Day 32 - Ribadiso to Santa Irene - 20 km

I really must be ready to go home because last night I laid awake thinking about cleaning my laundry room. I've had a mental block about cleaning the laundry room for a long time. So maybe that is one of the reasons that I'm here? One thing for sure, there won't be anymore yellow arrows to tell me which way to go so I'll need to start making grownup decisions again. And here's something I've learned on the Camino; Roosters do not just cocka doodle doo in the morning!

For the past 3 days I have been walking the Camino with 48 seventeen year olds and 4 teachers on a high school trip. They're healthy great kids; in other words very loud and boisterous with raging hormones. I've made several attempts to get on a different time schedule, but have not been able to shake them. Today I had the opportunity to speak with the English teacher (who doesn't know much English because he asked me how to translate the words 'Buen Camino') and he told me where their destination was for tonight. My feet have been pretty sore after my long walks the past couple of days so I decided to change my schedule and stopped at the town 3 km before my Spanish teenage friends. Whatever it takes for a little serenity :)

I'm pretty happy about my new plan because this means I'll only walk 14 km tomorrow and then 10 km on Saturday morning into Santiago. This will be a great wind down from the long days of walking. I'm staying at a very nice little Albergue tonight that only holds 15 people. They're making me fish for dinner while I sit there in a cafe doing my little update. Mmmmm, guess I'll have to start cooking again soon won't I?

Day 31 - Palas de Rei to Ribadiso - 27 km

It was another long day of walking (yes I know I don't have a lot of new material, but that's what I do, I just walk). I'm not sure if I'm getting better at this, or if I'm on the home stretch now and motivated to get to Santiago. I never thought I'd say I'm tired of walking, but I'm saying it now. "I'm tired of walking." I'm really ready to go home now. I miss my bed. I miss not wondering if I'll have soap and toilet paper. I miss not having to wear ear plugs. I miss my washer and dryer. Call me shallow, but I miss assuming that everyone I meet will likely speak English. And of course I miss my family and my dog, Daisy. Ok enough of this boo hooing. I'll be in Santiago in two days! I'm sure the arrival there will be amazing.

I left Palas de Rei at 7:30 a.m. and in the dark of course. Had loads of fun searching for those yellow arrows with the help of a few others. Old men on the streets LOVE it when you ask them where the Camino is. They will give directions for every turn within 5 km and I don't understand a thing, I just need the 1st point to get headed the right way. But there's usually not an old man to be found at 7:30 a.m. The really nice thing about today was the cool autumn-like weather that lasted at least until noon and then the temp shot up to 29 C.

I had been told that one of the towns I passed through today named Melide is famous for its octopus. Sure enough as soon as I turned onto the main street there was this guy, standing in the window of a restaurant, handing out chunks of the eight-legged creature to whomever would take it. It was a great marketing strategy because once you tried it you had to have more! I've had octopus before and always known it to be tough, but this was delicious.

Today we passed several rivers and twice I removed my boots and soaked my feet in the freezing cold water. This is one of best tricks I've found that gives extra, blister-free milage. With all this eating and soaking of the feet, I didn't arrive to Ribadiso until 5:00 p.m. This is a pretty cool looking place as it's a replica of the original refugee for pilgrims 100s of years ago, but with updated facilities of course. NOT so updated that I don't have to go outside to the toilets though! My bed for tonight is the top bunk in the loft. So when nature calls in the middle of the night I'll have to climb down from the bed, put my shoes and sweater on, climb down the stairs from the loft, go outside, walk to the toilets and hope there's still toilet paper. Now do you understand why I miss my bed so much?

Day 30 - Portomarin to Palas de Rei - 28 km

This is the furthest I've walked in one day and it took me 10 hours to get here. You would wonder how it could take so long to walk 28 km but, besides being on the turtle express up-hill all the way, I take a lot of breaks for boot removal and for eating high carb food. I left the Municipal Albergue at 7:00 after a so-so night's sleep in a small room with 39 other people. Soon I was entering a steep uphill path in a forest and it was very dark. For your amusement here is a picture of what a pilgrim (me) walking in the dark looks like.

