Having both had colds we purposed to walk slowly and steadily. That has worked well for us.
Last year I had a day in bed on our first rest day with perhaps a dose of covid. This year I was very pleased that my heart rate did not go into arrythmia at the slightest effort. Walking steadily has also made for a pleasant day.
We continued walking west. There were hills between the two river valleys.
Our stats for the day were 22.8 km with 487 m of ascent. The weather was cool and misty as we set off but gradually the sun came out.
Many people come to complete the last 100 km of the Camino Francés. The distance from Sarria is 115 km so that is an important starting point. We noticed more groups, families and young people today. It’s nice to have the range of people but there is a lot less saying buen camino. It’s a different vibe but on the plus side there are many more wayside cafés.
Galicia is very different in land management from the large flat lands of Meseta which we walked through last year. The fields are small and mostly pasture or woods. This makes for a familiar countryside which we enjoy walking through. It’s nice to see mature trees.
The grain stores have a unique linear structure. Some are old but others are being rebuilt with air bricks.
There are milestones at regular intervals with apparently five significant figure accuracy ie down to the nearest metre which seems unlikely to be correct. It was though pleasing to reach the 100 km marker.
We arrived at Portomarín in the mid-afternoon. The river was dammed in the 1960s to form this large reservoir. Several of the old important buildings were reassembled stone by stone higher up the hill. The new town has been sympathetically built in traditional stone style.
Tomorrow we look forward to a similar profile and distance walk.
Julian and Beryl's camino 