Via ARZUA – A CALLE – SALCEDA – EMPALME – SANTA IRENE – A RUA – PEDROUZO / ARCA – LAVACOLLA – SAN MARCOS
Approx 38km
What a day!
We had planned to walk 22km to Pedrouzo / Arca today, but somehow we miss the signs along the Camino (which went through an ‘Enchanted Forest’ today) and ended up walking, in a great deal of pain, an extra 16km to Monte Del Gozo. So very, very shattered!
We had spent the morning doing the usual thing – walked for a couple of hours, then stopping for coffee (ok, sidras). At one point, Rebecca had decided that she wanted a bit of alone time, and walked a bit slower than the rest of us. We arranged to meet that evening at the Albergue in Arca. The rest of us headed off, thinking that we were about 2 hours away from Arca, tops. After walking through the Enchanted Forest for 3 hours, we had a ‘Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore” kind of a moment.
We were lost. Shouldn’t we have been Arca some time ago? Should we keep walking?
We agreed that we should keep walking on to the next town. So we walked. And then we walked some more. And then we saw it….
We agreed that we should keep walking on to the next town. So we walked. And then we walked some more. And then we saw it….
..The sign welcoming us to Santiago. (Or rather, the outskirts of Santiago – so near yet so far)
We had walked 8km too far, and after a very long debate on the side of the road about whether we should head back to Arca for Rebecca, or keep walking the 8km to the next town, the consensus was to keep walking to Monte Del Gozo – Oh My God!
We had walked 8km too far, and after a very long debate on the side of the road about whether we should head back to Arca for Rebecca, or keep walking the 8km to the next town, the consensus was to keep walking to Monte Del Gozo – Oh My God!
What on earth could have distracted us so much that we had missed an entire town? Could it have been the talking sign in the middle of the Enchanted Forest that welcomed us to Santiago? Megan’s terrible jokes? The witch of the ghosts of pilgrims past who had floated ahead of us the whole time? (Seriously, we followed a woman all day who was wearing a long black poncho and appeared to float, not even pausing to catch her breath on the top of the hills…).
Whilst pondering this, we stopped for a calming beer. The worst beer in the WORST bar – which was complete with porn magazines for our reading pleasure!
To keep our mind off the incredible pain we were all in (Oh the pain!), we played word games for the rest of the trek – which of course was in the pissing rain. It worked, and we were at Monte Del Gozo before we knew it – notable for being the first point on the Camino where you can see the towers of the Cathedral of Santiago… but we were all just too knackered at that point to muster up much enthusiasm!
Monte Del Gozo translates to Mount Joy, and is called so because of the stunning view over Santiago – which has made it a place of great joy and celebration for pilgrims over the centuries.
The Albergue at Monte Del Gozo was giant, with room to sleep over 2000 people. It was set out in dorm style – 8 beds per room, so we were lucky enough to have a room to ourselves for our last night of the Camino De Santiago. The grounds that the Albergue were on were also huge, and amazing. Behind the Albergue was an amphitheatre, which was actually being set up for use as we walked in for some kind of celebration that was to take place that evening – the whole place was a hive of activity, which all seemed fitting considering we were almost there, and were in celebration mode!
Monte Del Gozo translates to Mount Joy, and is called so because of the stunning view over Santiago – which has made it a place of great joy and celebration for pilgrims over the centuries.
The Albergue at Monte Del Gozo was giant, with room to sleep over 2000 people. It was set out in dorm style – 8 beds per room, so we were lucky enough to have a room to ourselves for our last night of the Camino De Santiago. The grounds that the Albergue were on were also huge, and amazing. Behind the Albergue was an amphitheatre, which was actually being set up for use as we walked in for some kind of celebration that was to take place that evening – the whole place was a hive of activity, which all seemed fitting considering we were almost there, and were in celebration mode!
We were still really worried about Bec, as we had no way of letting her know that we had gotten lost and had walked straight past Arca. The whole group was feeling pretty terrible about losing her, so to take my mind off it, I decided to gather my things together to go to the bathrooms and have a shower. I was walking down the hallway when I heard a voice I recognized….
Of course it was her!
It turns out that Arca is incredibly hard to find considering it is located in the middle of the (enchanted) forest –so she missed it as well and came to the came conclusion that we did – keep walking! We were all absolutely stoked that the gang was complete again, and decided to celebrate by going out for dinner at a restaurant nearby. After a huge 4 course meal, with plenty of tasty wine, we were all completely flaked out – well, we did walk 38km!
Everyone fell asleep to the sound of me singing songs about Australia – what a sweet sound for them all to have sweet dreams!!
…..Tomorrow – Santiago!!
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