Saturday, June 18, Day 28 on the Camino

Today was one of our longest days and we trekked more than we wanted at about 23 miles to little community of Morgade. It is not really a village and just a few houses and luckily the albergue we are staying at for the night.

This morning it was cold and the ground was still wet from the rain. It was very dark and cloudy and it looked like it was going rain again. Fortunately it never did and it stayed mostly cloudy, which always makes for a nice weather trekking day.

The Camino splits in two different directions right at the edge of the village. One direction is newer and goes through the country and mountains, and is about four miles shorter. This is the recommended route in the guides. The other route runs along the highway and travels off the highway in several places and then cuts back to intersect with the other Camino route.

I am my worst enemy and can’t blame anyone else for my decisions but I was standing at the sign for the junction and was sending Monica (still in bed) a text that I was taking the country route when a man walked by and waved no to that direction and said mountains and pointed to my Wheelie. I had made the decision to go the country route but was concerned that with the heavy rain it would be rutted and muddy. So, I turned onto the highway route. Well, that turned out to be a mistake, my mistake.

A little bit later I caught up to the man that had told me not to take the other route and I wanted to punch him (not really). He was moving very slowly to keep his shoes clean and I could se he had on tennis shoes and had probably just started the Camino. Rookie! You just don’t see many people that started at Saint Jean with tennis shoes because they know better because the terrain is rough. But who was the dumb one.

At first the Camino paralleled the highway on a nicely paved and gravel surface and then veered off through some small villages and hilly terrain. It got rocky, rough and climbed several short steep hills, while I could see the road in the distance was fairly level. It seems that the modern path of the Camino is to keep pilgrims off of the highway and through the villages, not necessarily to make it an easier way to trek. I think it’s partially an economic decision to have the Camino go through the villages because many times it is a roundabout way and not the most direct.

After two long muddy stretches I was in a hurry to catch that man and give him a piece of my mind. Not really, I guess I was just disappointed at myself for not sticking to my original decision.

Once back parallel to the highway the Camino veered off and I decided to stay on the highway and trek on the shoulder. It wasn’t too bad as the shoulder was fairly wide and there was little traffic.

I came to the beautiful village of Samos. It has a very large and beautiful church and monastery, which is the center piece for the village. It’s hundreds of years old and yet the back side of the monastery has an attached gas station. I guess it’s the combination of old and modern. Gas stations are not that common here as they are in the U.S. where they are on every corner or off ramp and seeing one is actually a rare sight.

Once outside Samos the Camino cuts through the mountains to join the other route and I decide to get back on the actual dirt Camino route. Within a few hundred yards the Camino turned totally muddy and rutted. I had a hard time pulling the Wheelie as the wheels sunk into the mud and it was hard not to step in deep mud and water. After about half a mile I turned around and headed back to the highway. Monica who was actually a little behind me said that after about a half mile the route was dry and fairly flat. Where’s that man who told me to go this way?!

Back on the highway the traffic increased and the shoulder almost disappeared. At one point I had to walk on the outside of the guard rail through tall weeds that were still wet from the rain and my pants and shoes were soaked. Why didn’t I just stick to my original plan!

As soon as I entered Sarria I crossed the Camino where it came into town. I was a little shocked by the number of pilgrims walking the streets, but I shouldn’t be surprised because Sarria is the most popular starting point for the Camino. It is also the closest place to Santiago where you can start the Camino and still get your certificate of completion of the Camino de Santiago.
Bicycles have also been on the Camino since Saint Jean but they were fairly rare. Once we got closer to Santiago they are much more prevalent. Bicyclist can also get their certificate of completion but not from as close as Sarria, unless it’s from there and back. That still seems like cheating as they can do it in two days!

I was waiting in the square when Monica showed up in Sarria. The town is geared for the multitude of pilgrims. Thrre are albergues everywhere, blocks and blocks of them on a long stretch of the Camino going through town. There are also large hotels, stores and restaurants geared towards both the trekking pilgrims and also the car and tour bus pilgrims. Quite a difference in the atmosphere from those wonderful little villages in the middle of nowhere.

We left town with a fairly large group of pilgrims and hoped that we wouldn’t be competing with all of them for lodging but we did. We made it a point to get well outside of Sarria before looking for lodging and found many were booked through reservations or had already filled up. We trekked close to 5:00 PM and had gone twenty-three miles when we found this wonderful albergue in the middle of nowhere. It had a great location looking out to the mountains and it had a great atmosphere. We were fortunate and got a private room with a bath for about 35 euros.

We had walked with two Italian men throughout the day and they ended up staying there too. We ended up having diner with them and one other Italian that wander in too. Diner was kind of communal with the five of us and it was a great meal and fun company. Our meal was very good and it was only 8.5 euros each and came with two courses, desert, and of course three bottles of wine. Even though the day was a little more hectic than usual our evening was another great Camino experience.

Tomorrow will surely be a little different now that we have so many more pilgrims on the Camino and hopefully because we are not on a major stopping or starting point it will still be peaceful. We knew what to expect and it’s all part of the Camino experience.
Best wishes,

Ted