Triacastela to Sarria and on to Santiago: The Final Days

July 22nd.  The walk today took us through mountains, farmers’ fields, farm yards and dilapidated villages.  We took the long way around through Samos to enjoy the river which snaked along beside the path for much of the way.  Once in Sarria, however, everything changed.  Now the trails are much busier with hundreds of new peregrinos stretched out for as far as the eye can see.  Gone are the peaceful days of the last four and a half weeks!

 July 24th.  Today I walked almost 27 kms in under five hours, up and down, up and down, in the blasting heat - but I felt really strong at the end of it.  Because of my pace I passed dozens and dozens of people - mostly new peregrinos (I could tell because their clothes were clean and their boots and backpacks were bright and new) - struggling along the trail or collapsed by the roadside.  It seems that many of the people who set out from Sarria are not as fit as they might be to undertake such a walk.  We spoke to one Spanish couple during lunch at the hotel who had arrived totally exhausted and who told us that they had never done anything like this before - not even short hikes.

July 25th.  In two days, we’ll be in Santiago and Roxanne and I will part ways - she to go to London with her daughter and me to go to Palma de Mallorca to work on my paper for the Inclusive Museums conference next month.  Before that, though, I think I’ll take the bus to Finisterre - not to burn my clothes on the beach as tradition demands but simply to spend a few hours beside the Atlantic Ocean.  I’ll be back in Paris on July 2nd and travelling back to Canada on July 4th.

 I’ll do a final update to the blog from Santiago