Walk to Sarria - 18 kms

A walk through the picture postcard scenery of Galicia! We left at just after 8, in only 6° today! And here in Sarria it is almost hot...not cold anyway...about 20° or more. We have come down in altitude, from 680 metres in Tricastela to only 455 in Sarria. However it was a hilly walk, and will be all the way through Galicia, as there is no flat part. We had to go up quite high before finally coming down to Sarria, but through just delightful countryside...

We walk through many dairy farms - there are now cows, with serious horns, grazing or in milking sheds, corn (some already harvested, and some green and lush), lots of vegetables - especially cabbages. We even saw some sheep and lambs today. And beautiful birch forests, and always oak and chestnut trees. I forgot to mention a thousand year old chestnut tree we passed on the way into Tricastela yesterday, so will include a photo of it today. Huge and gnarled...quite amazing.

So we arrived into Sarria today at about 1.30, to our very flash 4 star hotel - Alfonso IX! Our bags hadn’t yet arrived which was a bit of a worry at first as they usually are always magically there waiting for us...but they turned up before we had time to panic!! Our hotel is right near the river, and we can just cross on a pedestrian bridge and on the other side is a line of good eateries where we had lunch, and where we will also eat tonight, as the rest of the town is up a huge set of steps, mostly lined with albergues and hostals. There are also,of course, old churches, and this is largely a pilgrim city and where many people start walking for the last 100 kms. The Camino leads up the stairs so we will have to do it again tomorrow ...will have more energy in the cool morning I hope!

The Camino now has a very different ambience....it started a bit in O Cebreiro, but is more pronounced now. There are more people, and the average age has dropped madly! There are many young people here for a 7 to 10 day adventure....it feels like that anyway...Before, we had been surprised that the average age of walkers was more like 55-65, with some younger and older of course, but now there seem to be many more younger people, going very fast and having a good time. But some of the serenity has gone - mostly in the towns and bars - there is plenty of calm when walking through the beautiful countryside.Read more