Jul 20

Jul 20 Camino del Norte Day 40: Arzúa to Santiago de Compostela

Sophie Buck

May 29, 2025

26.74 miles | 43 km

The Last Hill

And then I saw it: the city of Santiago de Compostela, spread out before me in the hot afternoon sun. I could see the peaks of Santiago Cathedral, a landmark that has beckoned pilgrims for generations. Tears unexpectedly flooded my eyes. Now that I was so close to finishing, I realized how much I didn’t want the journey to end. The legs that had carried me so far suddenly felt like stopping. But there was no stopping—not now. I set my mind finish this journey with endurance and continued down the hill with the hundreds of other pilgrims.

Seeing Santiago for the first time from Monte do Gozo

The Final Kilometer

Excitement, joy, and sadness filled my heart as I approached Santiago. Emotion welled up inside of me and spilled out my eyes, but I didn’t care at all. I thought about each of the fellow pilgrims who had graced my journey and the merry moments we had shared together on the trail. Suddenly, all the blisters, hills, and struggles of the past forty days seemed like nothing. It had all gone by so quickly.

As I approached the square, I heard the legendary bagpipes playing from under the archway, just as I had read about in stories and accounts of the Camino. Even though I had heard bagpipes before, this was different. The sound was so final and resolved that it chilled me to the bone. My pace became a marching melody as I walked through the shadowy archway and out into the blinding afternoon sunshine beyond.