Mantra

My flight from Santiago to Madrid was delayed by nearly two hours in the end. Why do flights always get delayed when they're already a late flight and you're tired? So instead of flying out at ten, I ended up leaving around twelve. I did get a little bit of a nap in at the airport, I'm a pretty relaxed traveller these days, I seem to be able to sleep anywhere. What I was a little concerned about was that Pete was staying up to wait for me in Madrid.  I arrived at Madrid and got directions to the metro. At the metro ticket booth the guy was really really helpful, he got my ticket for me and marked on a map where I needed to go. And then when I needed to change trains this ... read more

Saturday 9th October It was nice to get up and get ready to start walking again! I was up at 7, had breakfast at the albergue, and by 8.30 me and Amanda were ready to head off. Amanda is an english chick I had met a few different times along way, she had stayed at the same albergue as me last night, and we had decided to head out to Finesterra together. We were prepared for rain, and also possibly some thunderstorms, as that was the weather prediction for the day. We put on all our rain gear and had our packs ready for a rainy day, but it was overcast when we departed with no rain to start. We were very pleased. We set off towards the cathedral as that was to be the start ... read more

Thursday 7th October Well here I am...finally in Santiago!!! Amazing!!! I can´t believe I have walked over 800kms with my 10kg backpack and staying in albergues all the way! What a great feeling!! I was up bright and early this morning. Some people in our room decided they would get up at 6am and were sooo noisy. So that was it for me... I had no choice but to get up too. But to be honest, it was probably a good thing, as it meant I ended up in Santiago in time to get my bed sorted and go to the pilgrams mass. I woke up Juan Manual,, and once we were ready we had breakfast and hit the road. The noisy people from the morning ended up being on the road with us. Which, at ... read more

Thursday 30th September Damn, damn, damn!!! I have just lost all my notes from today until the 6th Oct....I can´t believe it!! I´m going to have to redo them all.... :( So here we go... Today I headed off on my own. Was very very teary in the morning, I´m really really sad to be leaving Armando, I got a lovely hug from the young american chick I´ve met a few times. Was really keen for a day totally on my own...not seeing anyone I knew. And that is what happened!! It was great!! I really enjoyed it. Time to start making the decisions I want to make and doing exactly what I want to do. The walk today was ok, went out to Villafranca... a very very pretty town. Had a drink, but was keen ... read more

Saturday 18th Sept No nap this afternoon and because we arrived in town so early it feels like we have a whole day free. It's amazing! I spent the bulk of the afternoon checking out the Burgos cathedral. Wow! Talk about stunning. It was overwhelming with it's beauty and detail and age. I took heaps of photographs but eventually had to stop as there were just too many beautiful things to capture.  Later we did our standard supermarket shop and then hunted about for dinner.  I had a hard night tonight, emotionally.    But I can't believe the amount of amazing support I got  from everyone. All these wonderful new friends I have made on the camino, they really are so lovely. Tomorrow I think the group will split. It's time for us all to go ... read more