July 25, the feast of St. James: Triacastela to Sarria

The albergue we stayed at last night had rooms with four beds each, which was quite the luxery. Although the beds had wooden frames, and CREAKED unbelievably loud every time anyone breathed heavy, so I wore my earplugs anyway--even though none of us has been snoring.

Upside of having a room to ourselves? We don´t get awakened by the other pilgrims getting up at 5:00. Downside of having a room to ourselves? We don´t get awakened by the other pilgrims getting up at 5:00. We overslept; Marty woke me up at 7:30, and we didn´t finish breakfast and get going until 8:30.

It was an easy day--21.5 K (almost 14 miles), with occasional climbs and descents. The walk was beautiful, again running along and above the same beautiful flowing stream. The morning was silent except for the sound of the water burbling and rushing over rocks and the occasional waterfall, and birds. The sun was up by the time we left, so it wasn´t too chilly. Before long we left the highway we were following and entered very rural areas, where the Camino took us along fields and past barns. Often, the way was completely shaded by trees overhead, and the colors were again just stunning. Once in a while a car or tractor would drive past, and it did occur to me that the dust we were breathing was probably made up predominantly of dried cow patties. ´Cause there are--wow--a lot of cow patties along the way in these parts. Along with the sheep doots.

We stopped in a small village mid-morning to get something to take with us for lunch, and bought empanada--a pastry stuffed with onions and meat and sauce. Sounded good! When we actually got to the lunch break, tho, we discovered the "meat" was applied with a pretty loose definition. A fair percentage of the meat was in fact made up of bits--you know, fat and tubes and things. We discovered we weren´t quite as hungry as we thought we had been, although the fruit and cookies we had with us went quite well.

Didn´t see too many other pilgrims on the way today, even though we are approaching the last 100K of the Camino, which is the minimum one must walk to get the compostela at the end. (We did pass one young man and his mother--he was stopped right by the path, evidently in some intestinal distress. We had no choice but to walk right by him while his mother smiled at us apologetically. Sometimes the only thing you can do is understand that some things are emergencies, and avert your eyes.)

Shortly after lunch (while the empanadas were quite distressing, our "dining room" under the trees above the very beautiful river was exquisite), we discovered the downside of getting over 9 hours of sleep the night before. It was hot. We seem to keep forgetting that the afternoons, when one still has to walk with a pack, are really, really hot. It was a very long slog into Sarria. At this point in the Camino the small towns are so small they often don´t have albergues, so you just have to keep going. We didn´t get into Sarria until about 4:30.

Since this is the point at which people who want to do the 100K minimum begin, many of the albergues were full by the time we got here. We walked further into town (this is a pretty large city, with several albergues and pensions and hostels), and stopped at an "international albergue." The woman first told us they had only two semi-private rooms for 45 euro each, and we said we would look further. She then said, "Oh, wait, I think I have four beds available in two different rooms." We said that would be fine. Emlyn and I are in one room, and Niles and Marty in the other. Oddly enough, people who came in behind us (including Jorge and Raphaela) were told the albergue had no more beds--but Marty and Niles are the only people in their room, which has at least 10 more beds. Who knows....

Anyway, a quiet day--restful for the mind, even for the one extrovert in the family. (One of these days I´ll have to reflect on what it´s like to do the Camino as a family made up of 3 introverts and one extrovert!) We plan to start early tomorrow, since we have another 21.5K day and don´t want to walk in that heat again. But we all continue to feel pretty good, and are holding up well.

Buen Camino!