Camino 4: Triacastela to Sarria (20km - 25km so far)

Tuesday, 8th October, 2019.

"Family life is a series of pilgrimages, both small and big.... To all of you, dear families, I entrust this most important mission - the domestic pilgrimage of daily family life - which the world and the Church need, now more than ever."  (Pope Francis, Feast of the Holy Family, 27/12/2015.)

(From Fr Michael's daily reflection.)

Today we walked the 20 kms from Triacastela in the east to Sarria, further west.  We did this a tricky way.  We had stayed at Sarria the night before, then our bus drove us back to Triacastela and we walked back to Sarria.  To make sure no one got lost, there were three checkpoints along the way, at Renche, Samos and Ayan.  The bus would wait at each, and when everyone had checked in with the bus driver, he moved the bus to the next checkpoint.  To make it easier for the Spanish bus drivers, we are checked by number rather than by name.  My number is 7 (siete).

Some of the time we walked beside the road, some of the time we passed through tiny villages.

This marker tells how far it is to Santiago.  Oh well, that's one km down, 133 to go.

Here's what not to do while passing through this village.

Every village had its little church, some a short distance from each other.

Some of the way was extremely scenic:

Crocuses peeping through.

Sometimes the way was a bit stony.

We walked through acorns, chestnuts, (one nearly hit me on the head) and walnuts.

The pilgrim's dream - boots with wings.

Almost at Samos, the 9km point.  Thank you Helen for lending me the hiking poles.  Some of the time I'm a bit unco-ordinated with them, but most of the time they're very helpful, especially on the hilly bits.  You can see it is a downward path to Samos.

The downward path to Samos.

Today's highlight was a visit to the active Benedictine Monastery of St Julian in Samos, founded in the sixth century.

In the Abbey cloisters.

Abbey cloisters.

In the Abbey cloisters.  We had just walked from Triacastela to Samos (9 kms).  Veronica said that to get the scale right they should have Triacastela down the other end of the cloisters.

In the Abbey.

We celebrated Mass in a small chapel in the monastery (not this one).  I did a reading.

 Off again, 11 kms to Sarria.  It rained for the last 11 kms of the walk to Sarria.  Sometimes a little bit, sometimes a lot.

Two drowned rats at the last check point on the way to Sarria.  You had the option of going the last section on the bus, but having made it this far, I chose to walk.