Sarria to Pontmarin – 26 kms

We’d been warned about Sarria and how bus loads of walkers arrive in their shiny fresh clothes, ready to walk the final 100kms to Santiago. When we arrived yesterday we saw nobody.

When we checked into our hotel. Nobody. It was like we’d arrived in a ghost town.

I thought the receptionist had said breakfast was at 9am and cost 7 euro. That’s too expensive and too late.

So when we were ready to leave this morning at 8.30am, we were surprised at everyone sitting down eating brekky.

Where did all the people come from? When did they arrive? And what’s with all the suitcases in reception? It was like we’d walked into an alternate universe.

The receptionist had meant breakfast was from 7-9 and cost 4 euros. Doh. So we ate before we left.

We left Sarria, still no other walkers in sight. We ran into the English guy we’ve been running into who met a girl and is doing the camino for the second time this year. He was having breakfast with his harem.

At dinner in Fonfria a couple of nights ago, he had two women fawning all over him. I asked Mike what they saw in him. He didn’t know.

Then the next morning at breakfast Mike realised what it was. He was dressed like Indiana Jones, complete with satchel bag (no backpack). So we’ve nicknamed him Indiana.

They’ve been having trouble finding accommodation on this stretch. Thankfully sister Lynda warned us and we’ve booked ahead.

That’s Indiana on the left there, with his harem.

There haven’t been that many people on the path, but certainly more than the last 30 days, and a lot of new fresh people. It’s nice having more people to chat to.

The worst traffic we encountered today was a herd of cows we had to stop for. They had big horns and passed real close. I was a little scared.

Then one started piggy backing another and I thought they were going to hit me, so I stepped back and into a shrub of stingy nettles. Ouch!

As we headed into the forest the sound of bagpipes bellowed from below. Was this another aural mirage?

Five minutes later a man emerged from the forest on a motorbike chased by a herd of cows. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but the farmer told him to leave as they were moving the cows up the road.

Anyway, motorbike man morphed into bagpipe man. He parked his bike, whipped out his pipes and started playing. It was quite surreal.

Bagpipe man here:

The rest of the day involved stopping for lunch, catching up with the German who runs up hills, and his Dad, and eating magnums.

We met an English guy who mentioned at least four times how he was in the army. Apparently he is walking on a broken foot but the army has taught him to ignore the pain. Both Mike and I thought he was full of shit.

We are now at our hotel, drinking beer and writing our blogs.

The end.

Oh, and we met up with a guy we met weeks ago. That was exciting.

The end.

Fonfria to Sarria – 28 kms

Today was a long 9 hour walk to Sarria.

It was a beautiful morning as we left our mountain lodging at Fonfria. We were the last to leave as usual and had the path to ourselves. A weasel ran across the path in front of us and I didn’t scream.

It was really neat being above the clouds this morning, then descending down into them.

Most of the day was very scenic, winding through forest tracks and small towns smelling of cow shit.

After a long walk we stumbled upon an oasis in the middle of nowhere. Sofas and fruit, bread and biscuits and juices.

After a break at the hippy place, it seemed a long way before there was anywhere else to stop. After a couple of hours we heard music drifting up the mountain. Proud Mary was playing.

‘Is that a live band?’ I asked Mike.

‘I dunno.’

We kept on walking hoping all would be revealed around the next corner. Nope. Still no sign of the source of the music.

Half and hour later and the anticipation is killing us. We can hear them but we can’t see them. Is it an aural mirage? Is that even a thing?

Finally, we found them. In a small village a band was playing so we stopped and had a drink and listened to them.

The rest of the day dragged a bit and we were thankful to arrive in Sarria at 5pm. But what a shithole!

A quick shower and wash of our clothes, we went out in search of dinner.

3 beers later and 3 different places and no sign of a pilgrim dinner anywhere. We ended up with second rate tapas, not ideal after a long day.

Kinda ruined my day.

Vega de valcarce to Fonfria – 26 kms

Today we walked up, and up, and up. It has probably been my favourite day so far, finally away from the roads and up in the mountains. The views have been amazing.

The uphill today was way worse than the Pyranees. I wonder why they don’t warn about you that.

We met a young German guy who was waiting for his father. He was complaining how he’d been waiting almost two hours.

We left him to it and stopped for a rest in a town called O Cebreiro which was at the top of the mountain. We sat down and a bus load of tourists came along. We got outta there quick smart.

After that there was even more uphill. I was struggling up a steep hill and stopped to take a breather.

‘Shit this is hard,’ I said to Mike.

Just at that moment, the young German guy ran up the hill past us with his fully loaded backpack. He couldn’t have timed it better. We both stood and stared at him in awe.

A bit later on, we met him again. He told us how his father had been nagging him to wear a hat but he didn’t want to muck up his hair.

