Day 7

We left Triacastela this morning and are staying in an albergue in the small
town of Barbadelo, just to the west of the large town of Sarria. Total
distance today was 24 kms, We started off at 7:15 approx., in the black.
This is only possible because we have head lamps. Sometimes the trail
markings can be hard to see, but we did well. By about 8:15 there is enough
light to switch the lamps off.
For the first 3 hours I had a significant amount of upper shin pain,
especially on the down slopes. I consumed my remaining Advil and for the
last half of the day things went much better. I'm not sure if the
improvement was just the Advil, or whether the walking loosened things up.
From the map it looked like we would be dropping in elevation all day. And
while this was the general trend, there was actually a lot of up and down.
We walked mostly along the side of ridges overlooking beautiful valleys.
The towns were mostly small except for Sarria. In Sarria, I picked up more
Advil and some Epsom salts for my blisters. Just before we left Sarria we
stopped at a pub for lunch. We noticed that we were right across the street
from a very modest city hall. Soon, some very well dress people started
arriving at city hall. Then a couple of photographers and a video camera
person. Well yes, it was a wedding party. Half an hour later a beautiful
old car arrived with a bride all decked out in white. It was very nice to
watch this unfold from our table on the patio. The gathering and
interaction of the people looked as if it could be in Milton or any other
place in an industrialized country. People seem so much the same here as at
home. We focus on differences, but we probably have more in common with one
another than our differences.
Also today we bumped into a middle aged, sporty type named Shelly from
Saskatchewan. Her story blew our minds. She has been walking 35 to 40 kms
per day since France. But that's not all - she does this wearing sandals!
She expressed some concern that a pain in her lower shin may be tendinitis.
Wow, I can't imagine.
She also said something very interesting that a couple of older sister from
Ireland had told her about time for contemplation while walking the Camino -
well honey, there's no time for that because we're always thinking about our
feet, or legs, or where we are going, or where we are going to eat. This
sadly is so true.
Dinner is done - bacon and eggs, soup, salad and yogurt - and I've stayed
behind at the table to finish this update. Our morning plan is to be up and
out for 7am.
This has been a challenging but good day. I have now walked over 150 kms.
Tomorrow we cross the 100 kms to go point - very significant for Ted - the
final push.
Good night!