Day 9 - Triacastela to Sarría

27 September 2018

11.2 miles in 4 hours 55 minutes (including breaks)

Today's walk was a shorter distance. The rains started shortly after we began. We put on our ponchos and marched on for about 2 hours before the rain let up. The good thing is that temperatures cooled off, and the rest of the walk was sunny and pleasant.

Galicia is a really beautiful region. It's nice that we stay in this region until the end of our journey. We should reach Santiago de Compostela by the middle of next week. Then, we will travel the short distance to the Atlantic coast to Muxía and a place called Finesterre, which means 'the end of the earth'. Ancient people believed that the world truly ended at that point because it is one of the westernmost points in Europe.

  

Daybreak in Triacastela at the church and cemetary. The gray skies soon dumped rain on us.

The streets of Triacastela were quiet as the towm was still sleeping as we left.

Almost every building in town was made of rock. This was a really great home . . .

. . . except that the entry stairs needed a little work.

The rain came down, so it was time for the ponchos.

All the other pilgrims did the same during the rain.

Biker pilgrims also suffered just like us walkers during the rainstorm. (About 10% of the pilgrms on the Camino de Santiago are on bikes.)

The skies cleared up after a few hours of rain just as we passed this pumpkin patch. 

Stone bridges like this are common all along the Camino. 

The trail was in the forest most of the journey. You can tell this is a wet place from all the moss.

We meet people from all over the world on the Camino. These are our new friends, Jean and Joe from Ireland. We told them today's rain was on account of having the Irish with us. They laughed.

We made it into Sarría with its beautiful stone buildings. The sun was out in force for the afternoon,  so the day ended nicer than it began (although it rained and hailed really hard for about an hour later on. We were glad we were safely in our hotel by then).

We usually order the pilgrim menu in most hotels and restaurants. It is a three-course meal that usually costs around €10 (or $11). This was a typical first course of a dish called Fabada. It is a delicious Galician soup made with white beans, bacon, ham, and other ingredients. They serve it in a giant crock for two people, and we usually eat two bowls of this. Then they bring out the second course (a meat dish), followed by some dessert. We are really stuffed by the end!

We went to the grocery store to pick up provisions for the trail. We noticed their version of the cleaning product we call 'Mister Clean' back home. They call it 'Don Limpio' here, which translates into something like 'Sir Clean'!

Everyone here wishes us 'buen camino' (good travels) as we pass their villages. These guys seemed to wish us 'moo-en camino'! 

Progress Map