Overnight - Albergue Albaroque
A short but mostly scenic stage into Sarria loomed today, and after a tea heart-starter, it was on the road with Martina under leaden skies. She had already decided to avoid staying at anything resembling a big town from here on and was going to find an albergue past Sarria.
The walk out of Samos was as pleasant as the walk in, until the optional path met back up with the standard path at Aguiada. After another tea, the town of Sarria appeared in the near distance, and soon enough, we were in its outskirts.
Sarria itself seemed like a real Camino town with albergues on just about every street and fresh-faced, unsoiled, white-legged pilgrims with colourful walking shoes mingling with people like me (29-day beard growth, dusty, sweat-stained, loose, clothing, with heavily tanned lower legs and a world-weary look in their eyes).
It took a while to find my pre-booked accommodation, which turned out to be an albergue on the fringe of the old part of town. I was expecting a plush, centrally located hotel but it looks like I got the pictures mixed up on booking.com.
The afternoon was spent at the near deserted albergue and then wandering around cafes in Sarria, at one of which I had my second and final pulpo meal. I tried, but it's just not for me.
When I returned to the albergue, it was much fuller. In my dorm, a Spanish guy enlightened me about the tradition for (the presumably less abstemious) pilgrims when arriving in Santiago to do the 'Paris-Dakar'. It's not a motor race, but a marathon bar-crawl, with the first bar evidently named Paris and the 22nd 'Dakar'. I think we'll wait and see on that one.
Weather - How can I put this? - IT ACTUALLY RAINED!!!! It was overcast all day in line with advice from a fellow pilgrim the previous evening that there was a 60% chance of rain today. The humidity was evident early on in the walk and the sky looked threatening a few times, but more often some sun started to peak through. Then on the walk into Sarria came the unmistakable, and almost forgotten, feeling of a few drops. The lightest of light drizzle lasted for almost a minute before it stopped, but it was definitely rain. And I was definitely walking in it. An hour or so later, from my albergue window, I could see the showers over the town. They lasted for at least half an hour and were then blown away without much trace. I doubt they did much to disturb the dust on the track, but it sure was refreshing to see them.
Health - I managed to pick up a few bites on the upper body last night which I've been scratching occasionally. I don't think they're the dreaded bed bugs, which have wreaked havoc with some fellow pilgrims along the way, but they are certainly annoying whatever they are. Otherwise, still healthy.
Food - Pot of tea at cafe near Samos albergue; Pot of tea + mini muffins x2 at Aguiada cafe; Muesli bar; Pot of tea + small biscuits x4 at Sarria cafe; Pastries x2 + pots of tea x2 at another Sarria cafe; Sliced ham, brie, baguette, mixed jubes; Sarria cafe dinner (pulpo, ice-cream tub, pot of tea)
Expenses – Accommodation - 10.00; Food/Drink - 25.86 Total - 35.86
Walking time - 5 hours, 25 minutes (start 7:40am, arrive at accommodation 1:05pm)
Brierley distance - 14.8km (total 665.1km)
Daily Steps - 31,792
Total Camino steps - 1,064,293
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