Day 6 - Arzua to Amenal

Itinerary

Walk to Amenal – 25 km [16 Miles]

The chapel of Santa Irene, with its unique statue of Santiago, is worth a visit. En-route, don’t miss the lovely hamlet of Rúa (310m) The rest of the route to Amenal is along a mix of good and calm country roads and forest tracks.

—

Journal Entry ~ Josh Adkins

Today we walked another 16 miles, with the last 4 hours spent in 90 degree heat. It was a tough day but we had a lot of pleasant moments along the Camino.

It could be tempting to view our walk today as “the day before the day.” Our destination (Amenal) is nothing to write home about compared to our other stops. Steve reminded us this morning that it’s about the journey not the destination. We meditated on the quote from Katherine of Sienna: “All the way to heaven is heaven.”

We departed from our hotel at 7:15am via taxi, and got on the trail about 7:30. There are lots of places to stop and eat along this stretch, and we found a great one after about 5km. We have befriended a couple from Charleston, Beth and John, and we ran into them at this stop and a few others today.

Josh discovered Aquarius drinks (Spanish Gatorade), Mandy discovered Cortados and Javier discovered Chomps beef snacks.

We had walked 14 miles by 1pm when we stopped for lunch. We all agreed it was the best pizza we had ever eaten in our entire lives. After that we had a shot of energy to propel us the final 2 miles.

It was super hot today and we were all roasting in the car on the way to our hotel. We had a couple of hours to rest before gathering to watch Spain play in the World Cup. They won 4-0 so all is well in the world for Javier. We had dinner after the game, but we were all pretty wiped out.

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is our final day of walking. We have 10 miles left before entering in to Santiago de Compostela. Once we arrive, we plan to spend time at the Cathedral, rest up and then attend a Pilgrim’s mass at 7:30 before our Goodbye Dinner. Javier returns to his hometown tomorrow night and we will miss him greatly.

I understand why people say doing the Camino is addicting. Mandy is already thinking about the next time she can come and which route to take.

I’m eagerly anticipating tomorrow and completing the pilgrimage we started 6 long days ago.

Buen Camino,

Josh