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!
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| 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!
