Finally Home

My adventurous family is back home in the USA safe and sound!  This is Steve and I am so proud of them and very happy to hold them in my arms again.

I have added one last map that illustrates every wonderful place Neve has eloquently described and enjoyed through their 4 month journey.

Click on this link to see the interactive map -->  2016 Le Puy & Norte Camino

Heading home!!!!

I'm an awful blogger and hope to catch up tonight as we will be sleeping in Paris waiting for our last leg home.

We made it to Santiago, to Finesterre , to Muxia as planned!

We then went to Portugal and stayed in Porto for two wonderful nights. The trip to Porto was made via rental car. The next Camino I am pretty sure will be the Portugal route going on the coast.

We spent the last nights at the softest place to land visiting the precious community that we love, the Twelve Tribes. They sent us off with an amazing breakfast, packed us lunches and then filled our bags with items from their store. They then helped me return my car at one airport and got all six of us to the airport we were flying out of. Our airplane is taxing out right now!

Hugs,

Three kilometers to go!

We have just arrived to Finesterre, Spain what was considered the end of the World at one time. Our final destination taking us all the way through Spain to the Atlantic Ocean. We just checked in to a family run auberge and are on our way to the final three kilometers leading to the lighthouse peninsula and the zero mile marker.

It's 7:39 in the morning and we are heading into Santiago!

Behind on blog and will catch up but I owe it to the kids to keep people posted of their huge accomplishment. We are five kilometers from the Cathedral, with city traffic I am guessing we will be at the Cathedral an hour and fifteen minutes from departure.

We arrived after 35 kilometers to our auberge last night. It's actually wonderful and had a great kitchen.the boys made a great dinner. It was dark when we arrived and you could see Santiago's lights in the distance.

 Aynsleigh started to cry while we walked with the lights saying, "I am so happy!". She is so proud and asks often,"Do you think daddy is proud of us?"        <-- Absolutely, DAD is so proud of you all!!!>

We are getting emails from literally all over the World from people who we have met cheering the kids on. We love you all and many have been an amazing part of this Camino even if we only got to walk a day with them. How fortunate to have been surrounded by some of the greatest people on Earth!

Three days from Santiago!!!

Just a quick update as I am so far behind on our blog. We are three days from the Cathedral in Santiago!!!!

Actually two but we have decided to stay outside of Santiago tomorrow night on the perimeter of the town so that we walk into Santiago Saturday morning for mass at noon.

The Cathedral is the end of this pilgrimage but not the end of ours... we will continue on to Finesterre by foot where many thought it was literally "the end of the World". Then we will walk to Muxia which to me is the best way to end our pilgrimage, a peaceful place on Earth. We carry the ashes of precious Sandy and Cinder who will join Spinnaker's, Q's, Ama's, Harbor's and Buoy's ( Sandy's puppy).

Will catch up on blog I hope by then, I just wanted to let everyone know we are less then 60 miles from Santiago about to leave a wonderful monastery that we just slept in.

For those emailing through the blog I do see your emails they just are not set up to post there and only go to my inbox however your direct email does not show up so feel free to use my blog name @gmail.com directly.

Kids are great, no injuries spirits are super high. Walking with "uncle Jordi" a mid thirty year old pilgrim from Barcelona who is spoiling the kids with candy and goodies. He adores them and they love him, we think we will all head to Muxia together! From there he has a friend joining him and we have a rental car for a week!

Hugs to all!

Neve

Day 76 Ribadeo to Gondan

We were lazy pilgrims and got up a little later than we planned, last nights auberge was also on the water but nothing like Tapia. Jordi walked us into town where he treated the kids to chocolate con Churros!!! This is a thick chocolate drink with a donut line sugar pastry. They love it! Afterwards, we said our good byes and he promised us he'd catch up after his break day. He then said he'd sneak up behind us singing,"What does the fox say???".

About an hour later he'd send us a picture of his hotel room which is way more comfiest than an auberge, about three hours later he'd send us a picture of his clean clothes teasing us to take a whiff. Clean clothes and the smell of anything clean almost makes you follow them or it.

We proceeded to Gondan where we had the simple auberge to ourselves. Simple but an amazing kitchen. Karsh made dinner and he had a great evening. There was a cow near our auberge that would not stop mooing, I was convinced something was wrong, or it was stuck or something. The next morning no cow appeared injured or stuck...

We are heading south now, away from the coast...

Pictures from the day...

My local SPCA once joked with me that she didn't have a dog " dilapidated" enough for me at that moment in time... I swore she spoke to the animals and always did find me the dogs that were meant to be mine.

