One more step along the road...

Due to difficulties in gaining internet access each day, and our need for a good pilgrim meal and an early bed, our blog news has been sparse so far.

There is so much to share and we plan to write a longer account 

when we return.  

                               

Our journey to Triacestella, and then on to Sarria on our first two days took us through hamlets which have changed little over the centuries. We passed very few pilgrims on the way, and only a few local people. We were fortunate to visit many small churches and have time to reflect on why we were there and the thousands of pilgrims who were there before us!

Triacestella

We arrived in Sarria on Saturday evening after a long winding road, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes exhausting, especially at the end, 

but very very beautiful.  

As we reached the outskirts of the town, 

we were a little disappointed. 

Yes, we were tired (the walk had certainly been longer than we expected ), but our first impressions were not good. Eventually when we almost reached our hotel, one of us discovered she had left her stick 

a few kms back at our map stop. 

So ...we retraced our steps!! 

We guessed from past experience that we would walk more than 100 miles! 

                                

However, our evening out on the town was enough to get us back in high spirits... An evening meal with 2 choices per course. ..different and more expensive than the pilgrims €10 with wine special! Since our knowledge of Spanish is extremely limited, we decided to order all the food on offer and share! ...and a bottle of good Rioja to celebrate our achievement so far. 

Well, what appeared caused much hilarity - a plateful of baby octopus, or should that be 'pi'? ...and a bowl of large prawns sizzling in what looked like hot oil and cheerios! We felt duty bound to try and taste, especially since there was nobody else in the restaurant. It would have been rude not to, but the sight of curly tentacles and shrivelled little bodies waiting to be chewed was a bigger challenge than all the hills we had climbed!  

Courses 2 and 3 were not a lot better,but the wine was good!

Enough about food! 

 On Saturday we had a rest day, when we discovered that the re was an old town of Sarria, which is more quaint and friendly. Sarria is a popular place to start the camino as the distance from here to Santiago is enough to obtain the compostela. So for us,there are now many more pilgrims to meet, 

many more stories to share. 

We went to mass on Saturday evening, which included a Baptism, and where we met Christina from Whalley Range! Later, we joined a party of pilgrims from many countries for dinner and having been told that Sue was obviously the younger pilgrim, the Granny was also described as  "very fit" and has a date with German Ralph to join him on another camino - the Northern Way from San Sebastion, when she' s 80. He'll then be 85!