Pintin to Pena

We started this morning around 7 - not quite a sea of clouds below us but wisps of cloud lying in the valleys - very beautiful. A whole valley of turtle doves cooing. And then fields of horses just before Sarria
I think spiders must spin their webs very fast as I seemed to be walking through their threads but know that Ryan and Kyle must have walked the same path only about half an hour earlier. However they had not reformed when Cress walked through a few minutes later.
Unbeknownst to me these were the last moments of peace - possibly for the rest of the Camino.
Sarria appeared to be quite quiet initially. It’s a town full of albergues but there were not many people on the streets. We eventually stopped for coffee and toast (no more tortillas for me!) and were astonished by the hoardes of people who began to stroll down the streets. Some appeared to be walking for charities - others were just groups starting their camino. But there were so many.
When I came through Sarria last year, it was from Samos, which is a longer route so I didn’t reach Sarria until around 11 - and then we spent quite a bit of time at a delicious vegetarian restaurant so weren’t walking on til midday at the earliest. Today we were leaving Sarria around 9 and it was a Sunday - the worst possible combination for crowds I think.
So overall not my best day on the camino. I spent most of the walk, when I wasn’t queueing to go through a narrow section of avoiding people walking four abreast with a boom box, working out how I could both go to O Cebreiro and do the Invierno route another time. I think it would be possible to walk to O Cebreiro as normal and then get the bus back to Ponferrada and start the Invierno the next day (apparently exquisite and quiet).
When we reached our albergue, casa do Rego, which seems lovely with a great garden, we met another pilgrim who has walked from St Jean Pied de Port. It has been his worst day on the camino because of the loss of peace compared to our experience so far. Pleased it’s not just me being pathetic about this!
They don’t do lunch here, which is a shame, so we walked back along the path to Mirallos where we shared a huge cheese and tomato bocadillo and chips, beer and ice cream - a good pilgrim lunch!
Now back and sitting in the garden having showered and done the washing which is drying satisfyingly fast.
Dinner was good / lentil soup, omelette for me and apple cake. As well as Bernie (from Austria) and Bas from the Netherlands we met a lovely basque French girl called Pauline. A great conversation about the camino, special places, the camino providing. I don’t think we’ll see her again as she walks very long distances but I learnt a lot from her - another camino gift.Lue lisää