Day Ten
Date: 8 April 2013
Place: Sarria –
Portomarin (23kms)
Weather: Clear with
some misty rain. Cool.
Accommodation:
Pousada de Portomarin
The difficulty arising from the accommodation booking was
rectified while we were sleeping after an email to the Brisbane office. All the paper work was going to be sent on to
Portomarin so the worry was gone and we enjoyed a great assortment of goods for
breakfast.
As we had to wait until after 9am for the sorting out we
didn’t leave until 10am....but we had all day to get there.
Setting off from Sarria....only 23kms to go!
The little group of pilgrims made their way out of Sarria
wearing the little badges we had bought in Saria (various forms of the shell and
cross), up the hill past the church where we collected our credencial yesterday
evening and we were on our way.
The first crossing of note is the Bridge of Aspera which was
built in medieval times and we stopped for photos. We followed the corredoira (name for type of
path) up to the first stop at Barbadelo (4kms) where we couldn’t resist putting
a ‘sello’ (stamp) into our credencial.
Two sellos have to be collected each day to obtain a compostela in
Santiago de Compostela.
The Aspera Bridge was built in medieval times.
A little way up the road is the lovely old Romanesque church
of Santiago de Baradelo which was built in the 9th century. The
capitals of the doorway are decorated with scenes from the Bible and the daily
life of Lugo in the middle ages. I will
have to take a closer look in my photos.
Santiago de Baradelo
As we headed off again we passed a family on donkeys…..I
think I like this idea!
The camino....picturesque all the way.
The next little village was Rente and we arrived there at
11.35am. We kept walking as we wanted to
reach Brea for lunch. Shortly after we
set off there was muted sunlight and we could see our shadows - the first time
in days – however, around 1pm it started drizzling so we put our rain jackets
back on. Just a little past Brea was a little haven for
lunch at Morgade. We enjoyed a piping
hot lentil soup with bread and a great coffee (Americano con leche: American coffee with milk).
Paths of stones next to streams help on the way.
At this stage it was quite misty....the 100km marker to Santiago de Compostela.
We thought these may have been some form of sarcophagi as we saw them dotted on farms. However, as it turns out they are used for storing seeds. At least granny isn't in there!
Along the way we wandered between open roads lined with moss covered
stones to tree-lined paths that vary]ied between stones and (sloppy!) mud…..at times there were vast tracts we had
to navigate.
Mud!
Moss everywhere!
Desley in a lovely rest area set up by a village.
The open fields and road after Ferreiros gave way to a path
at the 96.5km marker. Here the wind rose
much sharper than the last few kilometres.
We continued our descent which opened up to magnificent views
overlooking Portomarin however we first had to follow the path via
Vilacha. So near and yet so far as by
the last 5kms my left foot was very sore under the pad of my foot. My pace slowed but so had everyone else’s. A stop for some chocolate, minties and a
little later crackers kept us going.
Picture perfect!
Nearly there....the marker with the shell symbol.
Finally, we followed the Mino River, over the bridge and up the
first 47 steps (yes, by this stage it was quite sore and I felt everyone!) to
the fountain, turned the corner and up to the town square where the magnificent
San Nicolas stands. It was 5pm.
Big gasp.....at last!! Just over the bridge.
San Nicolas
I was desperate to get to the accommodation however I copied
down some relevant information about the church. It is named San Xoan of Belesar and it was
founded by the military order of the Santigao knights. It was built in the 9th century
and has a magnificent rose window.
We managed to find our accommodation and after reaching the
room the first thing I did was take off my boots! What a relief!! Goodness knows how we will go tomorrow as
Desley is also struggling with a sore foot that she had before leaving.
Portomarin is an interesting town as it was relocated when
the dam was built however it looks like an old village. The church was moved stone by stone to the
central square and apparently you can see the numbers still on the stones.
After a great hot shower and a rest we had dinner at our accommodation at 8pm. We were exhausted but satisfied with our day. Let's see what tomorrow brings!
Hi! Well you are now certainly looking like real pilgrims with the wet , cold weather!You didn't expect it to be easy did you? Have to have a little discomfort to appreciate the walk! If I was you I'd hijack a donkey next time you come across one!Then that would be really bibical!The sore feet sound a worry so a donkey can't cost much to rent or buy! Make a great photo!Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteYour Blogs are great Sandra & I look forward to reading all about your adventures. It feels as if I'm almost there, without the sore feet of course!
Hope the weather improves for you soon. Love, Margie XX from sunny warm Australia!