Triacastela

We had a wet 16 mile jaunt across glorious, blossoming mountains to the town of Triacastela, which marked our transition into the last region on the Camino, Galicia. Galicia is known as the country of a thousand rivers and has a high average rainfall. The rain again today was cooling which felt good as uphill hiking made us overwarm. While not so light as yesterday's rain, it never felt gloomy as we hiked (later in the day came thunder, lightning and heavy, grey clouds). Spring is in it's full glory here and we've been delighted to see so many baby farm animals (ponies, calves, kids and kittens).

During second breakfast, we met a British couple and felt an immediate connection with them. We met them again at our lunch spot and exchanged warm greetings when they arrived at the Complexo Xacobeo, the albergue we're staying in this evening.

Tomorrow, we are going to pass through Sarria, which was Tom's last stop on his previous Camino. Ten years ago, he traveled from Astorga to Sarria in 10 days, this time around we are competing the same distance in 6 days. Sarria happens to be 100 kilometers from Santiago, which is the minimum distance one must complete in order to receive a Compostela.

A Compostela is a certificate (in Latin) declaring thst the pilgrim completed the journey for religious or spiritual reasons. A myth persists that the Compostela is like an indulgence in that it decreases the pilgrims time in purgatory by 50%. Whether it's for this reason that so many people begin their journey at Sarria or simply because they have less time to spend traveling, I'm not sure, but it is the case that the number of pilgrims on the way grows significantly beginning from Sarria to Santiago. We've begun booking beds a day or so in advance to ensure we have a place to stay each night.Read more