Day 12 and 13 on the Portuguese Camino and STATS

We made it to Santiago on Saturday October 1 - Here's an update from Friday Sept 30: We walked from Caldas De Reis to Padron - this day was approximately a 20 km day. We met two retired couples from Norway (2 brothers and their wives) and this was the highlight of our journey. It was a bad food day (outside of the morning croissant - that was delicious). We ordered a burger and chips for lunch - and the burger came raw - sent it back to the kitchen and it came back a little less raw - hard for us Canadian girls to eat, however, the chips were tasty. The weather was perfect for walking again, but the evening was cool and overcast. We toured the old Padron (took 5 minutes) and then tried to find an indoor restaurant (because it was cool outside). The one we choose turned out to be a disaster. It was a very salty, expensive Paella seafood dish with only 2 oyster and one scallop for a whopping 30 euros!!! They saw us and all the other pilgrims coming. Needless to say, we craved water all night long. The hotel (Chef Rivera) was nice and clean and quiet. Day 13 - our final trek to Santiago - it was a cool, brisk and misty morning. Much of the terrain today was varied - between walking in the woods, along the highway (for short periods) and through many towns and villages. We had a bit of an incline to summit before Santiago, but surprisingly it was a great walk into the city - the journey today was approximately 32 kms. As we arrived, the sun shone - like it was welcoming the pilgrims to the cathedral. First things first, we had lunch before we found our hotel - and were very selective about where we went. The lunch was superb - risotto and a mixta salada - so good. After a quick shower - we headed to find the cathedral. We dropped off our stamp books and arranged to pick up our certificates tomorrow morning. We met some of our fellow Peregrinos from our journey (Mark and Janine from Brisbane, NaLinda from Holland and recognized several others). We entered the Cathedral just as a church service was beginning and then after this, toured part of the cathedral (the rest we will do tomorrow). Next on our list, was to find a good place to have a supper and whom do we spot - but Robert and Rita from Holland. We all went out together for a relaxing and very enjoyable meal. We promised to stay in touch - Robert and Rita are planning to do a North American tour from May to October in 2017 and coming to Calgary too! Just for interest sake - our pilgrim from hotel to hotel was 287 kms (starting Sept 19 and ending today, October 1, 2016). However, our total step tally was 555,828 during the same time period - this is well surpassing the 287 km!!!!!. We had a total of 3 blisters between all of us, one lost hair brush and one lost pole tip. Everyone walked every step of the way. The weather was perfect for walking - we experienced no rain during our walks. We met and mingled with 27 different people, representing Holland, Norway, Australia, New Zeland, Demark, Maine US, Oregon and Seattle - US; Czec Republic and Portugal. And the wine and tarts were delicious!