707 km and counting!!! Yes folks, we crossed the magical 100 km marker just after breakfast this morning!!! But I do get ahead of myself!

We had another glorious start to our day, and I must say I enjoyed Sarria far more than I thought I would!  The town itself is lovely… About 12,000 or so… Many many Albergues as this is the most popular starting point on the Camino! But our start did not have the “ring” of the crowds… And we had the city almost to ourselves as we left!

  

Our start wasn’t too early… Around 7, but by the look at Dan, you’d think it was the middle of the night!!!

Our walk today was through lush countryside,

Criss crossed with streams …

  

 The farmland or rich with crops and livestock, with many cows, much to Lisa’s delight!

We have been so fortunate here!  We have heard that it rains 300 days of the year in Galicia, especially close to the mountains, but we are being blessed with sun, sun, sun!  We get to enjoy the fruits of this rainfall through all the lush paths we follow today!

    

Sometimes we were greeted by new pilgrims on the trail… Those “champagne” pilgrims that are carrying day packs and have buses carrying their things from hotel to hotel… At one point I thought that perhaps I might offer them a chance at a real “pilgrim” experience, and offer them my pack for a km or 2!  We met another pilgrim that had a bear bell on his pack… Ring, ring, ring was all we could hear for a few hundred meters, until another sound came wafting through the trees… Could it be bagpipes???

Indeed it was!  Oh how I wished Sandra could have been here to hear this!  How she would have enjoyed this chance meeting… This young man, dressed in Galitian garb, played this traditional instrument, and truly brought home the the sound of Celtic roots in this region!

Not long after we came upon our impromptu concert did we hit the 100 km marker to Santiago!!! What joy we felt, knowing that by the end of this day our countdown distance would be in double digits!!!

We celebrated with a Cafe con Leche and a chocolate bar in a small cafe in Ferrerios, when we ran into one of our Camino souls, Renato from Brazil.  The weaving of souls at rest stops is much like a Zen water painting…. Beauty for a fleeting minute, then we return to our task of walking.

 Spirits were certainly lifted, but unfortunately my feet are still giving me problems… No blisters, thank goodness, but a nerve in the ball of my right foot will only let me do an hour orvsonofvwalking before it begins to act up!  I was so energized this morning, and able to keep a great pace with Lisa and Dan.  But the afternoon and our 400-500 meter descent (killer for me… Interestingly, up hill is much easier, but downhill really aggravates the nerve!!) not even stopping to tighten my boots for the descent really gave much relief!

We walked down, down down into the valley where Portomarin lay beside a reservoir which flooded the original town!  The church, however, was saved and rebuilt at the centre of the new town stone by numbered stone!

After walking down (every step seemed slower than the last with my silly foot!!!), when after crossing the bridge we then had to climb 30-40 steps to get into the village!

We got to our lovely Albergue, showered, did laundry, then into town to find some lunch.  Who did we run into, but a very dear Camino soulmate, Alan and we had a delightful feed of salad, calamari and Dan’s favourite, octopus!

 After our late lunch we returned to the Albergue for rest, booking the next day ( yes, I am joining the champagne crowd tomorrow and sending my pack ahead!).  This file is getting big, so I will sign off for now! Love and sunshine to you all!