Portomarín

Sarria – Portomarín 23km

Didn’t get much sleep last night due to some lanky American dude getting up at 5am to do 2 hours of yoga and grunting like a tortured pig. You got 23km to walk today brutha take it fuckin’ easy!!

Got started the walk and had a bit of a climb in the first part of the day. It was very noticeable that there were quite a few Spanish groups starting the last 100km of the camino.

Lots of young girls in tight lycra speeding ahead with all the excitement in the world. Manys a man may have had a heart-attack if he were on this trail. I, on the other hand, just overtook them all casually as I was on a mission to get finished up early today. 😐

After about 13km I passed the iconic 100km mark. It was great to see this as it pales in significance to the distance I have already travelled. The newcomers where easy to spot as all their gear was very clean and didn’t stink. I felt good to be able to leave them all eating dust as I deployed terminator mode and pushed past them all. Hasta luego bitches!

Some beautiful sights along this trail that reminds me so much of the trails at home.

To get to Portomarín you have to cross a very long bridge with quite a drop to the river. The bridge must be about 200m long.

I crossed it a bit nervously. I was nervous only because I didn’t want to drop my phone in the river whilst taking photos of the views from the bridge.

When over the bridge there is about 50 steps to climb followed by a very steep cobbled surface. Luckily my albergue was right at the top of this.

Got settled in, washed and up for a couple of pints when a group of Irish teenagers gathered at the albergue. I got talking to one of them and they explained they were doing the last 100km for children in respite. What a great idea.

Later I met up with Jonathan and Bengt for a few pints. These guys are great company and we have many laughs together. Bengt’s wife keeps calling him and talking for ages until he just hangs up on her! 🤣🤣 Bengt is a very relaxed man but there is only so much a relaxed guy can take. 😆

We had a good ol night despite having to remind Bengt that there was four more days to Santiago. Not two!! All of us just want to keep walking on this Camino forever but equally miss our families. In my opinion the Camino has changed me a lot, and this experience will only make me a better person in ‘real life’. Hasta mañana!