Day 29 - Barbadelo to Portomarin - 20 km

I've never set an alarm in an Albergue. I've never had to because eventually someone either makes enough noise or the light goes on. This morning I woke up at 8:00 and the room was empty, with probably the last person gone about an hour earlier. That was some kind of deep sleep combined with great earplugs! Sleep is great, but setting out so late in the morning means a more difficult walk in the heat later on. As I had my morning coffee 'hoards' of pilgrims began passing by.

The solitude of the past couple of weeks is over. Dozens of new pilgrims who want to walk the last 100 km to achieve the Compostela start everyday from Sarria. It is quite a different experience to be walking with them. They are all clean and fresh looking and full of energy to reach their destination (at least for their 1st couple of days!). I walk my usual turtle pace as groups pass by me; no actually I think I might even be slower now. I see them and think about how my mind has changed from that 1st week until now. I'm not saying that I'm the great wise one now, although I know it must sound like it, but I do know that I'm much more aware of the beauty that surrounds me as I saunter down the path. Here is a cafe that I stopped at this morning with a few of the new peligrinos.

I arrived at Portomarin at about 2:00 p.m. It was VERY hot and the town seemed so crowded with pilgrims everywhere. I finally entered a municipal Albergue that is really sort of horrible, but in the 'heat' of the moment one doesn't think about how nice a place is. It was only after I had laid out my sleeping bag in the sort of smelly, crowded room and taken my shower, that I thought, "I shouldn't have stayed here". I went out into the town as soon as I could and found Paddy, George and Jutta. They had found a slightly better place but we were just happy to be among friends and went for a great dinner and many laughs. I will reach Santiago in 5 more days.