Thursday 27th September

The campsite at Santiago de Compostela was on the side of very steep hill in the middle of a busy town. You really have to trust your Sat-Nav on occasions such as this, because when the road gets narrow, then windy, then steep, and your wife starts holding on to the handle above her head, you know its not going to be any easy campsite approach! Seeing the signpost pointing in the same direction that you are travelling in is then a blessed relief!  Now it’s amazing how two different cars of the same make can have the same model of GPS and 2 entirely different routes to a campsite as Kev and Val arrived a little while after us having followed a wide main road virtually to the gate.  Easy peasy!

After lunch we took a walk into town to see the famous Cathedral that had been the goal for all the hundreds of Pilgrims that we had seen since we got off the ferry in Bilbao. The Camino de Santiago (also known as the way of St. James) is the name for the route of the main pilgrimage (there are others which I will cover in a future blog) and it begins at Saint Jean Pied du Port in France and then travels for 500 miles through four of Spain’s 15 regions. I found it a beautiful, and at times somewhat difficult, drive so it must be one heck of a tiring walk!  Above is a photo of what we originally thought was the  wonderful building that we had set out to see, and to say we were slightly underwhelmed at both the grandeur of the building and the lack of people would be an understatement!

It was only when we saw the crowds of people walking around the corner that we realised what all the fuss was all about…..Wow!

I was not sure if the crowds had gathered to greet this rather wonderful collection of vintage Bentleys that just turned up……

They certainly made cars to last in those days, some of these models are 90 years old.(Kev’s car is only 5 years old and as of this moment is in the the garage with a major problem, more of which in a future blog!)

The crowds of weary travellers summoned up an extra ounce of energy to admire these magnificent beasts of the road! I liked looking, but I don’t think I would have the strength  to manoeuvre these monsters without the power steering or power assisted braking that we are used to today!

It was nearing the end of the day before we got to have a look around the inside of the Cathedral, and it was well worth the drive………….

Or in a lot of cases well worth the walk!

After an exhausting tour of the town it was time for coffee and cake, or wine and cake or beer and cake.  The main thing was to have some cake!

This set me thinking what could cap off a lovely day like this………

Maybe some live music…………

How about an open air concert on the Cathedral steps?…………. Just perfect!

And as we walked through the town’s narrow lanes full of enticing tapas bars …………..

……and fantastic looking restaurants, I couldn’t help but wonder what culinary delights Jane was going to prepare for me this evening. I didn’t have long to wait…….. cheese on toast, and it was lovely, and cheap!