Part of the reason it took me so long was that I had stopped for the day about 10 km earlier. I had paid 5€, had some lunch and a shower and then felt great again. I thought, "why stop now?" and left that Albergue for a new destination.

I had a real internal struggle with this latest group of touristpilgrims today. I was getting so annoyed with them being there, messing up my peaceful pilgrimage as they walked on their little 'holiday'. Many of them are with a tour group so don't carry backpacks, wear bermuda shorts and carry binoculars. There are school groups and others that have picnics delivered by vans that are following them. This woman's husband carries the stuff because she needs to work on her tan. And my personal favorite, this 'pilgrim' below.

Then to make matters worse, I began feeling very guilty about being such a judgmental grump and wondering what kind a 'spiritual' pilgrim would I had become. Turns out most of them who had been walking since St. Jean felt the same way as I overheard quite a few discussing it. As I walked on I finally figured out why i disliked these people being around. It's not 'them' that disturb me, it's what they represent. The Camino is almost over. Soon I will be back to the usual daily race and commercialism that can't seem to be avoided. I don't want it to be over, but on the other hand, I'm getting tired of walking.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to have a new outlook on these touristpilgrims. There's nothing wrong with having a week away from the office, lose an inch or two and maybe get atonement for your sins at the same time! Here's me embracing a little bit if Camino commercialism.

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.

Day 28 - Samos to Barbadelo - 20 km

I had a very peaceful sleep last night considering I was sharing a room with about 50 other people. My expectations of what I would consider necessities of life are getting lower all the time. I walked passed the immense monastery in the dark this morning, which I'm told was built between the 9th and 15th centuries, and searched for the familiar yellow arrows to get myself headed out of town in the right direction.

The 1st half of today's walk was along a peaceful river path up and down hills and past one ancient farm house after another. George from Rhode Island took this picture of me beside the old farm equipment. I can count the Americans I've met on one hand and I feel privileged to have met George. He will be joined by his wife in the next couple of days and they will finish the Camino together.

In the village of Aguiada I stopped at a cafe where several Peligrinos were gathered. They were talking to one particular Dutch fellow who I had seen before and for whom I had formed an opinion that he was a bit of a kook. He was sort of wild looking and usually had a silly grin on his face. Today I discovered that he has been walking for 5 months from Amsterdam. Someone asked him, "what is one thing you have learned". He said, "that I must live for this day and can't predict what will happen tomorrow. I am a rich man because I have time to walk and can sit here now in this village in Spain. Others say that time is money but they are wrong. Time is life". I thought about what he said as I walked.

I don't know what time it was when I reached Sarria because I have stopped caring about the time as I walk. Sarria is the starting point for many Pilgrims who would like to receive the Compostela. It is a touch commercial and one can buy Camino stuff everywhere. Every major city has their own unique way of marking the Camino path. In the picture above you see the path marker for Sarria. The symbolism of the scallop shell is that all roads lead to Santiago. When I reached the centre of Sarria I was not too impressed with these 65 steps. (yes I counted them).

I walked on from Sarria to Barbadelo where I met up with new and old Camino friends at this very beautiful Albergue. I share a room with only 7 others and it is extremely clean and comfy. During dinner with George, Paddy and Jutta I was sharing with them the Dutch walker's words of wisdom when George said, "Catherine, I'll tell you what I've learned on the Camino. The longer I'm here, the better women's calf muscles get." We all had a laugh about George's Camino philosophy and proceeded to discuss other inappropriate topics such as men walking around in their underwear in the Albergues. Not one of my favorite sights!

Day 27 - Fonfria to Samos - 25 km

It's not light enough to walk in the mornings now until about 8:00 a.m. I woke up with the usual lights flashing and kerfuffle of people speaking in other languages. Some mornings I take this all in with a positive peligrino spirit. This was not one of those mornings. I am failing to understand why people want to wake up so early when they either have to wait for daylight or walk in the dark. I got up with the rest of them and walked out the door light a crazy person in the dark. I mean it was REALLY dark! I was wearing my headlamp and I'm sure quite a sight as I headed down the road. I had decided to take the main road instead of the Camino path because I knew that this morning involved a very steep decline which is hard on the knees. Almost an hour went by before I removed the headlamp and sat down at the side of the mountain road. It was incredibly quiet except for the birds and I felt quite in awe that I was sitting by the side of a mountain road in Galacia, Spain watching the sunrise.

