Yes, that is the Cathedral of Santiago de Campostela in the background. We reached the pilgrimage point on Monday, October 7 in a chilly rain, not atypical of Galician weather. This milestone of our journey had its own ups and downs. Up: the laundromat started by a pilgrim-supporter three years ago was still in business and we were able to process a big load. Down: the hotel had erroneously rejected our luggage from the Correos Paq-Mochila baggage forwarding service.Up: a trip to the Central Correos (Post office) reunited us with our bags. Down: when we went to the Pilgrim Office to obtain the credentials certifying completion of the pilgrimage, we were issued numbers 1106 and 1107. The Office was dealing with number 525 at the time (2:45 pm). Only 581 people in the queue ahead of us!Up: at 9:15 pm that night, we received our credentials!Above is the credential, known as a campostella, for Lady Mariam Muldoon MacDonald (Ed’s sister, Mary, in whose memory we walked this Camino). In Latin, the ancient form of words had been used for many of the 1,100 years that pilgrims have been making their way through hills, valleys, mountains, rivers, mud, dust and other perils to the resting place of Saint James the Apostle.Perhaps those 1,100 years of pilgrims is the reason our queue numbers were 1,106 and 1,107. The high numbers also mean that the daily total was higher than 1,100. In the city, there were more pilgrims than we expected to see in October. Indeed, when the 2019 numbers are compiled, we may find that recent annual counts of 250,000 on all the various routes of the Camino are exceeded this year.

As you see from the lead photo, the facade of the Cathedral has been magnificently cleaned and restored over a ten year period. We finally viewed the Portico della Gloria on this, our third attempt, and it did not disappoint. (Photography was not allowed). Maestro Matteo, the designer and artist, somehow converted cold stone into the grace, warmth and vitality of human and angelic forms.

What’s next? We are already enjoying the incredible hospitality of our friends, Marta and Rafael, appearing in the lead photo with us, at their beautiful finca across the ria from Vigo. Tomorrow we’ll go to spend three days in Madrid and to see our friends, Luz and Julio. Then, on to Jordan and Egypt!We’ll continue to blog until we return to the States.