Experience Camino: part 5 – pilgrims and crowds of people

The following two days seem shorter than the stories from the previous ones. I have to admit, they were a little boring, after all those experiences and surprises and things happening before. But boring isn’t always a bad thing. We had time to rest and eat. Get ready for the last stretch. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy less excitement about this part, too!

DAY 9

Sarria – Portomarín 

22,2 km (walked 21,43 km)

4:48:23

People, people everywhere

The difference between the first 8 days of our journey and this one was incredible. But not in a good way. The roads and paths were crowded, it looked like there was a festival happening somewhere or so. We knew this would be different, but we missed the old good times with hours of not seeing anyone.

We also noticed the difference in the types of people walking. Something over 100 kilometers wasn’t such a long distance, people had much smaller backpacks, or no backpacks at all. They decided to use the service, which picked up their luggage in one albergue and drove it to the next village where they would be staying the following night. It was such a great business idea! Many people were using it, some because their condition didn’t allow them to carry all their belongings on their back, some because they didn’t want to. 

Their shoes were still clean. Some of them dressed to impress – taking selfies on the way, dressed in branded sports bras and tiny shorts, some of them wearing full makeup. They would have scars from wearing a 9 kg backpack for hours. We called them tourists. 

Hands down, they walked it as well. There was no shortcut to that. But they probably didn’t fall dead almost every evening.

Restaurant and souvenirs

We started walking as usual, early in the morning. A few kilometers in, I felt that I had to pee so much, that I was looking at some places next to the road, any bush would do. It wasn’t a problem days before when there were almost no people around, so I could go anywhere. But crowds were walking the roads now! So it became a little bit of an issue. When we finally spotted a restaurant on the hill, I was almost running up there. Queue for toilets. That was new as well. And the place was full of people. It all ended up well, I made it, sweating. 

Foggy morning and menus in English

The morning was a little foggy, which created a beautiful effect for pictures during sunrise. On a field, where the fog was laying low, with the trees behind it. Such a beautiful place, so simple, but still beautiful. I kept stopping and taking pictures and my friend kept walking. Then I couldn’t find it here, that’s how many people were everywhere in the morning. I started talking with some pilgrims about photography, about cameras. It was a nice walk.

We stopped at one more place to eat. The queue to the cashier to order a meal was insane. There was a menu to read! Something we haven’t been used to. And it was in English as well. So many tables inside and outside, but still not enough for everyone. 

100 kilometres to go

We knew that, we would cross the point when it would be “only” 100 kilometres to walk to Santiago de Compostela on that day. At the exact spot, there was a stone marker. Many pilgrims were taking pictures with it, especially the ones who walked hundreds of kilometers to this place. We took a couple of photos as well.

Portomarín

Coming to Portomarín, we’ve been still surrounded by people. We crossed the long bridge built upon what used to be a wide river. Coming to town, there was one last obstacle – the entrance to town was on the top of the large staircase. Great effect! Not so great after all those kilometers walked! The stairs were steep. We made fun of the place a little bit and started to walk on all fours, helping ourselves with our hands. Hilarious!

We were planning to swim in the river, but there was almost no water. We saw the picture of the water below the bridge in the bar in our Albergue, it was incomparable to the current state.

Portomarín has a public swimming pool, so if this happens to you during your Camino, you can use it as plan B. I didn’t want to go, because my knee was still in bad condition. The skin was trying its best to heal, but it was taking longer than usual as I was at least half of the day sweating and walking.

We had a meal and walked around the town. It was cute, and small, with the church in the middle. We had ice cream and rested. One more day completed.

Restaurants and bars

Pensión – Albergue Casa Barbadelo – an hour’s walk from Sarria. The property consisted of a couple of buildings, built on a small hill. The restaurant sells souvenirs, it is full of umbrellas and keychains, magnets, and other things, all with Camino symbols.

Accommodation

Casa Cruz – good location, positioned above the bar/restaurant. It was a bit noisy to take an afternoon nap and early at night, but it calmed down later on.

DAY 10

Portomarín – Palas del Rei

24,8 km (walked 25,39 km)

5:42:53

The most boring day?

This day is in my mind fixed as the most boring day of Camino. Nothing happened on that day. No surprises, except a few new blisters, nothing exciting, we were walking. And walking more. 

It was hot, but we were used to it at that point already. 

Not enough space for everyone

Coming to the albergue, we could see dozens of backpacks in the hall, the fresh delivery for pilgrims who used the service instead of carrying them on their backs. We met a couple of familiar faces we’ve seen on Camino before. The check-in process was long, longer than usual as the place was busier. Everything was busier. We were tired, we put our backpacks down and joined the queue. 

There was a list of names, who booked the beds in advance. This was one of the albergues, where we had to call one day before to confirm that we were coming. We called. We got our beds. But there were many people, who were just waiting, if there would be any beds left after everyone was settled. Not the Camino we were used to.

Palas del Rei

The town itself was small but nice. We went to see the church, which was usually the prettiest spot in the town. They took special care of those places as they have been part of Camino. There was a palm tree standing next to it. A bit bizarre, but fine.

