We made it - yayyyyyy 😀😀😀

Our last day is dawning - we set our alarm for 6:30 a.m. It's dark again and very cold - 9 degrees. I thought we were in the south ...

So we pack the long clothes, i.e. what we have with us - leggings and fleece jacket, again.

Our breakfast is quite meager - but it doesn't matter, we are motivated.

Outside on the street, we hardly encounter any people - no pilgrims either 🤔 Are we the first ones today???

We see at the first café - no, we are not, there are still a few people having breakfast.

We try to walk the first half of the route in one go and then take a break.

It is really cold and the fog lingers on the mountains for a long time.

We pass through very small towns whose houses remind us of the Middle Ages. Only the dogs and cats are on the streets here 🐱🐶

By noon, there are more and more people and the path is getting crowded - everyone seems to want to reach the destination 🚶🏿🚶🏿🚶🏿🏃🏃🏃

In the last café before Santiago, we meet a couple from Bonn who have already walked several Caminos de Santiago. We chat a bit - where from, where to ... and then we continue - we will all meet in front of the cathedral 😀

The way into the city is once again very disillusioning - not a very nice suburb and no nice entrance sign AND all the milestone markers on the signs are missing 😬 so we couldn't document our approaching destination 😒

BUT THEN ...

Yayyyyyy - we made it 😀😄 250 km over stocks and stones

big fat kiss to my two girls, that they walked here with me and Stefan always cheered us on - and we celebrated my birthday as a family here - muchas gracias

All pilgrims arrive on the square in front of the cathedral - and indeed we meet the people from Bonn and everyone else who was on the road with us today. Everyone looks incredibly happy and hugs each other, drops their backpacks and takes wild photos.

We sit there with a smile on our faces and are approached by two day tourists asking where we come from, how far we have walked and where from. A Canadian woman asks us why we are doing this and what we are going to do now that we have arrived?? We say - we are just happy to have arrived and we eat chocolate in joy - it tastes so good today 😀

She writes a wish for us on our postcards.

Then we look for our accommodation - with Google Maps, we manage quite well. We are happy to be able to take a 🚿 and change again 😀

Hunger drives us to the first café we find that doesn't just have sweets - we order everything the menu has to offer and isn't octopus.

At 7:30 p.m., we make our way to the cathedral to witness the pilgrim mass.

That was a very impressive moment - for all pilgrim routes that end in Santiago, the countries from which the pilgrims who arrived today come from were called out. The cathedral was like an ark - many countries were represented.

At the end of the mass, the huge incense burner was swung - a gigantic spectacle.

Those were enough experiences for today - we lie exhausted in bed and look forward to sleeping in and strolling through the city tomorrow.

Good night