21 May 2008

The Albergue where we stayed yesterday was quite comfortable and we took full advantage of it by being the first ones in and the last ones out this morning. We had originally planned to go to Sarria via Samos to see the huge and old Benedictine Monastary but because of our late start, we opted to take the direct route and reduce our walk by 4 kms. The distance to Sarria was now 18kms. It was definitely the more scenic route. It was sort of cloudy when we left but quite pleasant to walk. The path took us through a few small villages, some of them rather smelly but generally very scenic. We climbed upwards for part of the day, spent the rest of the time going down, nothing is ever easy. At one point, the path was a river bed which was still flowing so we were either going through water or mud. At other times, we shared the path with cows who dropped their calling cards all over the place. All in all, it was a great day even when the skies opened up and we got soaked in a heavy downpour and that, just as we were about to enter the city. As usual, the Albergue was at the top of the hill in the old section. One could take a street up or the steps, about 70 of them. We took the steps nice and easy and made it to Caille Major where we found a place to stay. We opted for a double room for an extra 5Euros. We have just been walking through the town after having had our daily shower but there doesn´t seem to be very much to look at. There seems to be a lot of refugios in Sarria since this is the starting place for many a pilgrim who want to do the minimum 100kms to qualify for a Compostella. By the weekend, we have heard that there should be a huge influx of Peregrinos mostly from Europe followed by those from North America, somewhat later in the week. We don´t think it should be much more than 5 or 6 days for us to reach Santiago. Hopefully, our luck will hold and we will stay in relatively good shape as nothing hurts anymore. Perhaps we are just numb but it feels good. We will be having dinner early at our Albergue but now we are off for a Cerveza and Coca Cola. Hasta Luego everyone.