Camino de Santiago
Stage 5/5
5 days, 73 miles, October 2025
This felt like a different Camino. While the landscape was beautiful farms (dairy, kale, corn, …), forest, and lots of small villages, the number of pilgrims quadrupled (lots of school kids, charity groups, big tour groups, new walkers, etc), more commercialized (souvenir shops, wax stamps doubled in price, less pilgrim meals) and less Camino community (less “buen camino” greetings, hard to find our people from earlier,…) We also ended with 2 days of rain which is just part of the journey, but really the first we had. Majority of this portion followed along a stone Roman wall. Spiritually (what this section is known for) we had some fateful stuff happen …. a tree limb dropped heavily to the ground on the path RIGHT in front of me; while doing a rooftop tour (not OSHA approved) on top of the Cathedral in Santiago we happen to look down through a window to get a unique bird’s eye view of the rare Botafumeiro ceremony (swinging huge incense canister); made a wrong turn only to run into our Camino friend Mary who shared with us in tears that her hurt knee was forcing her to abandon her Camino this year (she needed a hug); curious cows wishing us a buen camino; and walked half a day with Joe answering our many questions about Buddhism (we’re interested). All that and some mystical morning fog as well as beautiful skies.
Day 32: Sarria to Portomarin
Date: Thurs, Oct 16, 2025
Weather: Perfect hiking weather. Although sun in afternoon around 3pm felt very strong.
Miles: 14
Time walking: 8:45am - 3:30pm
Difficulty: Moderate. Way more ups and downs on both dirt trails and pavement than we anticipated. Also way more crowded.
Top of hill leaving Sarria
Shortly after leaving town we came across a nice bridge.
Beautiful skies in the early morning hours.
Ton of ups and downs today. Some steep. Shady forest sections
And sun drenched farmland.
More cows taking over the road
Lots of crowds. Lots of pilgrims doing their first day as well as kids on a school outing.
Lunch At Bar Modega with another nice Irish couple.
Hit the 100 km mark. On the home stretch!
Ah seeing Portomarin from above.
Stopped at Los Andantes for a beer about a mile from our hotel
Dinner at Osteria Italiana right near the church. Nice change having Italian tonight. Pasta was very good. Large portions.
Beautiful sunset
Hotel: Ferramenteiro de Portomarin ($104, breakfast 6euro pp). 👌Clean hotel on the Camino. Sterile business feel. Bed feels comfortable.
Day 33: Portomarin to Palas de Rei
Date: Fri, Oct 17, 2025
Weather: Perfect hiking conditions. Very foggy for the first 2 hours of walking -to the point of wet hair
Miles: 15
Time walking: 5.5 hours. 8:30am - 3pm
Difficulty: Moderate. Lots of ups and downs on different surfaces (rocky, dirt, asphalt) most along or next to small roads with occasional speeding cars.
Morning in mystical fog.
And first sighting of the crowds in the fog.
Walked with Joe from Belfast who we had breakfast with a couple of days ago. Interesting travel and retreat (buddhist, yoga, meditation, etc) experience. Came out of the fog layer to bright sunshine for the rest of the warming day.
… Some are school groups, groups walking for a cause, people that only have a week to walk,.,,
Best tortilla on the trail for lunch at Los Andantes.
Saw Dan and his family, so finally grabbed a picture.
Got an overdue photo with Noah from Mexico City , who we have seen many many times since early in our camino.
Some lovely shaded sections.
Dinner at Pasta. Ran by a British couple. Not the friendliest but food was good. Tiny restaurant with a few sits upstairs and a couple of tables on the street. Opened at 5pm.
And when we were leaving saw Joe outside. Yeah!!
Sunset from our room
Hotel: Trina 20 ($97, breakfast not included) 👍👍. Nice bright, clean, decent size room. Liked the towels, sheets and comfortable bed. Bonus Netflix streaming.
Day 34: Palas de Rei to Arzúa
Date: Sat, Oct 18, 2025
Weather: Comfortable temperature all day long
Miles: 19
Time walking: 7 hours. 8:30am - 5:00pm
Difficulty: Moderate. Some ups and downs. Long day due to miles.
Love seeing the Roman wall fairly consistently since Sarria. We have been told we will continue to see it into Santiago.
Sun shining through the forest trail
Walked in the morning with Nick, a high school biology teacher, from Wales
Day 35: Arzúa to O Pedrouzo
Date: Sun, Oct 19, 2025
Weather: Rainy. Cooler.
Miles: 12
Time walking: 4.5 hours. 9:30-2:30
Difficulty: Moderate. Lots of small ups / downs. Dodging puddles.
Wonderful breakfast provided by the hotel in a super cute dining room about 300m down the Camino from the hotel.
Light rain to start got heavier as the day progressed.
Lots of walking thru beautiful lush green forest.
Good morning horsey. Pregnant? We didn’t want to ask her the embarrassing question.
These cows were very interested in us.
Trail became half river.
Had lunch/dinner at a Mexican restaurant for a change of pace. Tacos were really good.
Followed by churros dipped in hot chocolate.
Hotel: Pensión Residencial Platas ($82, no breakfast). Room was better and a bit larger than expected.
Day 36: O Pedrouzo to Santiago -last leg
Date: Mon, Oct 20, 2025
Weather: Light drizzle most of the day. Colder temperatures as well
Miles: 12.5
Time walking: 5 hours. 8:30am - 3pm
Difficulty: Moderate. Still had hills.
Lots of shaded forest paths again.
Walked around the Santiago airport
They seem to plant and harvest a lot of eucalyptus trees
Loved the fallen leaves and changing colors
Falling tree branch dropped right in front of Amy. Scary.
Larry ready to run the final 10k.
Entering the big city
Crossing over the modern camino-bahn.
Getting into Santiago was more emotional than I thought. It was also combined with our 29th anniversary. We loved the bagpipe player before seeing the church.
Had a drink with Scott and Paolo and several pilgrims they met on the journey.
Then our own dinner at our hotel -scallops. Shells that represent the Camino, and that we all carried tied to our backpacks.
We stayed 2 extra days in Santiago. Highly recommend. The First day we decompressed, explored Santiago and did laundry. We went to mass which is a must. We also did the rooftop tour where we were very lucky to see the X ceremony. Need to make reservations for this atleast a week in advance. It is very popular. The next day we rented a car and drove out to Finnxxxx - the end of the world. The weather was terrible but very glad we did this as it was fun seeing the "0" marked sign. If you don't want to rent a car there are tour options as well as public buses. We decided to rent a car as it wasn't that expensive, and we could control the stops and how long we stayed. We then made our way to Madrid bia train for our flight back to the
Hotel: Hostel Suso. ($243 - 3 nights, no breakfast). Great location. Quiet. Big bed. Good restaurant just below. Tub / Shower.
