Yesterday we passed through Sarria to Barbadelos. Today we were expecting to see increased numbers of people as Sarria is a favorite starting point for those that have only a week to do the Camino. Also, the arbitrary distance of 100Km walked was assigned to those that want to get their certificate in Santiago, a Compostela. Can I say we were not disappointed? The number of people is 4 fold the numbers we have seen to date. Crowds of people. You are rarely “alone” on the trail. Because we walk slowly, most people pass us during the day-we meet most people. Sally is such a wonderful greeter, we have made acquaintance with a majority of the crowd.
The route today was nearly all rural, walking past cow barns, milking parlors, pig pens, open fields and tiny villages of only a few stone houses and outbuildings. Thorsten and Verena of Germany caught up with us fairly early and walked and talked with us for an hour. Both are super sweet kids. Thorsten works in the government. He distributes licenses for gun ownership. Verena manages marriage licenses.
By 9:30 we had reached the 100Km marker, 100Km from Santiago. The pilgrimage was originally sold (1000 years ago) as a ticket to heaven-travel to Santiago and you get admission. It was also used for indulgences. It never stated how far you had to walk. The church has now decried that 100Km is the required distance-hence so many starting at Sarria.
Our destination was Portomarin. This old city was right on the banks of the river, that is until 1956 when a hydroelectric project was to flood the town. The whole town was moved up the hill, including the stone cathedral. It was taken apart stone by stone and reassembled on higher ground. This also means that unlike other towns where we drop into the town on the river, we had to climb up from river to get into the town, now located on a side hill.
It was a cute town, and only 70 years old. It had all the amenities of a town we needed, a nice grocery store (supermercado), a bank machine (banco) and many restaurants to choose dinner from.
However, lets tell the story in order. Both of us had been dragging from the first step this morning. We pushed through the day, doing 11.4 miles. We climbed the hill to our albergue and acquired a private room with a bath down the hall. The economics of this makes it a no brainer. 10€ a bed times 2 or 30€ for a private room. We took the private room. Cozy and comfortable with sheets(!) and blankets(!). We both showered and crawled into our Dick Van Dyke Show style twin beds and were quickly asleep. We slept from 1:30 to 3:30, then got up to do our chores, grocery shopping, bank machine to get cash (no one accepts credit cards in the small towns, everything is cash) and get a bite to eat.
Groceries and bank were quickly dispatched, each being less than a 5 minute walk from our room. We went to a recommended restaurant for 10€ pilgrim meal. As we were finishing John and Dana from Durango, Colorado walked by on the street. We invited them to our table and visited for half an hour before excusing ourselves and heading back to our room to sleep some more. We back in our twin beds by 7:15, thankful for the quiet and the chance to rest and sleep.
The walking was great today, too bad we were working so hard to enjoy it. With all the sleep we clocked this afternoon and during the night, maybe tomorrow will be a better day!
At the 100 Kilometer marker.
Thorsten and Verena
Someone is riding their Unicycle. Will this earn them indugwnce
Cow barn converted to souvenir and grocery shop
Farm equipment is a common occurrence. They use the same roads the Camino does.
Sally finds a red chair.
These maize storage buildings are everywhere.
Say it all
The cathedral they moved.
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