Great pictures, @Twodogsonthecouch. I think the down is often the worst bit for ageing knees!
I've been following a couple of camino facebook groups and there has been a big debate following a poster who was bitterly disappointed by her camino experience last week. She'd spent a lot of money flying from the USA for a week doing the final 100k. It was wet, crowded and unfriendly, and she was particularly upset that no-one was responding to her Buen Camino after the first day. Her view was that YouTube and the movie have romanticised the Camino, and she wished someone had "posted the cold hard facts" before she "threw a crap ton of money down the toilet".
My heart went out to her as she had clearly had a terrible week, plodding through deep mud in a throng of unfriendly strangers. It's such a long way to come for a week, and I think she was expecting a deeply spiritual experience, which is a lot to ask from a week's trekking in an often wet West European region.
A few Camino volunteers chipped in, saying they have never seen the Camino so busy. It's been reassuring to read your reports and see that you are quite clearly having the Camino you expected - tough but do-able, and it's obviously challenging you but you are getting a lot from it. I'd think the crowded final stretches will be a lot easier to cope with when they are just another element of the challenge of the Way, and not the whole experience. Also, I wondered if it was particularly bad last week because people may have planned their week around the May Day holiday?
Anyway, it's been truly lovely and very inspiring to follow your adventure, looking forward to hearing how the final big climbs go. Buen Camino!