Monday, August 12: Portomarin to just before Palas del Rei

24.4km today, the most I've done in a while. But tomorrow looks even longer than that. 68km left till Santiago!

Another camino traffic jam!

I don't know what these are but almost every house has one.

I woke up early to get a head start on all the camino newbies. For the first two hours this morning I had a fantastic pace, a little under 4km/hour. That's awesome for me especially on hills carrying my pack, which I estimate wights 15-20lbs depending on the amount of water and food. 

Today was very hilly, many small hills going up and down then more up and down. It was perfect hiking weather, overcast and cool with a nice breeze. The camino is so crowded now that we look like a parade. There are just hundreds of people and you never are out of eyesight of others. 

Stopped to get my pilgrim credential stamped. 

This cafe had a real ant problem

Bad self photography 

I am always concerned that I will not find a bed in the town I plan on stopping in. This anxiety has multiplied with the crazy influx of newbies. I fret that I will be walking around another unfamiliar town trying to find open albergues and coming across only full ones. Therefore, I am probably pushing myself too fast and not taking enough brakes. My left hip is sore, my knees ache and I wish I didn't have a little toe on my right foot. But there are only three walking days left till Santiago. Then I am done!

Albergue Os Chacotes- municipal €6

I had run into a girl from South Carolina, Maggie, briefly two days ago but she is at the albergue today. She an I split the cost of the expensive washer/drier. Neither of us has a full load of clothes and it cost €6.40 to wash and dry. So it saved us quite a bit of money. 

While the wash ran we went and got burgers at the bar down the road and shared an order of fries. It is so wonderful to have clean, soft, dry, nice smelling laundry. 

Later I went back to the same bar where we had burgers earlier to get dinner. They waiter said the dinner menu wasn't served until 7:30. It was 6:40 now and I wasn't waiting 50 minutes so I ordered another burger. 

Early to bed so I can be early to rise. 

Sunday, August 11: Sarria to Portomarin

22.4 km walked today. 

The camino has exploded! There is an invasion of new Spaniards. 

In front of me

Behind me

There are these two families walking together each set of parents has two kids in a double stroller. The first time I saw them it was still dark and the kids were asleep.  Later in the morning the kids got out and did some walking too. The moms and the kids were singing Spanish preschool songs. There is one that is about going looking for a lion which goes a lot like "we're going on a bear hunt". The kids even tried to do something similar to the toody tot (spelling?) while walking. They were so cute. Apparently there is a song about being a pilgrim and walking to Santiago too that they sang. 

There are way too many hills in Spain and there was lots on the camino today, including a not-fun long steep downhill bit right before Portomarin. 

I was hot and tired as I crossed the long bridge into Portomarin. Then the town greeted me with a huge flight of 60+ stairs straight up. After which all the yellow arrow and signs disappeared and no map or town info could be found. That's just what I enjoy at the end of the day, a game of guess where the albergues are. The first three I found were full. I headed further into town towards the church but away from the camino. There I found the municipal albergue. The guys sitting out from told me it was full, but I figured maybe the receptionist could tell me where another albergue was. And what do you know, the guys were wrong there were three bed left, €6. I got the third to last bed and it wasn't even a top bunk! I scored the handicapped room with its own bathroom, which I shared with three Italians. 

Pasta at one restaurant then a burger at another. The burger was good but the pasta was not. Will I ever learn that when there is no one else at a restaurant then that's a sign not to eat there. 

Saturday, August 10: Triacastela to Sarria

18.3km today 

Walked with Jane from England most of the day. She just did one day on the camino trying it out while in the area. She is doing a work for room and board thing for a year in Spain because the work situation back in the UK is rubbish. In exchange for room and board she works for one month at different places, a farm or helping remodel a family's house and running their bar.

Walking with Jane was a nice change. She was really funny and made the time go by faster. She had lots of great stories and we have a similar sense of humor. 

Vending machine in the middle of nowhere. 

Scallop shell fountain and reflection

Cool spiderweb. 

A guy came up behind us and said "Your socks are on fire." We laughed as he continued "it is so hot your socks not only dried but caught fire". Hahaha. It was hot. 

Jane and parted ways in Sarria and I went albergue hunting. In my search I ran into Garret and Dirk for the third day in a row. I found a bed at the Albergue O Durmiñento for €10. The standard prices seem higher in this area: €6 for municipal albergues and €9-10 for private albergues. 

Albergue in the dark the next morning. 

The guy at reception said that there was no doner kabab in town but recommended a pizza restaurant. It's  called Sorrento's and is by the river in the center of town. 

By the river

I ordered a mixed salad (without tuna) and a pizza with ham, mushrooms and olives. The salad was huge!  I finished every last bite of it and half the pizza. The pizza was just ok. The crust was lacking flavor and I had to add sprinkle the pizza with salt. 

While I was eating dinner a small parade walked by. The bagpipes and outfits are reminiscent of Celtic traditions, which this area of Spain, Galicia, has strong ties too. 

Later back at the albergue with the second half of the pizza stashed away in my backpack for breakfast tomorrow, I hung out chatting with Sarah from Ireland, Michael from Belgium and Nick from Germany. I should have gone to bed early but it was hard to tear myself away from such delightful company. 

Friday, August 9: Hospital to Triacastela

15.5km that took forever

Today was one of those days that I just didn't want to walk. There was just no pleasing me today.  I procrastinated, I wined and I sulked. I was very coercive with myself. 

