Chapter 30: Filoval to Sarria

Last day of the Camino as we’ve known it. SARRIA…the great equalizer. Lots and lots…and LOTS….of people start in Sarria to do the last 100 kms and earn their credentials. From Sarria it becomes a 5 day struggle to find accommodations and make it to Compostela in one piece.

We left Filloval and found coffee first thing in the lovely joint we had dinner in the night before. Turns out the breakfast was better than dinner and we hit the road in really good spirits.

Gary was especially upbeat as we strolled for a few kms before we hit Tricastela, a fairly large sized town that had access to Farmacias and Bancos, which we hadnt seen for a few days. We withdrew cash and restocked our foot care kits, had a quick Cafe con Leche and actually celebrated another pilgrim’s birthday with a quick cheers with morning mimosas and were again on the road.

Admittedly, we were trying to make decent time. We plugged our headphones in and did a record breaking 7kms before stopping for lunch. From the ever-increasing traffic, we hurriedly booked the next 3 days while we ate, worried that accommodations would be harder to come by. I am particularly thankful we did this, and honestly, it gave us a time frame we could now follow.

What slowed us down…was Gary’s newfound appreciation for Cattle, farming, and Spanish livestock in general.

Hes obsessed. He loves them. I don’t know what is going on down there in Australia with farming, but apparently it is done VERY differently in Spain, and Gary loves every second of it.

Becky and I listened intently as he told us everything he could about farming and fawned over the cows. It’s actually really sweet, and he is endeared to every cow he meets. He also has a lot of Australian cowboy stories…the most hilarious of which is that he was once one. In Australia, however, they don’t call them cowboys. They call them…wait for it…jackaroos.

Funny name right? Until you find out that a cowgirl is called a JILLAROO…then it’s absolutely the most Australian thing you’ve ever heard.

We spent a pretty good chunk of our last 7 kms staring over stone fence at all the cows.

As we strode into Sarria, we found our Albergue, which was actually a private room. Private rooms are sort of a luxury, ans Sarria was interesting, as the outskirts of the the town itself were still overrun with farm animals that couldn’t be seen, but only heard. Our room was pretty non-descript, and we did our laundry in the sink before we went for a dinner in the bar below the hotel.

Sarria itself we barely saw…but I’ll save that for tomorrow. We slept really well, and admittedly, the fact that we didn’t have to sleep on foam mattresses and in a sleeping bag was…really nice. Thanks for reading we will keep you updated on the next few days as finish this walk up! Four more days from here! Exciting! Thanks for reading and stay lovely!