It was a rough start to the day! Neither of us felt 100%. Not sure if it was due to the 25+ Miles from the day before or something in the Padron water. 🤣 The first 5 miles felt more like 10 miles. You can see in the route profile pic that it was a climb all the way today. We were both on the struggle bus being mentally and physically tired. We wanted to be done. Around Mile 13.5 we stopped for a Coke Zero. As we were sitting, up walked Flora and Valter. We all 4 ended up walking into Santiago together. Also in case some of you missed it, Niki made us finish in 9 days rather than our scheduled 10 …. hence the immense pain I am in know!
It is hard to express the feeling as you walk into Santiago through the small streets and finally see the Cathedral. It is truly one of the most impressive structures we have ever seen. We just laid down in the square for about 30 mins after arriving. Oh yea … it was cloudy and overcast all day, and I kid you not the minute we laid down the sun popped right onto us. It was awesome!! After taking it all in, we went to the pilgrams office and received our compestela for completing our journey; or as Niki put it … ” I got my diploma!”
So in a nutshell …. I would again say that if you have even a small notion to try the Camino .. DO IT. It is a challenge physically and mentally, but it rewards you in more ways than you can imagine. I am so glad that we did it together. Maybe next time Austin and Courtney can join for the full Colella Family Camino. But until then, Bom Camihno and Buen Camino! We hope you enjoyed sharing our journey with us.
The Colella 2023 Camino 