Fonfria to Sarria (22.00 miles/35.42 kms)

Today was going to be a short day, especially after the challenging day I had yesterday, but it didn’t turn out to be short. I ended up in Sarria after trekking twenty-two miles today.

I started out the door around seven-thirty after a good night’s sleep. Yesterday was the most tired I have been since I started this Camino and I was asleep fairly early. I woke to the sound of rain on the window and the room was so toasty warm and cozy I didn’t want to get out of bed. All the alberques I have stayed at don’t turn on the heat, and neither do most hostals and pensions, so this was a treat.

I figured I’d start early and stop early too. That has been my plan for the last few days, and that is to stop between two-thirty and three-thirty.

I had on my light wool pullover under my rain gear and was shocked by how cold it was when I stepped out the door. I think it was in the low forties and the wind was blowing fairly hard. I was surprised by the two pilgrims that walked by with short ponchos. One young woman had on a thin looking cheap poncho and she had on shorts. Many people on the Camino have ponchos, yet it surprises me how many are ill prepared for the fluctuations in weather conditions this time of year and the various altitudes the Camino goes through. This morning we were at nearly a 4,500’ elevation.

Once I started walking I realized that I had not dressed warm enough and should have worn my heavier wool pullover, but it was raining so hard and the wind blowing so hard that I didn’t want to take the rain cover off of the Wheelie and get everything wet. My new Merrell Moab Gore-Tex boots had been holding up great to the rain, until today! Within ten minutes of walking I could feel my right toes start to get wet. These are my third pair of Merrells, the last two I got free as replacements because they didn’t hold their waterproofness. The problem is not from stepping in deep water or puddles, but just from heavy rain. Gore-Tex is one of the best waterproof membranes, but I really think the only real waterproof shoe or boot is made from leather, which of course gets too hot on your feet.

Fortunately the boots didn’t get heavily soaked, because the weather was like this for several hours and finally got a little warmer as the Camino dropped drastically in elevation.

The Camino ran directly next to the highway and I moved back onto the highway because the trail was muddy and full of puddles. I still find it interesting that the Camino and road run next to each other in many places for miles, and the road is nice and flat and level, and the Camino is constantly going up and down the little steep hills. It is more work pulling the Wheelie than carrying a backpack, so I would prefer the more level surface.

The downhill was very steep and long all the way down to Triacastela. I never stopped using the trekking poles to slow me down, and to take the pressure off of my joints, especially my knee.

About half way down I saw a pilgrim walking uphill in my opposite direction. It isn’t unusual because there are a few pilgrims that have made it to Santiago and then turn around and walk back to where they started. I yelled hello to him and asked where he was going. Santiago he replied! I told him so was I, but he was going in the wrong direction! Apparently he had come out somewhere on the road and made a wrong turn. He must have thanked me twenty times for saving him from going the wrong way. And as he said, “the Camino always has a way of providing.”

His name was Manuel and he is an English teacher at a private all girls school in the Philippines. His English obviously was excellent and for the first ten minutes he just keep talking about what would have happened if I hadn’t been on the road. He had left at 6:30 to take a slight detour to see a monastery and that was how he probably got lost. We walked together to Triacastela and stopped and had something to eat.

The Camino splits in two different directions at Triacastela, and we took the one along the highway and to Samos. Funny, but after more than a mile we saw a sign that said Samos was 11 kilometers, more than the eleven we were told a mile back!

Manuel had planned to stay in the alberque at monastery in Samos and I decided to walk with him and find a place myself. I called a few hostals and pensions in Samos and all were full. Samos is a beautiful little village with a large old monastery so it’s popular with the pilgrims and car tourists.

When we got there it was about one-thirty. I was going to look for a hotel but it seemed a little early to stop and I decided to go on to Sarria after the hospitalero at the monastery told me it was only eleven kilometers more (only about 6.8 miles).

When I was saying goodbye to Manuel, a young Japanese woman overheard me and said she would walk with me to Sarria. She was from Tokyo and is a writer for a magazine. Interesting the people from all over the world, with various occupations, that you meet on the Camino.

We walked together for several miles but the Camino moved off the road and heads towards a connection with the other Camino route. I had taken that way before and it was very rutted and rocky, and also very flooded in areas. I figured with the rain, which had not really stopped, it would be difficult with the Wheelie, so I stayed on the road. The Japanese woman took the camino.

Sarria is a fairly large city and it is know as the starting place for most of the Camino Francis pilgrims. The economy here is very dependent on the Camino and it’s reflected in the price of items and the lodging here.

There are dozens of alberques here for all the new pilgrims waiting to start their caminos, but not where I really wanted to stay. I called several hostals and hotels and was a little surprised how much more they charge. I found a pension, Pension Rus Peregreno, which is a cheaper version of a hotel for €45, including breakfast. There were cheaper places further out, but after walking twenty-two miles today I didn’t want to go any further.

By the time I checked in it was after four. After my usual choirs of washing my clothes and taking a bath it was close to six. There are no restaurants or bars real close by, and I was too tired to walk anywhere. I was hungry and pizza came to my mind, so I asked the front desk clerk if she could order me a pizza. She said, “ the best in town!” A little more than a half later a piping hot pizza with light sauce, extra cheeses, fresh tomato slices and olives, was at the front counter with a cold drink. It was €9, cheaper and better than most pilgrim meals! What a treat to end my day! Dinner in bed!

Tomorrow I have booked a hostal in PortoMarina, about fourteen miles from here. It’s only sixty miles to Santiago and I could be there in three days, but I will take my time and enjoy the last few days on the Camino.

Best wishes to all,

Ted

As always, please excuse the typos, grammar, and spelling, etc., because I am writing this on my phone and don’t always review my blog. And, even if I don’t review it, it’s s good a good excuse for my mistakes!

Looking back at Casa Lucas in the cold rainy morning

Rain clouds and fog settling in

Stopped to have something to eat in Triacastela. The hostal in the background is where I stayed two years ago

We moved onto the path before Triacastela hoping it would not be so steep

The rain just wouldn’t let up

Entering Samos

The bridge across the Rio Sarria to Somas

The monastery now has a gas station and an alberque

Coming into Sarria

Not the quaint little hostals or pensions you’d find in the small villages, but this is Sarria. The pension is only on the first floor

My room, small and sterile, but it’s got a good heater to dry my laundry

Dinner in bed! Can’t beat that at the end of s long 22 mile day!

Look at that drop in elevation

Every little hump is an uphill