I took a closer look at him, and he was pruned rather neatly and dressed trendily, not in walking attire. Oh well, who am I to judge. I can’t run up hills.

Finally his father came along and sure enough, started having a go at him about not having a hat. So I told him the sun can damage the scalp and cause him to go bald. This had him really worried. Mike and I had a good laugh about that. Wouldn’t be surprised if we see him wearing a hat tomorrow.

At the top of yet another steep hill we ran into and English guy and an American girl. I asked if they’d started at St Jean. The Englishman said she had, but he was doing it for the second time.

‘The second time in a row?’ I asked.

‘Yep. Started in April, walked over 2000kms so far.’

‘Ah. I’ve heard about you,’ I said. ‘Everyone’s talking about you. You met a girl and decided to do it again with her.’

‘Yep, that’s me.’ He said.

So funny how word gets around the grapevine.

Tonight we are staying in the same alburgue as my sisters did. I read lynda’s blog where she mentioned fun social night so I though, I’m in.

So… it was a fun social night and I’m now pissed. Good night everyone. Big day tomorrow.

Ugghhh I hate it when my silk sak is being awkward. Goodnight.

Cacabelos to Vega de Valcarce – 24.5km

Well that’s the last time I go to bed sober. I was awake until well after midnight. Or perhaps my afternoon siesta from 4 to 6pm was to blame.

It was a nicer walk today although still alongside a road.We arrived in an albergue on the river at the base of a big hill we’re gonna climb tomorrow.

We cooked dinner as we’re sick of pilgrim meals. Chorizo and bacon pasta with a 1 euro carton of wine. Probably won’t get the cheap wine again. Not good.

But, it was a nice setting overlooking the river.

There is still hardly anyone on the trail. Apparently that will change in Sarria.

We have started pre booking accommodation as well as our flight home.

We have one week to get to Santiago. No pressure.

Molinaseca to Cacabelos – 24 kms

I forgot to mention cherry man yesterday. When we arrived in Molinaseca we went to a little shop and bought some sports drink and some chips.

We were almost back at our hotel when we heard ‘hola’ from a man behind us. The man from the shop had chased us down the road and handed us a punnet of cherries. So nice of him. Mike thought he liked me.

I also forgot to mention the big storm. We’d just spent a balmy evening eating dinner by the river. People were still swimming and the outdoor bars were packed.

We got back to our hotel which overlooked the bars and river and I thought we might be in for a noisy night.

Five minutes later the wind and rain started. Then the hail, then the screams. We struggled to close our windows as the storm whipped in.

I looked out the window and the place was deserted. It wasn’t such a noisy night after all.

Today we pounded the pavement all day, it was awful. We travelled through Ponferrada which is the largest town until we reach Santiago. It had a cool castle but other than that, it was a shithole and we’re glad we didn’t stay there.

At 2pm thunder clouds started rolling in, so we sped up the last five kms to make it to our hostel in time.

We’re staying in a nice hostel with a microwave and plates and stuff.

Not in the mood to go out, we picked up some melon, Parma ham, salad, and soup for dinner. And some peach juice. First alcohol free night! Probably won’t get any sleep.

Big tree fallen over where we stayed last night.

Castle at Ponferrada

Rabanal del camino to Molinaseca – 28 kms

Today was probably the most interesting walk so far.

We saw a man doing Camino on a unicycle. I thought I’d videod him but I hadn’t.

We were wandering along when a snake came at me. I screamed then stopped and tried to take a step back, but Mike was blocking my path.

‘What is it now?’ he asked, used to my screaming.

Too terrified to say anything I just pointed and we both stayed silent as a large snake slithered across the road in front of us and into the bushes.

A moment’s silence, then we continued, hoping it wouldn’t jump back out at us. It didn’t.

Other than that there was a lot of dowhill. I’d heard there was a dangerous rocky downhill into molinaseca and people were recommending to go down the road. This was plastered all over Facebook and the Camino forums.

I thought I also would go down the road because of my knee. I waited for the danger signs. They didn’t happen. I waited for the steep downhill. It didn’t happen.

Next thing we’re in Molinaseca and I’m wondering what all the fuss was about. As far as I was concerned, it1 was the most interesting walk on Camino so far.

We sat by the river, had a couple of beers, then ordered a pilgrim dinner. It was different to most meals and was quite yummy.

After dinner we bumped into some people from south America who we’ve said hello to on the trail weeks ago but we’ve never officially met.

When we met it was like we were old friends, even though they can’t speak English and we can’t speak south American. It’s a kinda weird camaraderie between walkers when they’ve walked 800 odd kms together.

We also bumped into close Walker, but he was taxiing to ponferadda as he’s on a tight schedule.

