Again, lovely to be walking in the dark but we missed our way mark again because we were talking! By now we were a bit reluctant to follow Spanish directions so when a driver told us to go back where we came from I sent Martin back and he was to blow on the whistle 3 times if it was ok to come back! Like a sheepdog scampered back to climb yet another hill in the dark. Too much for me and I cried my eyes out walking in the dark. Triggered by tiredness, and anger that we missed the turning and yet more anger at having to walk up a hill in the dark, my tears were about other stuff. So I told the concerned Martin to just ignore me and I spent time in quietness, walking in the dark, thinking about things.
We had a very pleasant walk, sunny, but not too hot and we made good progress. Roy and Veronica caught us up and we stopped at a cafe for beer and coffee and after a bit continued in together to Santiago. Unlike the French way and the Portuguese way the outskirts of Santiago was suburban and not industrial and therefore pleasant to walk through.
Had a good old chat with Veronica en-route and this was good as there hadn’t really been the opportunity to do so before now.
There was an impressive metal structure / archway to walk under about ½ km long as we came into the city. Very modern and chic. We turned a corner and then another and suddenly we found ourselves in the main square at the rear of the cathedral. This is so huge and amazing and we spent time just looking.
Next stop the camino office for our certificate! The queue wasn’t too bad and we collected our certificates and then the four of us sat outside the bar opposite drinking rather a good red wine waiting for the rest of our group to arrive. It was a really nice feeling to sit there knowing that all we had to do was to check into our hotel, come back for mass and something to eat. When the others arrived, we set off to the hotel to get ready for the 6:00 mass back at the cathedral.
The hotel was lovely, what a shame we were not going to spend much time in it! Time for a shower then back we went to the old city. Martin and Roy had kind of decided not to go to the mass but somehow they came in to have a look around the cathedral and were rewarded for their efforts as the botifumeiro was just being put into position as the mass was ending and we all got to see the swinging in full action!
Veronica and I positioned ourselves in the front row ready for mass and Angela texted me to say they had made it and were sitting at the back. There was a surreal moment when Angela T went up for a blessing, crossed her arms across her chest and bowed her head awaiting a blessing. It was a blessing for her that she could not see the priest’s face as he was evidently perplexed at this strange behaviour and looked around desperately for divine or otherwise intervention which was sadly not forthcoming. Oblivious to this Angela moved on (I am laughing out loud even as I write this) but more humiliation was to follow. Sue had witnessed all of this but as the next and last person in the queue she could not make a quick exit. She approached the priest with trepidation as she could see the bewilderment on his face as yet another strange woman with dodgy hand signals was approaching. Sue’s unique approach to reassure him however was to wink with alternate eyes and make amusing face gestures as she felt this would nudge his memory as to what he had to do! This was not successful and he now was resorting to looking around desperately for assistance. Sue simply scurried off and this drew an end to the matter.
Had a nice meal in a restaurant called Monroy (thought it was similar to RonRoy after Veronica and Roy and therefore a ‘sign’) and made our way back to the hotel stopping for drinks at a couple of bars as we went. Naturally I fell asleep at the last bar (I was up very early) and staggered back to the hotel for a well earned kip.
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