March 13 – We got up at 7am this morning and feeling hungry, Karen made us Chinese instant noddles. She microwaved hot water and poured it over the noodles in the camping pot.

Yes, we had brought a couple pairs of throw away chopsticks from Calgary in anticipation of a time where we can use them due to limited kitchen facilities. This morning was that time. LOL. Instant noodles are from Spain though.

After breakfast, we had a little trouble trying to get out of Caldas Da Reis. We got lost looking for the arrows and ended up doing the tourist thing looking at points of interest. We got pictures of the hot spring soaker and hot public bath used for feet that Caldas Da Reis is famous for.

Finally, after about an hour of going around this town and asking a few locals, we found our first yellow arrow at the Roman Bridge.

“Walk on walk on” was our motto for today. Our destination is Padron which is our last stop before Santiago. We are very close now.

During this walk we reunited with Sarah and Tina on one of our breaks. They are the girls who are camping their way to Santiago.

We also met Jose Iglesias Castro whom we took a picture with on Karen’s camera. Nice Spanish farmer. He asked if we could mail him his photo. Karen agreed to do so and she took his mailing address details. Remember that Karen has this ability to genuinely connect with the people we meet. LOL.

We stopped for brunch at a nice cafe and ordered a couple of breakfast specials.

After breakfast we continued our walk. Here are the pics.

On this walk I came across a couple of happy trees in the forest. Karen didn’t notice them at all and I remembered that we both perceive things differently. We get to enjoy our different perspectives at the end of each day when there are any.

The walk was very nice with intermittent sunny moments. Then we had 4 Pilgrims pass by us. They were praying on their rosaries aloud. So glad we were able to witness serious pilgrims on this trip.

We finally made it to the milestone marker indicating that there were only under 30 kms to go to reach Santiago.

Strange turnabout of events unfolded after this marker. We lost sight of the arrows again and got lost. LOL.

Given the time of day, Karen flagged down a taxi and we rode in to Padrón to our Albergue Camino Do Sar. We were the only pilgrims at this Albergue for today and thus had the whole Albergue to ourselves.

Our hostess warned us that there is a big storm warning for tomorrow and schools will be closed in the area. She wanted us to know so that we are aware of the conditions for walking. As we had made plans long ago to take it easy on the last leg from Padron to Santiago, it won’t be a problem. We had planned to take a train ride to Santiago but our hostess recommended a bus instead.

On this night we cooked as this Albergue has a full functioning kitchen. Here’s our supper.

We checked our back packs after supper to see what we can leave behind. Tomorrow we will be staying in Spain’s oldest hotel, the Parador Santiago. I am looking forward to it.

We will also be visiting Santiago’s interred remains and praying to him for the people who had asked us to. I will also be sure to mention that I carry your prayers to him for those who had done so. Happy to oblige this intercession for all!

Last but not least we will get our Certificate for having completed the minimum of 100kms walk to Santiago.

With today’s walk clocking in at 13kms, we have now walked the length of this Camino a total of 151 kms.

That’s it for now folks. I shall be seeing all of you in a few days when I am back in Calgary.

Keep well! Enviando todo mi amor desde España! Hasta Luego!

Hasta Luego Calgary!