stuck at that albergue with his... He was a week out.
• 15:42
  With his rolled ankle or something like that.
• 15:45
  So, no, we've been really fortunate because it has been wet at times and it's
• 15:51
  not that we haven't slipped.
• 15:53
  I haven't slipped over.
• 15:56
  I haven't slipped over, but we haven't... I did. Yes. Just the once I think
• 16:02
  you did. Yes, because I was...
• 16:04
  Got distracted by birds. By birds. But we haven't rolled any ankles or anything
• 16:08
  like that. So that's been really fortunate.
• 16:13
  Interesting seeing some of the other photos of people days behind us.
• 16:17
  It's still snowing out there. Yes. We've missed all the snow.
• 16:21
  Well, we're talking about that. I think every place we passed,
• 16:26
  it seemed to be a few days later, we'd feel the temperature drop and they're
• 16:30
  like, oh, no, it's snowing here. I think we sort of left the snow behind us wherever we left.
• 16:38
  So what was the official kilometres? They said 779.5 kilometres is the official tally from St.
• 16:52
  John to Santiago if you walk.
• 16:54
  Now, we do know that's plus or minus, depending on if you took any of the alternative
• 16:59
  paths, paths, et cetera, which we've done the occasional one here and there.
• 17:04
  So it's, you know, just shy of 800 kilometres, which is a huge effort.
• 17:09
  47 days. Do anything for 47 days and that forms a habit, really.
• 17:15
  Like 47 days, that's more than a month. It's coming up on the two-month mark almost, isn't it?
• 17:20
  That's a long time. It is a long time. If you do something for 47 days,
• 17:25
  like if you got up and did push-ups every day for 47 days, or if you, you know,
• 17:30
  you change your bedtime for 47 days or if you ate healthy for 47 days or if
• 17:36
  whatever you do for 47 days, that's a significant block of time.
• 17:43
  February 28th was the date that we started. Yes. February 21 was the date that
• 17:49
  we actually left home in Darwin.
• 17:51
  So it's been a significant exercise, significant financial exercise as well.
• 17:59
  To be able to get this done, look, on average, what have we paid for accommodation per night?
• 18:05
  But 80 euros, probably the average.
• 18:10
  You know, there's been times we've had to pay up to 100 euro a night.
• 18:13
  There's been times we've got it a little bit less than the 80,
• 18:16
  but about the 80 euro mark.
• 18:18
  Food-wise each day, 50 euro?
• 18:23
  No. More than that, I think. About 50 euro average.
• 18:26
  You know, sometimes we've usually eaten out once a day,
• 18:32
  and then we've also gone to the local shop and bought stuff and then that's
• 18:40
  kind of been the dinner and the breakfast and then we've eaten out.
• 18:44
  But sometimes we've had a nice meal out for dinner.
• 18:50
  Yeah, possibly about maybe 50 euro. So on average, we're probably looking at
• 18:55
  about 130 euro per day, 140 euro.
• 19:02
  That's a lot. Yes, it is. So a significant financial exercise as well.
• 19:08
  We need to go on a detox from all the things that we've had on the Camino and...
• 19:15
  Financial detox as well from putting all the accommodation.
• 19:19
  More a detox from some of the… Ham.
• 19:24
  Yes, ham. And we spoke about… Chocolate. Chocolate and biscuits and… The soft
• 19:31
  drink that… Bricks that we were having to sort of just pep you up along the way.
• 19:35
  Tonica, Aquarius, TAS.
• 19:38
  We were starting to have less and less of that because we were,
• 19:41
  instead of having the 5K breaks, we were powering through to 10 or trying to
• 19:46
  get to 12 kilometres, so then we'd have one break and go.
• 19:50
  Yes, absolutely. And steps-wise, look, I think today I've done something like
• 19:54
  35,000-plus steps today, so that's significant.
• 19:59
  All right, well, as we said during the day, if you've been listening to our
• 20:02
  podcast, thank you very much.
• 20:05
  You deserve a medal. You deserve a compass, Stella,
• 20:08
  for listening all the way along because it's been more of a reflective journal
• 20:15
  for us and a way to let our family know sort of what we've been doing and what we're seeing.
• 20:21
  And if others have listened, enjoyed it, got some ideas, feel inspired,
• 20:26
  that's wonderful as well.
• 20:28
  If it turns out that no one's really listened to it, that's okay as well because
• 20:33
  we'll be able to go back in time and listen to it.
• 20:36
  I don't know if I'd be able to sit through myself talking, But we could go back
• 20:41
  and actually hear where we've gone. But, you know, that was the intent.
• 20:44
  It was never meant to be a mass consumption type thing. It was more a journal.
• 20:50
  Before we wrap it up, can you answer this question? Why did you walk the Camino?
• 20:58
  Because you made me.
• 21:04
  And for me, you know, it's one of those questions that you're thinking about
• 21:08
  at the start and throughout it, why am I doing this, et cetera.
• 21:14
  As a really, really hard one to sort of pinpoint down and to say,
• 21:19
  I'm doing it because of this particular... Some people might be able to, I couldn't.
• 21:25
  It was something that I knew that I wanted to do and we'd had a taster and we'd
• 21:33
  watched the videos and we'd seen the movies,
• 21:37
  and that five-day taster that we had back in 2017, That didn't satisfy me in terms of,
• 21:45
  yeah, I've done it, but I kind of knew that I wanted to do this.
• 21:50
  So there's no single reason why I wanted to do it, but I knew I wanted to do it.
• 21:57
  I think a big part of it is what a huge adventure, like just to tackle something that big.
• 22:05
  There's the religious reasons as well. There's historical reasons.
• 22:09
  There's so many different reasons why you might want to do it,
• 22:12
  and it's really hard to pinpoint it down.
• 22:14
  But for me, I kind of knew that I wanted to do it, but I couldn't necessarily
• 22:18
  tell you exactly why I wanted to do it.
• 22:21
  To me, pilgrimage is always a good thing. We've done a number of pilgrimages,
• 22:26
  and they're always positive experiences.
• 22:29
  It was your thing that you really wanted to do, but for me, I wanted to see
• 22:34
  some of these other areas, some of these historic places and to see what it
• 22:41
  was about the Camino people were talking about.
• 22:45
  So now that we've done it, what's next? Rest. Thanks for listening.