Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Sarria to Portomarin
Day 42
We are now on the final days of our pilgrimage. From Sarria to Santiago is 100 kilometers, the minimum required distance to walk in order to qualify for a Compostela. As a result, many pilgrims start their pilgrimage at Sarria, and the Camino will be full of pilgrims.
This was going to be a long walk. Despite his foot, James was determined to do it so as to qualify for his Compostela. We were up at 6:00 am, downstairs for breakfast by 7:00 am, and out the hotel door by 8:00 am.
It was a fairly good surface, but uphill, uphill, uphill, which I abhor. We stopped for drinks, and then stopped again for lunch. Boots off, sweaty feet recovering from the slog. After lunch, off again for another ten kilometers. In total, we had to walk twenty-three kilo‐ meters. And once we made it to Portomarin, we still had to go an other 0.8 kilometers from the center of the town to our hotel, not counting the steps we wasted because we couldn’t find the hotel and wandered in circles for a while.
While the road was basically OK, there were a lot of buried rocks, with just their tops peeking out. Since I tend to shuffle along, I stubbed my toes at least six times. (Thanks, Keens, for protecting my toes.) And I skidded once. (Thanks, walking poles, for stabilizing me.) The final descent into Portomarin was horrible, as bad as or worse than the descent into Zubiri.
July 12, 2016: Sarria to Portomarin
42,678 steps today
The Half-Fast Camino Walking* Club 