Hola!!
Wow, the last 2 days were 2 very different days!
On Sunday we treated ourselves to a lie in and felt recharged after sleeping until 7am :) then we had an easier walk of just 18km up and then down a hill. We arrived in Sarria excited that we were just over 100km from Santiago and had a relaxed afternoon before finding an evening Mass and heading to bed.
Then this morning we got up as usual (sadly not at 7am!) and were on the road in good time, only to discover that the number of pilgrims had increased... A LOT!!!! Sarria is the biggest town just over 100km from Santiago, and to officially walk the camino you need to have walked at least 100km so it turns out that most people start in Sarria! We stopped for coffee at a very packed cafe, and sat on the pavement outside as all the tables inside and out were taken. As we sat there we counted 169 pilgrims walk past in about 10 mins!!! I think the days of quiteness and solitude are well and truly over! It´s a bit of a shock to the system, but the energy and enthusiasm of the new wave of pilgrims is infectious (well, at least when it´s not iritating it is :P ) The downside is that there is suddenly a lot more demand for beds, as we sadly discovered when we arrived in Portomarin (tonights stop) and the people in front of us in the queue got the last beds in the albergue. So we hunted down the private albergues and after three full ones we found two beds for 10euro each in a fourth one!
It seems like for this last week we have to either get up super early and race to the albergues, or do what most of the newbies are doing and book the private albergues the day before...
In other news... we are now 90km from Santiago!! And we have booked our flights home :) (trains were complicated and expensive and the ferry option would have taken 3 days!!). All being well we´ll be home on 20th (a week today!)
The final countdown has begun... if we arrive on Fri as we´re planning it´ll have taken us 40 days from St Jean to Santiago - very symbolic!
Love Helen and Mary!
I collected your parcel i.e. excess baggage, that you sent home some time ago. Folks are starting to ask where you are up to so I,m telling them and they are getting excited for you. The scones are all gone so I'll make some more. Bless Dad
ReplyDeleteI am on my way back home this evening. Get the scones ready. I will be callIng in tomorrow.
DeleteGreat to see that your camino has bee going well while we were in the bush - Helen & Mary
See you all soon
MBA