Previous post: Sarria, our Camino begins

That bed was delightful and a good night’s sleep was had by all. We woke up refreshed and ready to hit the trail. After a hearty breakfast served by our gracious hostess, we dropped off our suitcase, had our “Credencial del Peregrino” stamped and headed out just after 8:30 am.

The weather was perfect. The rain stayed away and the temperature stayed in the mid teens. We passed through forests, farms, small villages, went up and down hills, across bridges along roads, dirt paths and cobblestone and saw some spectacular views. Everyone we met was friendly. Some were walking briskly, like they needed to conquer the trail, others were like us, taking their time, chatting and taking lots of photos.  Pilgrims come from all over the world to walk the Camino. Some had already walked more than 600 km.  One young man was limping so I asked if he hurt his foot. “Yes, it’s swollen” but he shrugged, smiled and kept walking. The locals mostly nodded as we passed and wished us a “buen camino” (literally a good walk but has more meaning)

We crossed the huge bridge and entered Portomarin around 3:30 pm having accomplished the 24 kilometres we’d set out to do this morning. After settling into our hotel and a brief rest we set out to find something to eat. The pretty village distracted us with views along the river and beautiful old churches. Our first choice of restaurant was closed so we opted for second choice which turned out great. The O Miriador didn’t disappoint. The view was spectacular and the food hearty and filling which at this point was what we needed as we were STARVING. We all chose a meal of the day and were served appetizers of bread, pasta, two kinds of hearty soup then our main meal of veal for Sue and hake for Anita and I. A glass of wine ended up being a carafe that served each of us at least two glasses. Then we got dessert even, all for 10 Eu each!

All thoughts of going out for tapas and drinks were gone and by 7 pm it was dark anyway so we went back to our room to read and edit pictures. Walking is tiring work 🙂 Today’s trek was supposed to be 22 km but we likely did more like 25 or so as we took a couple of detours, on purpose of course 😉