I hadn't had breakfast and was hungry when I reached Triacastela 3 hours later where I was able to get cafe con leche and a croissant. After spending my last 3 € I found a bank machine in the town. The walk today was extremely beautiful and more enjoyable physically than the extreme mountain trails of yesterday.

I walked all day along the Oribio River and through very very old little villages where everything is made of stone. I believe most of the pilgrims took an alternate shorter route to Sarria today because I rarely saw anyone else on the Camino. I walked by many cows and had to be continually on guard about where I stepped! Cow pies in the road appear to be a normal and socially acceptable thing here.

I arrived at Somas at 2:00, but the monastery where I am staying tonight did not open until 3:00. A friend had told me this morning that he'd seen Benji leaving with a couple of French girls at 6:30 and there he was, across the road from the monastery here in Samos. We had a little visit and I'll have to see about getting him some food later.

News flash! I went to vespers and mass tonight for the first time since on the Camino. Since I'm staying at the monastery there's a bit of peer pressure. I liked the chanting and the organ music. Only 19 monks live in this huge monastery. I'll be in Santiago by this time next week. My plan is to spend a couple of days there and to attend the spectacular pilgrim mass on Sunday, before flying from Santiago to Paris on the 10th.

Day 26 - Herrerias to Fonfria - 22 km

Today was the day to climb the mountain to O'Cebreiro. Since walking uphill for several hours is never easy, I sent my bag ahead to an Albergue of a reasonable distance and started my walk. When I stopped for breakfast I realized that I only had 10€ left! I asked the owner of the cafe when I would reach the next bank and he told there would not be one until Triacastela which was 32 km away. This would be a difficult day, particularly since I was walking primarily on mountain paths. I resigned myself to the fact that I would need to walk 32 km and continued on.

The start of my assent was not as difficult as I had anticipated and I found out later this was because I had missed the mountain path and had taken the road. The road was further but with less incline and very enjoyable. After a few km I met a dog in the middle of nowhere. This dog was clearly not a stray but a well cared for hound that wore a bell and a large identification tag. He was very happy to see me and began walking beside me. I'm sorry that I don't have a picture of him but I knew this dog had a home and I was really trying to ignore him. He walked with me for several km until finally a taxi drove by and I flagged him down, pointing to the dog. The taxi driver was great and was able to return the dog to his owner. At the farming village of Laguna de Castilla I found this particular house interesting. The bottom floor is the barn and the home is above the barn. This is what I call being one with nature. It was at this town that I got onto the pilgrim mountain path and the really hard work began.

I reached O'Cebreiro by noon after much huffing and puffing and thought, "this is it, I've reached the top of the mountain and will start going down now". I, along with about 50 other pilgrims, would like to file a complaint because we did not know that we were only about half way up the mountain. We kept anticipating a decline but only went up and up and up. Here is a picture of a cool bathroom in O'Cebreiro because I am very much into bathrooms, in case you hadn't noticed by now.

Earlier in the day I had been talking with a group of pilgrims about out destination for the day. I mentioned my money dilemma and that I would be traveling to Triacastela for the bank machine. A couple of hours out of O'Cebreiro I stopped under a tree to cool off. One of the pilgrims I had spoken with earlier was sitting across the road. We said, "Hola" and then he said, "an amazing thing happened today". I laughed and said, "I have seen many amazing things, tell me about yours". He walked across the road and pulled a 20€ bill out of the wall. He said, "I found this money and now you'll be able to stop at Fonfria". I suggested that he was a very good lier and thanked him, offering to pay him back when I reached Triacastela. He would not hear of it and walked away. Thank you Paddy, because by the time I reached Fonfria I was very ready to stop!

And now for the absolute best part of today! I reached the Albergue at Fonfria and had my shower, did my laundry, same old, same old. Then, took the laundry out to dry and who was there? Benji! He'd been on the Camino with other pilgrims for the past 2 days and I got to see him again. :)