Sarria to Portomarin - Joined by the 100km Pilgrims

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100 km Pilgrims

To be awarded the Compestella at Santiago, one must complete at least 100km on foot. To achieve that on the Camino Frances means starting out at Sarria. So today we long distance pilgrims were joined by a mass of people who wanted to make the pilgrimage, but chose to start here at Sarria.

For much of the morning, this didn´t make a great deal of difference. If one is away early, one tends to be walking with non-Spanish pilgrims. There were some obvious new pilgrims at the start of the day, like one who passed me three times within a couple of kilometres of the start. I felt some sympathy remembering my own false starts and getting lost.

What became obvious was that the camaraderie shared by the long distance pilgrims was not shared with these newcomers. At other points where the other Camino paths had merged with the Camino Frances, we all shared an understanding of the path, exchanged greetings and made sure we looked out for each other. This warmth was gone.

The new pilgrims bustled, although I think tomorrow and the next day might sort out some of that. I stopped for lunch at a delightful cafe/restaurant, and chatted briefly with two Belguims who had stayed at the same albergue the previous night. They epitomised the long distance pilgrim.

When a stream of 100km pilgrims began to arrive, it struck me. The new pilgrims were clean, they all smelled of some sort of applied scent, and even the fit ones looked soft. We long distance pilgrims were none of these. We may not have been dirty, but we had been wearing the same walking clothes for the past three weeks, no-one I knew applied scent, and all of us had lost those soft edges.

I realised a day later that it was the brightness of the 100km pilgrim´s clothing. We long distance pilgrims had been doing our laundry with whatever soap came to hand, and had none of the benefits that modern laundry detergent brings to making clothes look bright. Our clothing was dull!

Portomarin

Portomarin is a delightful town that sits looking over a lake created by damming the river. The albergue I used sits at the edge of the town with views across the lake. Chris and I ate on the balcony watching a variety of birds soaring and swooping over the water.

The new pilgrims were all noisy and kept using lights even after the designated lights out. They were even worse in the morning when they had cubicle and corridor lights on before 6.00am. I wonder if they will learn.

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Photos

Near Bardello
An interesting fence post. There were many like this.

Near Leiman
It was nice to have bright colours instead of plain white.

Alburgue La Bodeguina
Soft pilgrims!

Comments

[Noel CS]

Great Writing
Thanks Doug, Enjoyed your style, comments and observation of those around you in this blog.