Chapter 2 Sarria to Santiago

Day 18 León to Sarria
Private Transfer 206km
Walked 17km
402.04km so far
538,219 steps so far

Today I was up and at it, enjoying a beautiful breakfast spread at the accommodation and my last breakfast with the original crew.
It was a bit of an emotional morning saying goodbye to everybody. I would’ve loved to have done a ghosty and disappeared because I hate goodbyes, but that wouldn’t be fair.
Cyn, Wendy and I hopped in a fancy black private transfer van and headed out of Leon towards the village of Samos.
We had two young Spanish men chauffeuring us and, as we hit the motorway, the flat vastness of the Meseta was quickly forgotten.
We travelled along the motorway before turning into the mountains, a beautiful mystical climb until we reached O Cebreiro. This is where we entered the region of Galicia.
O Cebreiro (pronounced “Oh Seh-BRAY-ro”) is one of my favourite words on the Camino. Before I reached it, I’d hear pilgrims talking about it in cafés, albergues and on the trail. The name itself sounded magical to me, and every time someone said it I imagined misty mountains and ancient stone villages.
There was no mist today, but there were cute villages, green hills, cows, forests and winding country lanes. I felt like I had entered a different country.
We stopped to take a few pics and poor Wendy was a bit queasy from the winding drive.
Arriving in Samos, I felt like I was back in France. The nice young Spanish men unloaded our backpacks but were continuing on to Sarria to drop our suitcases at our hotel. I asked if I could take their photo, but really I wanted to be able to ID them if our luggage wasn’t there at day’s end.
I sat and put on my blister patches and my new toe condom before trying to put my boot on. My bruised toe hurt so much I had to go with the socks-and-sandals look. I know, I know socks and sandals, I’ve changed 🤓
We had a beautiful walk alongside clear water streams, through forests, down country lanes and past stinky dairies, a picnic lunch in somebody’s driveway with some goodies left over from the breakfast buffet, and a bit of chatter as we went.
As we rolled into Sarria in the heat of the day, we made our way through town to our accommodation and us non-Spanish-speaking Aussies had lots of fun trying to communicate with the non-English-speaking receptionist. She was sweet, we laughed, she laughed, and we think we may have a dinner booking for 7:30, however we can’t be sure. 😳
Sarria isn’t what I expected it to be, it’s pretty underwhelming compared to a lot of villages we’ve passed through yet it’s a very popular starting point for the last 100km which is the minimum you can walk to get a Compostela Certificate for walking the Camino
I’ve had a lazy late arvo, done my washing, showered and headed for a wander, I saw a 0% beer in a cafe and really felt like a beer. I sat down and really enjoyed it while I ate the free tapas that came with it. It’s the first urge I’ve had for a beer in a long time.
Tomorrow morning I’ll head off early. I’m hoping to do a bit of solo walking over the next few days before I reach Santiago. There will be crowds, being the last 100km and all, but I’m anonymous in the crowd and that feels nice for a girl from small-town WangarattaRead more