It was one of those days, when we went to the grocery store, ate a lot, and went to sleep. The fatigue of the last couple of days was more noticeable.

Restaurants and bars

Restaurante Ligonde – one of those places in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nature. A few kilometers after the village of Ligonde.  

Accommodation

Albergue Meson de Benito – near the center of town, a larger albergue with a restaurant and bar. The menu for pilgrims was great, it came with a bottle of wine. We drank it and had a nap. Can you imagine how strong it felt when we were so tired? I liked it.

Something extra for today – Reality check

Pain

It doesn’t go without pain. If anyone else tells you something else, he/she was either walking with a handbag or is an Olympic athlete. I finished the half marathon a couple of weeks before Camino and my legs have been in pain or felt heavy after every single day. 

However, there were moments, which were lucky and some not that much.

Lucky: My blisters have been bearable. I didn’t have any for the first 7 days and the ones I have later were small. I felt them but I learned how to ignore them. We met a girl, who had a blister through half of her foot, I didn’t even know it was possible!

Unlucky: I fell at the end of the first day. I tripped on my shoelace and I fell to the ground, with the 9 kg backpack on my back and camera in my hand. On dirt and gravel. I landed on my knee and the sole of my hand. But it was Camino, I was not going to give up after the first 23 km just because I was clumsy. I cleaned the wounds every morning, after walking, and evening. That was the worst pain. The disinfection. The pain during the day was bearable, I tried not to use the wounded hand and not to bend the knee often. I have scars to remind me of that very moment.

For the full story of this, read the very first part of Experience Camino.

Sweat and dirt

And not only yours. Everyone around you sweats like crazy, especially during the summer months. But nobody seems to care, nobody is pointing at you and telling you that you smell. Because everyone does. You come to albergue and the first thing you want to do is to put your shoes off. There are designated places where you leave them overnight, obviously not in the bedroom. Anyway, you come to your bed in sweaty socks and shirt and shorts, you make your bed ready first, you unpack and then you go to shower. All the other people you share the room with do the same. So imagine the odor. Again. NOBODY CARES. It is part of the experience. 

The dirt is on your shoes, socks, and legs. Nothing you can do about the shoes, the dirt is only from outside. The legs, you clean them in the shower. The socks? I threw them into the bin after Camino. There is no way to make them completely wash them after that journey.

Washing the clothes

There are washing machines in every albergue, but you have to pay for them. We didn’t want to, it wasn’t that necessary, and most of us hand-washed them. And hung them to dry. The weather during our Camino was so hot that it was always dry until the next morning, except for the last afternoon when we knew the weather would get worse and the sun wouldn’t help us. Many pilgrims were walking with their clothes hanging over their backpacks, so they weren’t packed while still wet.

I and my friend washed our clothes every other day. We made a deal and my friend washed all of them on the first day (as I was injured), I washed all of them two days later, and so on. So I’ve been washing them every 4th day. Good deal. We used the washing machine only once in the middle of our journey, just to have the clothes properly washed once. But it didn’t go as smoothly as we imagined. Read about it here.

Shared bedrooms, shared bathrooms

Nowhere to hide, there is no place to be alone in albergues. The bedrooms have between 2 and 45 bunk beds in one room. The biggest bedroom we slept in had 90 spaces for pilgrims, the bunk beds had the numbers on them, and each pilgrim got his number after checking in. We slept in the room where it was only two of us and one more person. The average was around 10 strangers sleeping around us. Depends on the place. 

Types of bathrooms varied, separate for men and women. Most of the showers were like the ones we know from hostels, but there have been a couple of special ones.

The first albergue we stayed in had only one shower in the women’s bathroom and the door was quite low. I am a tall person and it didn’t give me complete privacy. One of the albergues had showers with a half-transparent glass wall between them where you could see the shapes of the person showering next to you. In one of them, there was no privacy, the showers were divided with the wall only on the sides, but nothing at the front. Be ready to have much less privacy than you are used to. 

Is there a fancy way?

There are people, who could say that they had a different experience from Camino. They walked without all their belongings with them, the ones who were using the service to have their luggage moved from one village to another. People who stayed in comfortable single or double rooms in hotels without sharing it with strangers. They walked only the last part of Sarria and enjoyed ‘casual’ walks for 5 days. Maybe they haven’t experienced any pain or uncomfortable feelings. Good for them! 

For me, the real experience of Camino is about all these feelings, about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. About sharing it with others, in that large bedrooms and pretty patios of albergues, talking about life. Otherwise, why would you do it? To get a diploma at the end of the journey? You could walk anywhere else. Not judging, maybe just a little bit. That’s my point of view…

What’s next?

The next 2 days were… interesting. The best octopus I have eaten in my life, the village where all the restaurants were full and the grocery store closed so we bought snacks at the gas station and also the albergue, where you have to pay for using the pool. Question marks in your head? See you here next week…

Until then, you can follow my Instagram, where I post more pictures and videos from regarding these days. Daily!