Finisterra Day 1 - Santiago to Nigreira (22km)

Well last night we ended up at a restaurant called ´Tokio", DO NOT GO HERE! Firstly the waiter took only one persons drink order and then disappeared. Then he only took one persons food order and disappeared. After this, when paying, he took the money and disappeared. We were then expecting our change but he reapeared to clear other peoples tables and didnt even look like we had change on its way. We caught his attention and he had basically put our money away and forgotten and not bothered to even check the amount. (we wingled out €2 change which was probably a little more but thats their fault!).

Then we returned to the albergue and I got ready for bed as the others wrote their journals. Then, who else but Julia appeared! :O
We had lost her as she had continued on to finisterra and walked longer days than us so we thought we would never see her again! It was ´fate´as she hadnt planned on returning to Santiago at all and she ended up at the same albergue and even the same room as us!!! She is today on her way to Pamplona to run with the bulls so we all wish her luck! It was great to see her again and she waved us all off this morning and gave us all a gift (a little shell bracelet).

The walk today was not as bad as I was expecting as the big steep hill depicted in Johns book wasn´t as steep as shown. We set off at 5.30am and arrived at 10.30ish, so we then had the whole day to relax. I took a very quick shower as they have no doors, and then washed my clothes. I look forward very much to returning home and not having to do this!

We then walked into the town and there is a festival on today in Nigreira so we got to see some kind of parade. There was also a spanish jazz type band which was fun and they paraded up and down the streets a few times. There was also a traditional Spanish Pipe band who were also in traditional dress. This looked boiling as they were all black and covered head to toe in many layers of heavy embroided material. It was nice to see though and then we returned to relax some more at the albergue.