Sarria to Portomarin – Day 30 – 22.31kms
Temps soaring once again to 32+ by late morning so I left at 7.30am and climbed to the top of Sarria…
It was an up start to an Up and down day!
A bit of street art for my street art followers…
More and….
And more!
Then I hit the top of town and about 300 school kids were gathering…evidently it’s a school activity to walk the last 100kms into Santiago! Needless to say…the day was spent…avoiding group photos, trouble getting past them as they spread across the whole track, talking incessantly while looking on their phones and playing loud Spanish music…a bit of a shock for a gal who’s just come out of two days solitary bush walking!
The views from the top of the hill at Sarria were spectacular as the sun was rising at 7.30am… I’d just got ahead of a large group of children!
Then a steep down hill past the town cemetery (nicely cobbled!) and..over the bridge!
Wound our way on the flat for a bit…beside a railway…
The regional train zooming past! Then it was up and up….for the next hour or so…
This bridge at ground level…then
Looking back down on it from the top of this first hill…bear in mind…stopping to take photos meant the school kids would scuttle past me and then I would have to navigate getting thru their masses again!
A bit of road walking along the ridge… until I reached the first coffee stop at Mercado Da Serra…here I caught up with a chap from Seattle, Mark, who had helped Bill and I look for Ron who went missing a couple of days ago…Mark and I walked together for the rest of the day…as our rest stops and pace seemed to be aligned…even the student struggles!!!
Up and down past cows and through numerous small villages….
Glimpses of the distant hills, and uphill forest walks…
The day was a lot more taxing than I envisaged as the ups and downs took their toll in the heat!
Second coffee stop and resident dog scavenging for food from all the punters!
More countryside ….
And more kisses from heaven!
Then reaching the village (no name) there were so many villages, too many to bore you with…but sporting the 100km marker, distance to Santiago de Compostela, our finish line!
The day was really heating up and I haven’t broken into this type of sweat since the Meseta…
Coming into a little village at the bottom of a hill…we came head on with a farmer moving his cows along the road, cars and walkers all had to stop and make way!!! These cows are huge….but very docile (probably because they are well fed)
We then took another drink and bathroom stop! Coca Cola this time…needing both sugar, caffeine and cold! It was by now 1pm and I still had a couple of hours and Mark 4 to his destination further on!
Not long after this, the children all disappeared, we think they were collected by a bus and transported the last 7kms!
Which was a pleasant relief…however there were still lots of new (clean) shoes who at started their Camino from Sarria….it was easy to pick the new walkers…clean shoes, makeup, clean clothes, shaven, haircuts….and talking all the time…us seasoned travellers…falling into silence and blocking out the rabble! If ever there was a need for ear pods….this would be the time!
First glimpse of Portomarín in the distance…
AND first glimpse of the lake….the first large body of water I have seen in over a month!!
Then having very cleverly taken the down hill option (downhill or uphill what do we choose) rather than the circular (slightly up hill) route….we hit the rocky goat track! That went down, almost vertically and very narrow and cobbled….poles retired… the only way down was to use all four limbs…hands and feet together navigating the rocks…I did not read my instructions that suggested I take the other way!!!
But it was worth it, the view from this side of the lake looking up to the village of Portomarin was amazing…
Over this long bridge, clasping poles and phone tightly…
Looking down the lake…(river?) and over to the other side; my journey almost over…but not before…
A charming flight of steps to enter the town…this is the character building exercise of the day!
We stopped in the bus stop, me to check my hotel address (of course it was at the other end of town) and Mark to get his bearings to carry on for another 8kms!!! My feet were screaming to get out…so I really did feel for him carrying on…in the heat of the afternoon!
I trudged off into the centre of town…
The city hall…
And the church … but over to the side, in the shade…the cafes were calling…a cold beer and a (large) salad for a late lunch…
Off to find my hotel around 4.30pm…bath, bath washing, legs up, don’t think I’ll need dinner, and setting off early tomorrow, with a picnic instead of breakfast…6am…longer day, just as hot…and try to beat the masses so I can walk at my pace!
All who wander are not Lost girls 