My starter

Mike’s starter

Astorga to Rabanal del Camino – 22 kms

Today we encountered the close Walker, similar to the close talker on Seinfeld.

When we left our hotel this morning we were followed out by an American walker who had also stayed there.

We were walking along a narrow bit of road and he was right behind me. I said to Mike, let’s step aside and let this guy past.

The guy heard me and said, ‘nah that’s ok, I’m walking slow too.’

We walked and chatted for a bit with the usual interview of where are you from, Portland? Yes I wanna go there, blah blah etc etc.

He stopped to take some photos of a church and we continued on.

Next thing I sense someone behind me, and sure enough, he’s snuck up on me again, right behind me. Creepy.

We crossed the road and I stopped and adjusted my shoe to let him get ahead.

Then at the next town I stopped and filled up my water bottle. Next thing, he’s right on my tail again. So I moved to the other side of the street and he started tailgating Mike.

I saw a bar up ahead. ‘Mike, let’s stop and get a croissant.’

So we did and in the distance I saw him leech onto a couple of girls.

He seemed nice enough, but I don’t like someone 3 feet behind me, let alone right there. We’ll see if we cross him again.

Tonight we went for an early dinner. 6pm! It’s like being at home in the winter. As well as that, the temperature dropped to 26 degrees and I was really cold. Dammit! It was the one night we came out without a jumper.

We got chatting to a guy from Germany and a lady from Switzerland. They both started before us from st Jean and have been taking their time also. It’s nice to meet others that don’t think it’s a race.

Big day tomorrow.

My starter

Mike’s starter

Stork in the church

Leon to Astorga – 50kms

Today we said goodbye to our bikes. They were a good travel companion and they cut 10 boring days of walking to 4 days of cycling.

Astorga is a nice town. We looked at some Roman remains buried under the streets. We also had a look through the fairytale palace and castle which had lots of old things in it dating back to the 1500s.

Neither of us had the energy for tapas bar crawling so we opted for the pilgrim dinner at our hotel.

Roman remains

Cycling into Astorga

Sahagun to Leon – 56 kms

Today was much cooler and a nice easy ride into Leon.

Bum and Feet had a heated debate over whether to leave the bike in Leon, or continue to Astorga. Feet won. They reasoned they had two more weeks of walking and that Bum should put up with one more day of pain. Take one for the team, they said.

Both knees said they were fine either way, so we have the bikes for another day.

We arrived in Leon at midday and spent the afternoon looking around, but it was soooooo busy. There are so many people here and I’m not used to it. Glad we are only staying one day.

We headed into the old town just after 7pm in search of tapas.

A man from a restaurant tried to make us eat at his restaurant .

‘No thanks,’ we said. ‘We want tapas.’

He then went on a spiel about how tapas would not fill us up and we have to buy a drink to get them. Geez. We know how tapas works.

The first tapas place we tried was Jamon Jamon and they gave us a generous serving of meat and cheese on bread for just $1.80 each including beer.

The next place was called El Gaucho, and we had a garlicky soup and fried potatoes with minced chorizo. Oh so delicious. Again only $1.80 each including beer.

The third place gave us a glass of sangria with mushrooms and fried potatoes. Only 1.50 each.

We’re full and for half the cost of a pilgrim meal.

That’s Leon done and dusted. Off to Astorga tomorrow.

Boadilla del Camino to Sahagun – 66kms

Today was one of those days I just wanted it to be over.

The alburgue we stayed at last night was amazing. Our double room was like a hotel room and we had a fun pilgrim dinner. And, as they knew people would be leaving early to avoid the heat, they served breakfast from 5.45am.

We also had planned an early start but when the alarm went off at 6am I was like ‘off. Turn it off’As a result, we didn’t leave until 7.30am and were last to leave.

It started out nice with a ride alongside the canal with my bum screaming at me every time we went over a bump.Then the roads became monotonous and straight. We we thankful for tarmac for most of the day. It would have been awful walking that section as what took us one day on the bike, would have taken three days by foot.Riding an electric bike is awesome, that is until the battery runs out.

We are trying to decide whether to leave the bikes in Leon or continue riding to Astorga. I’ll have a talk with Bum about it tomorrow. Feet have already offered their advice.

We arrived at our hostal at 1pm, and after showering I passed out and didn’t wake again until 4.30pm. I think the heat has gotten to me.

At 5pm we went to the bar to grab a drink and we bumped into a girl we met at Orrison. The first person we’ve met since we were there 3 weeks ago.She has been struggling and started doing 32kms in the heat to try and make it to Santiago. As a result, blisters are sending her home from Leon.

We had a pleasant evening with a lovely pilgrim dinner for just 12 euro including wine.

A long road with no shade.