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Published: September 8th 2012
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We accidentally had a large pilgrim menu for Lunch - due to a break down in communication with the women in the bar..... walking after soup/mains/dessert was.... sloshy ! lol I'm glad we didnt have the bottle of wine that we'd normally drink after an evenings pilgrim menu ... We continued all that day through beautiful scenery - like walking through a constant postcard..... just as we came into Triacastella we passed a tree that had a (thankfully) English translation also on the plaque saying the tree was approx 800 yrs old -
We sloshed along... it was a long day of 30km - happily our backpacks were waiting for us at the Bercce do Camino - a private Albergu . We had a 3 bed room to ourselves.... it wasnt one of the nicer hostels, smelt of cabbage and old cigarettes - but the shower was hot and after changing and draping damp clothes everywhere we went to a bar for a drink and to write in journals.
The place we went wasnt very warm or welcoming - so we moved to a pub further up to have a pilgrim meal... It was filled with excitable football fans of various nationalities and a match being shown on the big screen TV - we managed to get seats along the bar and met Thomas from Spain and Tomas from Germany - both spoke little English and we spoke neither German or Spanish but we managed to have a conversation and Spanish Thomas introduced us to a warming drink called Arooha - which must be spanish for firewater I think ! We also met ' The Irish Guys' that night - a group of 4 whose names we did enquire both that night and about 3 other occasions.... but didn't retain them I'm afraid . they were also talking to 2 Irish women who were 2 of 4 adults walking the Camino with a group of 17 Irish schoolboys - about 16 yrs old.....it was great to have a chat in English -whatever the accent ! Wobbled back to the Alburgue by curfew time... and agreed to meet Tomas x2 for breakfast.
Cant remember how good the sleep was
but DO remember when getting dressed the next morning Diane finding her boots full of ANTS! ......
After breakfasting with 2x Thomas we set off for Sarria the longer but flatter way - allegedly.... again it was beautiful scenery - reminiscent of Ireland apparently with its rolling greenest of green hills... we took pics of each other through a stone at the roadside that had 2 'eyes' in it ..... again spending lots of time taking pics - but MEH - what's the rush- and is was so hard to NOT ... just beautifulness everywhere ( is that actually a word?? - no of course not - beauty I mean - doh! ) ? After the next stop at Sarria there would be only 100 km to go ... so..... no rush ! We walked about 10 km trying to avoid a group of bus people who were led by a German speaking tour guide - they were kind of ....noisy... and so we tried to let them on ahead or we walked fast, to avoid them . When we reached our lunchbreak destination Samos - a village built around an ENORMOUS monastery - I realised i had LOST
MY IPHONE!!! Ohhhhh I felt so bad........ I had all my Aussie contacts/numbers on it..... it had my 'sooth me/help me go the last 10km' music on it...... I was really doing a lot of self talk to try and tell myself 'it's ok- it's only a phone' etc etc..... anyway we stopped at abar for a bocadilla and cafe con leche.... I lamented the losing of phone with 'Irish Guys' who were at the next table...... when the bus load of bus pilgrims walked up - I asked if anyone had found a mobile and..... YES SOMEONE HAD!! I described it and yes yes that was mine - I happily clutched it and gave the finder a big hug and kiss and she looked a frightened by all the attention lol - I was so happy!!!! It was a rollercoaster hour of despair and regret then elation and joy :-) Also while we were sitting eating the Irish Guys were all looking at and passing around a camelback - a water bladder that is carried in a backpack. I said to Di about how you have to sort of bite it to get them to work...... They were all
shaking it and turning it this way and that....... Diane managed to get a hold of it for a while, did nothing really but said when handing it back ' Bite on it as you suck up the water' ... and OH the joy and delight and celebration when the guy realised she had 'fixed it' lol it was funny and perfect opportunity for Diane to say something about them being VERY irish ! :-)
As we walked out of this town we saw Bruce for the last time - ( Aussie guy driving a 'support vehicle' van for his wife and her cousin) though of course we didnt know that then - Bruce is a sweet man - white bearded and laconic as only Aussies are - I wish we'd noted an email contact from him.....We continued our long day's walk , I remember that about this time ( day 32 of walking) that my body was really feeling the strain of day after day after day of 22-30km so although we were coming closer to our destination I didnt feel sad about that at that stage , physically I was ready to draw the walk to a
close......
We found two beds in a private Alergue in Sarria after climbing some VERY high steps, it was our first real experience of walking in to a place and finding that Albergues were full, with walking pilgrims and having to move on to find a bed... Sarria is the starting point for the pilgrims who want to get the Compostela which is given by the Catholic Church at completion and proof of pilgrimage ( see
http://www.archicompostela.org/Peregrinos/Inglés/La%!C(MISSING)ompostela%!h(MISSING)tm)
Diane and I were amused by 2 young women who came into our shared room late in the day with their backpacks bursting with magazines, large bags of toiletries and makeup and big big sleeping bag each .... apparently I snored ( allegedly!) and Diane let me snore on - to give the newbies an idea of the reality of pilgrim life .......but more next time on the 'new pilgrims'
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Why Walk
Diane Pawlak
I had forgotten about you loosing your phone and the Irish guys and the camel pack...thanks for the memories