October 13: Stage Thirty-five: Portomarin to Palas de Rei

I’m tired and this looks like a long hard day.

There were two routes out of Portomarin. I think this elevation map was for the more difficult route. The easier route wasn’t shorter, but had less elevation gains.

Leaving Portomarin. This misty fog lasted a couple of hours.
I forget how tired I am on paths like this.
The camino always passes by the village churches. If you don’t have the app to find the Camino, get to the church and you’ll be back on the path.
We are above the clouds.

Portomarin

The city was moved. The old structures like the church were moved brick by brick and put back together in the new location.

From wiki: In the 1960s the Miño River was dammed to create the Belesar reservoir, putting the old village of Portomarín under water. The most historic buildings of the town were moved brick by brick and reconstructed in the new town, including its castle-style main church: Church of San Juan of Portomarín.

October 12: Entering Portomarin

I obviously entered Portomarin from the other road in 2019 because I sure didn’t see this coming! No photo of the path until I was near the end because I was in survival mode. Scooted down a couple of places on my rear.
THEN cross the long bridge. THEN up the stairs to the town. THEN up the hill to lodging.

Stage Thirty-four: Sarria to Portomarin

As I walk along, I often think what section of this route I would recommend to someone with only a couple of weeks to spend walking. I’ve met a few who started in O Cebreiro to walk to Santiago. The long descent from O Cebreiro offers a good endurance experience and the walk out of Sarria is one of the loveliest. Not as majestic as crossing the Pyrenees, but still challenging for one’s first days.
Most common is the walk from Sarria to Santiago because that is the minimum requirement to receive a Compostela and it only takes a few days.

October 12 Portomarin – Rio Pilgrims

Pilgrims: There were four of who missed the arrow yesterday. A woman from China and this couple, from Brazil. When we got back to the point we should have turned, I waved everyone on because I needed a break. Some time later -2 hours? – I come upon the Brazilian couple resting on a bench under a tree. They scoot over and we make many jokes about how tired we are. The man has a few English words, but otherwise we a cracking ourselves up with exaggerated pantomimes. I take off and they remain. An hour later, I’m resting on a fence and here they come. We are now 3k from the village, so we walk together. I learn the fellow is from Rio de Janeiro, so I start with fiesta dancing – we form a short conga line and twirl a bit. He puts fiesta music on his phone.  Meet Palmira (age 54) and Roberto (age 63). Blurry, but worth the save.

Posted by phone

October 13 Portomarin – A long rest

I was concerned about taking yet another rest day. I slept 12 hours. Guess a rest day was in order. Yesterday, I cut my stage in half. It took me as long to walk the shortened stage as it typically took to walk the full stage. It was a beautiful walk. Here are a couple of views from my hostal, Casa Ribeira Sacra Portomarin.