 

Today was supposed to be the downhill section. When the trail startled going up hill I yelled at the camino. I let rip a string of vocabulary normally only used by OCA students. I was furious at the mountain and I just wanted the camino to be over. 

Lunch options are limited in the middle of nowhere Spain. So it was bocadillos again. Seriously if you sold pizza by the slice on the camino you'd make a fortune. 

Then my kindle broke 

Sat on a rock pouting for a while but I had to get up eventually because I wasn't going to sleep on the rock. 

€1 snack roadside. 

Saw Garret and Dirk again just long enough for hello and hugs. 

Huge sweet chestnut tree. 

 I stayed at Albergue Refugio del Oribio. 

I went to the store but there is nothing here that I want to eat.  I bought two liters of juice and a pack of hoho's. I drank one juice and the rest is tomorrow's lunch. Yup I'm eating healthy! (What I really wanted was to do was cook orzo with sundries tomatoes, feta, artichoke and a little lemon juice... but the store only had the artichoke.) middle of nowhere. Worse than Polk County. 

So I went to a bar where they had a €5 pilgrim menu. How much worse can a €5 meal be then some of the bad €10 ones I've had? The first course of "macaroni" unspecified, turned out to be macaroni with tomato sauce and tuna. Ummmm? Yes I ate it. No it wasn't my favorite thing ever. Second course: eggs and French fries, which I am starting to believe really do go well together.  They ran out of freezer ice cream cones for dessert and I don't like flan, so yogurt won. Plain yogurt served with a packet of sugar. There must be a ton of sugar in American yogurt flavors because it took quite a bit of sugar to make the yogurt even a little sweet. Not bad for a €5 meal. 

Bought a plane ticket back to Boston for August 23. I won't be back to Floriday for at least two months more after that. 

Thursday, August 8: Vega de Valcarce to Hospital (that's really the name of the town)

16.9km today

I ended up in the late starters room again and didn't wake up till after 7. That's ok not like there is another big mountain to climb or anything. Oh right. There is. It's another day of up hill! Yay! 

This one is not as high as the last one but it is a steeper assent. My body and my lungs are so much stronger than that first day. I am proud of myself for surviving that day and not quitting. That was probably one of the physically toughest days of my life. 

Ummmm... Free washer machine?

 

 I am still slow just not as slow.  I think that slow is just my pace. On the uphill parts I am not sucking wind and I don't need to stop every ten steps. So I am getting better at this hiking thing. 

Right now everything feels pretty good. My feet don't really hurt. I hardly notice the weight of my pack anymore. The only think is that when I am idle for a while my angles and knees get stiff. When I get up again I walk like an old lady for like 5 minutes till they loosen up again. I am looking forward to when I can rest a few days and move normally again. 

First through three small towns. In one town there was a place that had a one way trail ride on horseback up the mountain. For only €20. If I had known I so would have done that. So cool. But can you imagine the new set of muscles that would be sore after that. I'd be walking bowlegged for a few days. 

 

Anyway, I spent the morning hiking up hill in a very lovely forest. It was lush, cool and damp. The poem: "the woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." kept playing in my head. 

I cleared the forest level to the evergreen level and some beautiful views that my photography skills do poor justice to. 

Sometimes on the camino you may have a goal of how far you want to walk but there is no albergue and you have to change your plans. The camino has been getting more and more crowded as we get closer to Santiago. O Cebreiro, the town with the big albergue of 100+ beds, was 5km short of what I wanted to walk today. Hospital the town with right distance has one albergue with only 20 beds. If I stop early I am garunteed to be able to get a bed in O Cebreiro. If I keep going the small albergue in Hospital might be full then is have to either walk further to the next town, with an even smaller albergue or pay more for a hotel or hostel that might have room. Decisions, decisions.  

The town of O Cebreiro is rustically charming, with its stone buildings an thatched roofs. It looks like the last few hundred years just skipped over them. I wonder if the people in these little camino towns work other places or they make their living from the pilgrims that pass through. 

I stopped at the store and was uninspired to eat any of the food there. So despite the chilly air at the top of the mountain, I got a lemon-lime popsicle for lunch. And decided to keep going. 

The next "town" consisted of two houses and a bar/restaurant/mini-mart called Casa Jaime! Departing here leads steeply up hill to the top of San Roque. It isn't even the tallest mountain of the day but there is a big metal pilgrim statue to get your picture taken with. 

Then I turned around and who did I see but Dirk and Garret. The two Welsh brothers. We greeted each other with giant bear hugs. These guys appreciate and understand a good hug like few others I've met. 

Dirk and Garret are the two in the middle

We had parted ways like two weeks ago after the amazing backed potato chili meal and I though they were way ahead of me. Well they had made a three day detour to somewhere, had a few adventures along the way and were taking things slow. To see them again was like a balm to my loneliness. Our meeting didn't last long as their pace exceeded mine and they passed me again. Thats ok. The camino provided just what I needed once again and I knew then that everything was going to be alright and there would be a bed for me I the town of Hospital when I arrive there too. (There was, only three left)

I've been missing familiar faces and I haven't made much effort to get to know the new multitudes. Most of the new people are Spanish and travel in groups of friends and family. But Stene is here at this albergue and she is just delightful.

 

I had dinner with Stene and Pierre a guy she works with who she arranged to meet up with yesterday.  I had the lentil soup to start. It was tasty, with a bunch of mixed veggies and meat (ham chicken, sausage, chorizo...). Oh look steak, again. Well if the choice is steak or trout I'm not ever going to pick the fish. And for dessert Santiago cake.