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| Musicians in Triacastela last evening |
It started pleasantly, and has now developed into another glorious, sunny day in the mid to high 20's. Our journeys are now over small hills and into little valleys - gone is the flatness of the meseta. We walked from 7.30am until 1ish, with a half hour break for breakfast on the way. The recommended stage was 18km as far as Sarria but we walked an extra 6km. Sarria is the start for pilgrims who are only walking the last week of the Camino. As many of them start on a Saturday and Sunday, we felt that it would be very busy, so we gave it a skip. We are staying in a wonderful albergue - maybe the best we've experienced on the whole Camino. It is a converted/restored hamlet and everything is finished to a very high standard. The place even has its own little chapel.
Our hostel last night was also to a high standard and very modern. All of them are not up to the standard of these but few of them are really bad. We had considered the hotel option when we first considered walking the Camino, but a friend talked us out of it saying that it is a more rewarding experience to use the albergues. We have certainly enjoyed the experience, but each to his own, and the hotel people we meet also appear to get a lot out of it - and while they may live more comfortably, they still have to walk 800km. We know that some people think the albergues are populated by strange people, and the odd axe murderer, but we've not encountered them. Also, people are concerned about privacy - you can be discrete and change in the shower areas. Or, if you change in the dorm, you find that people are careful not to upset others and turn there backs when changing - nobody is interested in our 60+ year old bums!!
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| Bringing home the vegetables - on the road to Barbadelo today |
The Spanish are very friendly and we have enjoyed the company of a few of them on the way. Alas, two guys from Madrid who we ate, slept and traveled with for the past week, finished their walk at O Cebriero. Another, Sergio from Barcelona appears to have speeded ahead of us. And, a nice lad from Toledo who led us out of Ponferrada when we were lost, and who we have chatted to since, has not been seen by us for a couple of days. However, there is always somebody new. We have got to know Charlie and May from Virginia, and tonight we are sharing with a German speaking Italian couple who we had seen on and off for the past week. She has walked about 5 Camino's, including the Portuguese Camino!
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| Kieran crossing a little bridge west of Sarria |
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| Different way of doing it - cemetery outside Sarria |
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