Month: September 2017

1. Day 44 – Mercadoiro to Venta de Narón

This day was very tough. We haven’t had such long down and uphills since last Saturday with a long arduous ‘up’ to O Cebreiro. And we opted to ride horses for that one. This day was 17 or 18 kilometers with a rise of 1,200 feet from Portomarín. Well, as the Romans said, “vini vidi vici”.  Going up we knew from our elevation maps of the entire 800 kilometers that this was the last hard day we would face. There will be more ups and downs but nothing like this one.

We passed a stone marker near Venta de Narón that looked like a graffiti artists canvas. But you can just make out a stone engraving that we were 78.1 km from Santiago then. Yea! for us! The end is in sight with the toughest walking challenges overcome.

Portomarín is a ‘new’ city. The old village lay beside Rio Encoro Dos Peares, a river running north and south through Galicia. A system of dams backs up spring snow melt from the mountains and uses the water to generate electricity. Like the town of Milford the village had to be moved. Their church was moved after numbering each stone but it was put back together only after a lot of chin scratching according to Nancy’s guidebook. A new bridge was built. The old bridge is too low and is underwater in the spring.

The day started out cool and muggy, overcast, and a slight mist. We saw hardly any of the thousands of new hikers starting from Sarria yesterday.  That day the path was busy and crowded. They probably had gone on to Portomarín since there were few albergues elsewhere on the trail. So a new herd of Sarria starters will be a day behind us. Yea! again because we have the trail back mostly to ourselves. Early in the day we spotted an ivy draped tree stump that some perigrinos put rocks on top of. That rock piling fetish gets a little extreme sometimes but it was funny.

Another thing some pilgrims do is build crosses to decorate with worn out hiking gear and paper with messages for friends following behind, or prayer notes. Sometimes these are well done as is this one a few miles up the mountain past Portomarín.

Near Castromaior the path turned bright yellow. Newly paved with some kind of crushed yellow stone. We walked this singing ‘We’re off to see the wizard’ for awhile.

The yellow gravel pooped out after just two kilometers or so but it was fun. Nancy said that tomorrow we will have been gone two months. We plan to be in Santiago in five more days on the Way. I think we will be glad.

View more photos from week 7

Day 43 – Sarria to Mercadoiro

See if you can find the hen in this photo.

We were looking forward to today. We will soon be within the last 100 km to Santiago. From here out we have to get two sellos per day (verification stamps in our pilgrim credential books) in order to receive what is called a Compostela in Santiago. A Compostela is a signed official document that you earn by walking the last 100 km, proven by your credential stamps.

The walk today will be urban out of Sarria for a kilometer or two then through a string of hamlets and villages. Cows share the trails in Galicia. One thing very different  in this region is farming. Lots of corn and vegetables are grown here. There are large orchards. Today it was apple orchards. The trail was lined with them and with chestnut trees. But the biggest change is in the farm houses. The farmers live over the barns in the same old stone buildings as their herds of cows.
The cows are driven from pasture to barn and pasture to pasture on the Camino paths. It’s wise to watch where you are stepping and everywhere is the aroma of cow poop, especially around the barn/homes. I wish I could get a picture of the farm women. They wear dark gray work dresses with white aprons and with white scarves on their heads. Seems to be a common uniform for them. The men wear soiled boots, grimy blue jeans, and stained checkered shirts. All look sun and work hardened.

Our ‘church of the day’ had a great view of a wide picturesque valley from its vantage point high on a hillside. It was beautifully maintained inside and the outside was showing its centuries very gracefully.

Our albergue is in the remote countryside near a small village. Quiet. But the accommodations are top notch. Tomorrow we cross a huge river at Portomarin.

View more photos from week 7

Day 42 – Samos to Sarria

This is a real oxcart west of Samos, probably dating back to the 1600’s, beautifully restored by a farmer that couldn’t stand to see it rotting away in some old barn.

The path to Sarria today is about 17 kilometers.  That’s about 21,250 steps. Getting to be a normal day for us. Today’s trek will take us through more of that dark, dank, forest that gives rise to the witch legends. It’s easy to see why. The forest trails are narrow, bordered by huge trees gnarled by age creating creepy grottos and dark passages. Many mossy stone buildings lay in unusually hard to get to places near the trail. Maybe hundreds of years ago these were bright, airy farm houses.

But now in near ruin and often covered in vines they just create foreboding in even the heartiest of pilgrims. The above photo is me being not hearty. I really don’t want to go this way even though the yellow arrows say to.  Well, it was just as spooky as it looked. And the old stone ruins looked like witch haunts.

The aged, gnarly trees sometimes looked ominous with shapes out of Grimms Fairy Tales. Hansel and Grettle often came to mind.

We walked that path. Maybe the creepiest place on earth.  There were several holes I guess you’d say in the stony banks on either side of the trail with vines hanging down over the entrances. Large enough for ogres or trolls to crawl out of. Nancy scared me silly when she screamed behind me. It was just a snake crossing the trail between us. The trail wound up and down and around never letting you see far ahead. Anything could be lurking unseen yet very close by.

The trail broke out into wide open sunshine some kilometers out of Sarria.  It was a long but mild downhill into the edge of town. Then it was up and the urban path was poorly marked. Following the arrows pilgrims found themselves in a pasture next to the Rio Sarria surrounded by geese. The only way out was to climb over a high wooden fence. Not easy with a loaded backpack and trekking poles but we and others managed. Then it was a continuous climb to the town center.  When we located our Hostal we were faced with a long flight of concrete steps that rose at least 60 feet.

Our lodging is the yellow building at the top. On checking in we were guided up three stories of stairs to our room. No elevator.  We showered and had pilgrim supper, then Mass with a pilgrim blessing.

Pilgrim suppers are a real thing.  Almost any restaurant or albergue offers pilgrim suppers which have a limited menu but are relatively inexpensive at €9 to €12 each. Almost always with a full bottle of wine and a big basket of bread. We often start out without breakfast and have just snacks or fruit for lunch so that’s really our only meal of the day.

Tomorrow will be a special day for us.  By the end of the day we will be less than 100 km from Santiago de Compostela.

View more photos from week 6