Following other pilgrims on the Camino

Good Morning from Portomarin.  We hit the road in Sarria early yesterday with lots of other pilgrims. While they continued on, we stopped at a little church along the way.  It was quarter to eight and the church was practically deserted except for another couple of pilgrims and a handful of elderly locals. We were about to leave, thinking we’d arrived too late for the early mass or too early for the later mass, when a little red Peugeot raced around the corner pulling up across the street.  The priest jumped out fully robbed urging everyone to hurry behind him as though he had something more important to do than saying Easter Mass.  But perhaps it was just that he wanted to start on time and he knew he had to give his bell-ringer, a hunched over man in his mid to late eighties time to shuffle from his seat at the front of the church to the back to the ring the bell and to the front again before he could start. With the bell dutifully rung, he took a breath and finally looked around the room.  He seemed thrilled to discover that with the addition of the four pilgrims his audience had swelled to a full ten people and proceeded to give a funny and inspiring sermon.  Filled with new hope (at least I was since I understood the sermon and my translations for Paul were choppy and very behind), we started on the road.  For the next seven hours we went up and down hills, up and down stairs, trudged through mud, sludge and cow droppings, while trying to make sure we did not miss the yellow arrows or scalloped shells that pointed us along the path.  It was as beautiful as it was tiring.  This morning however we are refreshed and ready to go.  As we sit here having our breakfast of toast and cheese, what started off as a rain is dissolving into a beautiful bright blue day.  We read somewhere that when things go your way – in this case we’d asked for decent weather – it is by intervention of St. James.  So thank you St. James.  We will walk another 17 miles today.  See you on the other side.

Along the Camino from Sarria to Portomarin

Pilgrims leave rocks at the kilometer signs.  We left a rock with Gus’ name and hung a cross.

Portomarin is just across that bridge!