Day 36 was a day of new beginnings. I set out before sunrise (as is the norm for me these days) and made the long walk out of Santiago. Once outside the city, I can to a fork in the path and together with another gentleman, decided to take the incorrect path. It took me just over 2km to figure out that we town the wrong path (we were walking straight North, which is not something you tend to do on the Camino...) but since he walked at a much faster pace than me, I have no idea how far he got. I don't recall ever seeing him again... Maybe he's still out there walking!
I would have turned back sooner, but I had heard that the Finisterre Camino was a rougher trail and less well marked. Aside from this first little hiccup, that dies not seem to be the case. Luckily, the extra 5km I walked happened on the shortest of the 3 day walk. Making today something like 28km, tomorrow 33km, and the last day 35km.
Once I found the correct path, the trail was this wonderful intentionally placed packed gravel. It was soft to walk on, but not squishy; had grip, but wasn't pointy... It was basically like walking on a giant sugar cube.
Unfortunately it was a sugar cube mountain, and it just kept climbing higher and higher with each turn. However I had been warned that this route had more ascents and descents than the last.
Most of the signs I saw were for the "Camino de Santiago" which is odd, since had just completed that yesterday, and this path isn't considered part of that by whatever official governing body claims "completion" of that Camino. I did find some hand made signs for Finisterre (or Fisterra as it is sometimes called), however.
I also stayed in this very large albergue (around 60 beds I think) which had inspirational writing on the wall.
I was the first person to arrive, and I was the only one there for a couple hours... I was starting to wonder how few people actually decided to take the walk to Finisterre due to the weather forecast... It had rained yesterday in Santiago, and the prediction was for more rain all week. But then several people showed up, including a married couple from California I had met earlier in the trip, and a whole different group of young people who we had been keeping pace with at the start of the walk. It's nice to see familiar faces.
So far I think the difference between the Camino de Santiago and the Camino de Finisterre were a bit exaggerated. There are certainly fewer people on the route, and the major difference affecting me today was the lack of intermediate facilities... There were no longer open cafes and bars along the route.. I'd just walk through town and see nothing open, and walk right out the other side. Out hospitaliera warns us that tomorrow's endpoint doesn't have any store or bank or anything, so today I bought supplies for making lunch on the road tomorrow, so I don't need an open cafe to eat something.
