TO TRIACASTELA

For the last two days there has been no sign of wifi. Here in Sarria it seems more available. Contemplating next move and I think I will have to take a bus about 15km down the route to be able to find a place to sleep. The sheer numbers people is causing some headaches now. When I left the albergue this morning at around 6.15 I soon found myself playing follow my leader with the groups who had the also left in the gloom before sunrise. Now for what happened yesterday which, after a bad start was superb as far as the scenery was concerned.

3/8 Today started out as a disaster. The significant increase in the numbers of tourists/pilgrims caused the albergue in Valcarce to be full. This wasn’t a problem earlier on because most people were real Camino travelers, but now I have hit the tourist belt. Many people join the trail here, and later on, to walk the last part as a 0ne or two week holiday. However, last night I had a chorus of snorers in a horribly stuffy room with about 30 sleepers. I was forced to leave around 4.30 and started walking through the cold night. Later, even more ominous signs of the explosion of walkers came when at a roadside bar. I watched as two successive, huge groups came to get refreshment.


I passed be several albergues still silent before any of the walkers had stirred.




When the sun eventually began to rise at around 8am, the sky told me that it was going to be another hot day. This part of the Camino is very sparsely populated with only an occasional overpriced bar so I was to be without a decent breakfast for the whole day – which turned out to be a very long one.

After climbing over 2000 feet, I the scene was of a sea of cloud below me with the peaks of other hills like islands.
A long way below lies Triacastela. Just above centre about 8km away.

I thought the trail would start to descend from there but it undulated following a ridge for more kilometres than I wanted. At one point I passed a giant statue of a pilgrim peering into the distance – like me when I cant see any reassuring signs to the track.


When I finally saw my target, Triacastela, it was way below me and still some 8 km away. The path down was extremely steep in places – descending like that is just as exhausting as climbing at the end of the day. I finally arrived there in the heat of the afternoon around 4pm. I had walked about 10 hours to cover about 34 km which was far too much on a hot day. All the albergues were full but in a stroke of good fortune, a group of 5 girls decided that 3 of them would sleep in the church, so making a bed available for me. This was exactly the situation I had been dreading when I saw those groups up at the bar in the hills. Also, something that should not happen, is that many beds had been reserved by the affluent holiday makers doing their so called pilgrimages.
Triacastela appears to have nothing endearing about it unlike the quaint little villages I had passed through during the last few days. Lots of new looking albergues. I am sure now that it just a business opportunity without the traditions that go along with the Camino.

But there was something to see after all when I came across a group of Catalans with their dancing giants which are very traditional in their culture. They call themselves the Giants and Grallers Colla of Sant Celoni. These over 3mt tall giants dance a swirl around with a man underneath supporting it on his shoulders and head. Great fun. They are gradually moving from village to village until they reach Santiago.

VEGA DE VECARCE

Thatched ancient granary


A flyover at the back of the village


Me in Pereje


Villafranca at dawn. Had a great breakfast here.


Villafranca

2/8/10 It was not surprising that I stopped two days ago in Cacabelos when I did. It wasn’t until yesterday that someone told me that the temperature reached 40 degrees in the town. But yesterday was a bit cooler and I managed to do some strenuous site seeing when I took a long stroll up a hill to see the remains of the Roman fortress. Of course, not much left to see now except the line of ash in the excavated earth when it was burnt by the Moors. That’s what an informed good English speaking local told me after I had been up there.

The room I took above a bar in town was nothing to shout about but at least I had a room to myself after all the nights spent with the hoards who are progressing along the way like shuffling penguins. The word for ‘pilgrim’ here is ‘Peregrino’ which it not dissimilar and there is yet another similarity in that they both seem to spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating their feet. Anyway, I’m back with the penguins now.

I must have fallen asleep very quickly last night and awoke feeling pretty good at around 4.30. I was on the road before dawn and made good time. The first part of the walk was a steady 5km climb but after that the way undulated through gorges and over passes. I arrived at the Villafranca albergue (at the top of the first hill) at a very opportune time because there still plenty of coffee and food left from the 3 euro buffet breakfast they provide. Feeling replenished I felt that the day would be a good one. The temperature was perfect for walking and now in Vega de Vecarce, some 26km later.

This is one of the nicest parts of the trail I have been along up to now with big steep rounded hills with grassy and forested slopes. It roughly follows a fairly new highway which really does live up to its name. There are a lot of incredibly high viaducts carrying trucks and cars. This is a very scenic area.

Just to finish I found a reconstruction of the typical kind of house that was built here many hundreds of years ago. Interesting thatch roof.