Day 16: Barbadelo to Portomarin 18km

The little chapel in the albergue hamlet where Mary went to mass

Yesterday evening, we had a nice home cooked meal in the albergue, including a stunning lentil soup (can't believe I wrote that - lentil soup was the preserve of the tall beatnik in 'The Young Ones', if you remember the series). But before that Mary attended mass in the little chapel that forms our albergue. There were six people in attendance, plus the priest who was also a pilgrim, and his lack of mobility was down to a very bad knee - hope he continues to make progress along the Camino.

Our journey this morning started well, but quickly went downhill. We were on the road for 6.45am and walked well with our head torches until we reached a junction. We could not find a sign to indicate the direction and went the wrong way with about 10 other people. We retraced our steps and found our way after dawn had provided more clarity, but we had lost half an hour. We have never made such a big mistake on the Camino. We progressed eventually and, as it was a shortish day anyway, arrived in Portomarin by mid day. We are staying in a lovely albergue - it is the biggest we have used so far and all 130 (yes 130!!!) people sleep in the one room - see picture. Many of the people we know are here and we are sitting outside chatting to them and a number of Italians we have met.

So, how would you like to sleep with 130 people!!

Portomarin is unusual in that much of the old town was flooded in the 60s to create a reservoir. Some important buildings were moved to the higher ground where the new town is, including the old cathedral. Each block that comprised it had to be numbered, moved, and reconstructed at the new location. The numbers can still be read.

Looking down at the Portomarin reservoir from our albergue

The Galicia Camino takes us through very different countryside. It is like Ireland in the late 1900s. The fields are small and the cattle herds are generally less than 20 cows. There appear to be no young farmers, but older husband and wife operations. Automation seems very limited. Today, a woman with cuts of meat in a saucepan, crossed in front of us to put water in it from a roadside tap. Also, the place can be untidy - something we did not encounter on previous Camino stages.

Most importantly, we crossed the 100km from Compostela mark. So we are nearly there.

100km from Santiago + a lot of graffiti