My friend organized a trip to Tonopah, Nevada for her birthday and I was able to join at the last minute. Tonopah is an old silver mining town but the main attraction is a (reportedly haunted) clown-themed motel.

A good grade in pilgrimage is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

As planned, this was a short day. The final 15km to Santiago de Compostela are unremarkable except that you can feel the excitement of the other pilgrims.

I only spent a little time in Obradoiro Square before I was occupied with other concerns: getting breakfast, charging my phone, getting out of the encroaching rain, checking into my hostel, submitting my Credential.

I'm not a spiritual person but the past twelve days have been challenging and beautiful and intense. I've tried to reflect on how I connect with people, how I meet challenges and how I use my gifts. None of that has solidified into any great revelations; just a collection of moments.

I'm going to get a real hotel room for the rest of the trip though, as a treat.

Tui to Mos, 21km. Another beautiful stretch of forest. I stopped early today because I had a big day yesterday and the next stretch of road is supposed to be very hilly.

I had a nice moment in the early morning, running into some bagpipers playing in the middle of the forest. It was cool because you could hear them for a long time before you could see them so there was a stretch that felt very fairy-like and mysterious

I'm in Spain now!

Today I turned off the Coastal route and walked inland along the Minho river, culminating in the medieval cities of Valença (on the Portuguese side) and Tui (on the Spanish side), for a total of 29km. I chose to take the cycling path along the river most of the way rather than the official route which runs through several towns. On the way, I came across a huge open air market and bought myself a Weird Little Guy (pretty sure it's Saint Anthony)

The cities were particularly cool. The route runs directly through the old Valença fortifications and as you approach the bridge you can see Tui cathedral on the hill above the river.

Tui is 118km from Santiago. Meaning that I have gone 142km already but also that tomorrow I start collecting my stamps to qualify for the Compostela rather than because it is fun.

Castelo do Neiva to Carreço and Carreço to Seixas. Both 22km stages.

As I've gotten farther from Porto the towns have gotten smaller and more of the route had consisted of forest paths and walled alleys, typically routing into town whenever there's a Big Old Church to get a stamp at

The past two days I've been traveling with other solo women that I met on the road, one from the UK and the other from Lithuania, both friendly and enthusiastic. B, who I spent both days with, was excited to learn it was my birthday and told everyone we ran into at the hostel (something I wouldn't have done myself). A big group of us went out for dinner and everyone sang happy birthday in their native language.

I've enjoyed the sense of community among the pilgrims; the one thing everyone has in common is that we're all on a Big Adventure.

Shorter day today. Walked 18km from Apulia to Castelo de Neiva.

Still spending the majority of the day in or near towns but the towns are getting smaller with stretches of greenery in between

Today was more coastal boardwalks, then through a mid-size city, then more coastal boardwalks, then some back roads in farm country. The albergue that I planned to stay at filled up by 3pm and I ended waling an additional 8km, making this a 28km day in total from Labruge to Apulia.

I'm second guessing some of my decisions. I stuck with the coastal route today (meaning I'm committed for the next couple of days) but I had the opportunity to take a more inland route and now I wonder if that would have been more "nature-y". I could have stopped in the city and saved my legs. I could have gotten more stamps if I had planned differently, etc.

Tomorrow will be a shorter day so I can recover. My host says it's easier to find albergues between here and the Spanish border

Started from the Sé do Porto and walked as far as Labruge on the Sendo Litoral route for a total of ~24km. The route goes along the coast and is a mix of sidewalk and boardwalk. It was foggy throughout the morning and then cleared up in the afternoon but stayed cool all day. The coast was beautiful.

My feet hurt. I'm going to try to do a similar mileage tomorrow and hope I acclimate to walking