Day 14 - September 18
Day 14: Las Herrerias to Sarria. Epic day on the Camino. We left Casa Lixa at 8am after a night of sleep with the sound of a river gurgling outside of my open veranda. With temps in the high 40’s it was frigid in the room and welcome change from the heat earlier in the week.
Yash was off at 6am, Amy and I left after breakfast. The town was behind us as the sun rose after 100 yards as we followed the small stream up The Valley towards the gap in the mountains. The trail was steep and rocky bordered by rock walls carpeted with moss and trees that had been there for centuries. Always amazed that little streams carve the canyons and that long ago some brave settlers found these Eden’s and decided to settle. How did they begin? Farming, housing, the tools, livestock…they needed to know a lot.
The first 5 miles rose 2,500 feet onto the spine of the range that rose above the clouds in the distance. Villages dotted the way, some still alive on the tourism of pilgrims and others alive for the farmers that still worked the land. Often cattle were herded through the small streets towards pastures that were perfectly matrixes along the mountains.
The churches we visited were small, intimate and incredibly important to carrying out order over centuries of use. One such example in pic below, Chapel of San Pedro do Biduedo. The chapel measures 6x8 meters and used to belong to the commanders that the Knights Hospitalier of the Order of Saint John or Order of Malta once had in Portomarin. These knights would appoint ordinary judges and had jurisdictional domain over the area in addition to the religious affairs.
I caught up to Yash at 30km and we had some fun together as I hadn’t seen him yesterday. I like to run 30-35k before lunch so it was opportune that we met. We dropped into a place for lunch and asking the gal behind the bar what I can order she told me the empanadas were excellent. First bite of a cold, fat congealed meat pastry was not what I was looking for. Yash, a vegetarian, carried a grocery sack of items he would eat on the trail. He was carrying to bread and cheese sandwiches which he graciously offered me one of them.
I saw the second runners of the Camino - Virginia and Olympia who were doing 30k per day for a few days. Big smiles, we ran together chatting so much we lost the Camino and had to navigate back. They gave me Camino Way trinkets and as we always do wished each other “Bom Camino”.
Towards the end of the day I came upon a couple holding hands on the Camino - pic below. Imagine spending weeks together, walking, sweating, sleeping communally and still holding hands in a random spot on the trail!?! I notice their shirts had a Brazilian flag. I passed them and another couple and as I pulled away they yelled, “You are the man who found Lucky in Brazil!” I pulled up and turned, “Sim” I said. They recognized my hat and remembered Lucky. They had been on the Camino for 33 days and also done Brazil Ultramarathon where they knew Mario Lacerda, The Race Director. They told me the Lucky story is something they will never forget. Small world. Just need to get out to realize.
Cheers,
David.