I guess she knew me well as I fell in love with this kitty!!!! If I thought it was being bullied where it is I would bring it home in a heartbeat though someone hinted it might be a bully :(

The kids hung this branch up and decorated for Jordi to see tomorrow, I hope no one takes it down...

Jordi has a red nose that he puts on, he said there is a band he and his friends follow and I think the fans wear these noses. We hung it on a bridge, pretty certain it can't be missed as long as it can survive and no one takes it down in the next twenty four hours.

Dog on the blog...

Day 75 Tapia de Casariego to Ribadeo ( and As Catedrais beach)

Last night was really cold and from our auberge we could hear the waves crashing. Great spot!

Today would be our last day on the coast until we get to Santiago. After Santiago, where the Cathedral is, we will continue on to Finesterre, which will take three days to walk and then to Muxia, which will take one.

Tonight's auberge is also on the water. We would arrive to Annie and the three Scottish ladies. Annie is not feeling well and Johanas went on ahead.  She said she has spent two days here. Tomorrow we say bye to Jordi which is sad for us. He told me he thought the kids and I should enter Santiago alone since we had made this trip together.  I assured him that was far from the situation we were craving.  We have loved each pilgrim that has come into our life and treasured our walks with all of the wonderful people that have come in and out of our Camino and none has gotten in the way of our closeness or celebration.

When I said this he promised me he'd catch up to us "before Santiago". He and the kids have really bonded over the song "What Does the Fox Say?"  A popular song in the USA but evidently not as popular in different areas of Europe (although sung by a group of guys from Europe). Jordi knew the song from its cartoon version because he actually googled "what sound does a fox make" and voila the song appeared. He didn't know it's popularity, but when he heard my kids singing it the night we first met there was an instant bond.

We decided to take taxi, we needed two to hold all of us, to the beach I referenced yesterday in my post. It is called As Catedrais which I think means Cathedral beach. You need to plan your visit well because it has natural structures all along the beach that can only be enjoyed in low tide, so at 5:20pm we made an appointment for two taxis to come get us.

This beach is so popular in the summer that you actually need tickets to go to it.

We'd go out to dinner tonight together and celebrate, as I fear we might not see Jordi again though he assures me we will.

A hilarious story, as we were leaving Tapia, a lady who looked like she had only the best of intentions stood in the sidewalk sizing up Aynsleigh. Both Reichen and I said,"uh oh.." at about the same time as we could tell this woman was about to vomit advice to her. With a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, she proceeded to touch Aynsleigh's backpack and kind of adjust it. Aynsleigh is like a pack with legs, if you bump into her she could easily just tip right over and with almost two thousand kilometers under her belt carrying this pack every step I think she needs no advice. Thankfully, I didn't understand her but Jordi being the classy nice guy that he seemed to nod his head at the lady as if he was listening. Thankfully, I had no idea what was being said or I would have done a little polite 'educating'. Seems the lady said that her six year old nephew (mind you her cigarette was hanging out of her mouth the whole time) had done the Camino and that Aynsleigh's pack was all wrong. I don't know what her six year old nephew did but I would bet my last penny he didn't do more than the required hundred kilometers to get the Compostela, let alone almost three months from Le Puy.  Jordi told the lady we'd fix it once we got down the street to a bench...he's too nice!

Pictures from the day...

Breakfast in the auberge and a late start, we all slept in!

We all loved this quote ...

These pictures were taken behind our auberge...
 

Love this picture, a bit of all things Norte!

"Jordi snacks"!!!!!!

Jordi eats very well, but he has made note of what the kids like for treats and snacks as much as I have begged him not to... two or three times a day out pops " Jordi snacks", treats he has bought the kids and then just opens his pack as if he never knew they were in there.

As Catedrais Playa!!!!!!

L-O-V-E

A white lady bug....

Bronwyn and I went into this cave and as I took this picture water rushed in on us and we panicked! We ran through the freezing cold water and it left just as we realized we should have waited...

Karsh can't leave a rock pile without adding a rock!

Dog on the blog...

This girl was a hoot, probably the most character I've seen in a pup in awhile. It helps that she is off a chain.

She walked up to us and literally melted on Aynsleigh. You can see in the picture she just squished herself on Aynsleigh and wouldn't let her get up begging for love. Right when I was convinced this poor dog must need a home, was unloved and very needy she hopped up with the biggest " love 'me and leave 'em" attitude. She proceeded to walk around several homes in a line heading to the coast and not near us. I caught her walking near the cows not even looking over at us. Then about five minutes later she beat us to the picnic tables and looked at us as if to question the amazing coincidence that we were there too. She clearly knows the path of pilgrims and knew where we were heading.

Loved her!!!!