Day 31 - A trip to the end of the world

For a lot of Pilgrims Santiago is not the end, the coastal town of Finisterre (which means end of the world) is where you must finish (and for some not even that is a enough and they continue round to Muxia). Walking there from Santiago takes 3-4 days which I didn't have so for the first time in 29 days I was transported by a mode other than my feet (actually I must confess to using an escalator on one occasion). We caught the bus to Finnesterre where we were going to join Scottish Neil and the other guys we walked the first half of the Meseta with plus Neil's Camino family in Finnesterre that he had been raving about since we met him.

I had the siesta to end all siestas on the bus and missed a lot of interesting scenery. I awoke when we had nearly arrived and we were surrounded by striking rock formations and passed through quaint seaside towns. When we arrived there was Sonny again, much more relaxed now. We met Neil who introduced us to his Madrid mum, Ana, at her restaurant and I will come back to her later on. We had a tapas which consisted of a sausage on a skewer over a bowl of oil which she set alight.  You then rotated the skewer until the fire went out and then you had a nice little hot sausage.

Then we met more of Neils family at the Albergue where we checked in and were reunited with some friends. After a freshen up we headed back to Ana's restaurant where she single handedly cooked various dinners and served behind the bar for a constant stream of Pilgrims. Depite being all on her own she did not at any point seem the least bit flustered or overworked!
                                                           
We had a lie in the next day, breakfasted on homemade bread jam and Neil excitedly made me a cup of PG tips, my first tea of the Camino. By this point my legs were getting twitchy from the lack of walking so we walked to the light house where there is a stone with a zero mark marking the end of the walk to Finnesterre. This where traditionally Pilgrims go to burn things (often their boots). This was a beautiful walk in sunshine and I felt throughly spoilt by whatever force had given me this perfect end to my Camino. Todd and Damien burnt their socks whilst I scaled the rocks down to the sea with an Uruguian I'd just met. I think he may have been a little high which made for interesting reflective conversation whilst gazing out at the ocean. On the way back to the town I was treated to a lively rendition of the Uruguian national anthem.

Back to Ana's for a few Cervezas and tapas. This was followed by emotional goodbyes before getting on the bus back to Santiago so I could get my flight the next day. This trip really was the cherry on top of my Camino!