February 24, 2022
Small steps
Day 6 - Sarilla to Triacastela
Twenty-three kilometres. It doesn't sound like much, a distance most people would do in an hour or less under normal circumstances. Even most tourers would do three, four, five times as many in a day. I don't care! For us, today, it was enough.
And it was a great day! Winding through valleys alongside the river, hearing the rush of white water, passing through small mountain hamlets and under beautiful fin-like rock formations. Taking it pretty easy, but of course doing a fair bit of climbing!
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We also passed through the town of Samos which has an incredible monastery. I haven't looked it up but I think I saw 1779 on the steps in the second picture. No doubt there are parts which are much older.
Not for the first time we saw huge birds overhead, coasting on the strong winds. Today they had fanned tails like some kind of kite (I don't know much about birds). Hard to get a good picture with a short lens of course.
We arrived in Triacastela at around 3.30pm, after a leisurely start of 11amish. We are checked into another hotel part of which used to be a prison for pilgrims! Or people pretending to be pilgrims... apparently a fairly common punishment for crimes was to walk some of the camino. I'm a bit confused as to who was pretending and why.
Yes, another hotel! It's a bit cold nights still, and in fact there's no campsite near Triacastela. My mindset has changed a bit to thinking of these first twoish weeks as a holiday / training period. Hopefully it won't be too costly. With hotels about €30, sometimes less, it shouldn't be.
Tomorrow is the real big climb - up to 1300m or so, and steep. We are planning another short day of around 27km. I'm feeling good about it, and looking forward to our fitness improving and doing some longer days soon!
Edit: Triacastela is a pretty interesting place. The camino here splits into two routes, one of which goes through Samos to see the monastery. Lots of old buildings and lots of cats!
Today's ride: 23 km (14 miles)
Total: 135 km (84 miles)
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2 years ago
2 years ago
Today we are aiming for about 50km to Leon, a more respectable distance! Wish us luck!
2 years ago