Portomarin to Palas de Rei

We had seen that the temperature today was expected to start climbing through the mid 30s and so we made the decision to skip breakfast and get at least 2.5 hours under our belt before finding somewhere for coffee.  We left the accomodation in Portomarin and headed straight into what felt to be a film set- cue mist and fog.  The walk again was mainly along woodland tracks and trails and through farms.  I must admit we put on the pace when we saw school groups, both primary and secondary pouring out of Albergues.  Clearly, end of year “camps” but with the added benefit of fitness!  I’d forgotten how noisy camps can be and particularly when run by my friends Anne and Bruce, the only noises we coped with were the sounds of rehearsals and four part harmony at Woodman’s Point – and that would have been 25 years ago!!!

Lovely to have caught up with two friends from along the way, Jeannie and Rory from San Francisco who we haven’t synchronised with for about a week.  They have now been joined by Jeannie’s husband Greg who has flown in (minus his luggage…3 days and still no sign) to join in the final 100km from Sarria.  A bold experiment purchasing everything is going on and we are  waiting to see how Greg has progressed today.

There are so many more people on the path now and the days of recognising faces and greeting each other along the way seem to have gone.  We are seeing people walking with their dogs and young mums and dads pushing prams – this is totally different to the first four weeks, but nonetheless the same intention is there – to get to Santiago.

Coming around one of the corners we were caught in a cow herding excercise with Signor and Signora trying valiantly to move their herd down the Main Street with cars and 50-60 peregrinos all going along for the journey too.  These milking cows are well endowed with horns and so we all moved pretty gingerly down the street and thanked goodness that our packs weren’t red!

As the days are progressing and the waymarkers keep letting us know how little there is to go, questions are starting to pop up amongst the crew we know usually over drinks or dinner… “where’s the next walk?”  “When’s the next walk?” “Have you read about Camino Norte?”  “ Have you read about the Portuguese Camino?”.  The questions are not rhetorical anymore and people are starting to plan ahead for their next walk… this is addictive.

We just have to remind ourselves there is about 70km to go and still some walking to do on this Camino.  Jeannie’s line at dinner last night best summed up everyone’s feelings…  “Walking into Santiago on Tuesday will be bitter sweet.”