Leaving Sarria, we were warned about the flood of new pilgrims all walking the last 100 only, but Sandra and I weren’t worried about the crowds. Having walked slowly, we’ve been alone on the trail most days, and we take comfort in knowing when others are around us on the trail if we ever get into a bind. Besides, as we walked out of town, people were taking photos, excited by everything about the start of their caminos, and the excitement was contagious. We found our spirits boosted by the enthusiasm we saw.
Today’s walk was lovely, with a smooth path that gave us no issues with the stroller. There were a couple of good hills, but nothing too terrible.
At the bottom of one of the hills, we saw Joe, from Ireland. He pushed our stroller up the big hill out of Castrojeriz, and he helped us push our stroller up today’s hill as well. We joked about how he always finds us at the bottom of the big hills.
At our breakfast stop, we ran into our friend Barbara, who we’d walked with the other day. She had coffee with us and walked with us again, and we were grateful for the company.
We also ran into some friends from South Korea, who we’d last seen in the meseta. They don’t speak much English, and we speak no Korean, but Google Translate helps us communicate. These two always joke around with Addie, and they are always so bubbly and happy. We were excited to see they have caught up with us after our bus to León.
Today there was an influx of new pilgrims, but we ran into many familiar faces all day.
We reached the 100 kilometer countdown marker and celebrated that we are in the final stretch. People ask us if we are going to Santiago and we used to say “that’s the hope.” Now we say “yes.” We are getting there.
When we reached Portomarin, we were met with a huge staircase into town. Who was at the bottom of the staircase? Joe! Poor guy found us at the bottom of yet another obstacle. He and two others helped us get the stroller up the stairs. He was our hero of the Camino today.
We didn’t get to Portomarin until 6 p.m., so it was a short evening, but we went for dinner with Barbara at a delicious Italian restaurant.
In total, we walked about 24 kilometers today. It was our longest day so far, and it was longer than we’d have liked, but we did it! A long day is in store for tomorrow as well, but then we have some short days to enjoy this final stretch.
It makes me so happy that you keep meeting friends along the way!
Sounds like another nice day for you all. Must be so much almost fun to see everyones excitement as the end nears. Bless people like Joe , kindness is everything. And to meeting old and new friends along the way. Have a good walk tomorrow!
Its uplifting to hear about people being kind.
I’m sure you both are in a good spirits knowing that you will finish
this journey. As I said before probably with smiles and tears.
Hugs & kisses
It will be bittersweet to reach the end, for sure.
Aunt Judy says “It’s so uplifting to read about your fabulous journey”
The kids look like they haven’t missed a beat. In every photo they look as happy, settled and healthy as they were at the start of this amazing pilgrimage. So good that the Mums seem to be looking happier and less worried with every photo. 😉 24 kms is a jolly good days walk for anyone let alone someone pushing a double stroller with a toddler and a baby. Well done yet again. Buen camino.
Haha well, I think we all look like we crawled out of the woods… but we kinda have