After we arrived in our room yesterday I felt utterly exhausted.  I quickly showered then got into bed.  Laurence, who had been wittering on for the past two weeks about his hair, went off to get his hair cut and managed to find a hairdressers just a couple of doors down from where we were staying.  He came back suitably shorn and I did manage to get dressed and go out for dinner.

This morning was another cold, grey, misty morning as we left Sarria, walking back up the hill we had walked up and then down yesterday.  We were in good spirits despite the numbers on the path that had swollen overnight.  We climbed up to one place where tour buses were parked and saw a large group of Asians get off and begin warm up exercises.  I said to Laurence that they didn’t need to warm up if they were only going to walk two kilometres and get back on their bus!  A little further on two Scottish ladies who seemed all bright eyed and bushy tailed heard us talking and asked where we were from and if this was our first day.  Laurence said it was our 38^th day and that we’d started in St Jean.  They looked shocked then said “wow, you both look amazing”.  They said it was their first day, starting in Sarria and hoping to walk the 100 kilometres to Santiago.  I wished them well and genuinely hoped that they’d make it.  Laurence and I both realised that we really didn’t mind the people just walking this last bit, it was the large groups who make a lot of noise and block the paths and get bussed around that really annoy us.

We met another couple of Americans from San Francisco, Bill and Karen.  It was Karen’s first day but Bill had set out from St Jean the day after us and had walked by himself.  He arranged to meet his wife in Sarria and they were walking the last bit together.  They were a really nice couple and we walked together for about an hour, Laurence swapping camino stories with Bill while I chatted with Karen.  At one point we came to a man playing the Galician pipes and we stopped to listen.  He then played Flower of Scotland, followed by Amazing Grace.  The four of us started singing along and it was quite emotional.  Music has a way of evoking strong emotions and memories and I find it even more so with pipe music. As it was Karen’s first day they were only walking 14 kilometres so we eventually left them at their albergue while we marched onwards towards our lunch stop.

We had planned where we would stop for lunch but, once again, seemed to miss it as the places are so small with only a few stone houses and no signs to tell you where you are.  We did end up in a lovely garden with lots of bright flowers and nice food.  It was a pleasant sunny spot where we were able to sit in the sun and relax for half an hour, but I still couldn’t tell you exactly where it was.

We saw lots of cows being herded and a sign in one field all about a special breed of cattle with enormous horns.  Whether special or ordinary, the streets were still covered in dung and very smelly.  In one small place we came across another little church that was locked up, however, next to it was a very ornate crypt for the Martinez Lopez family with enough space for one more!

We eventually arrived at Portomarin which is a beautiful town that was once further down in the valley but was moved up the hill and rebuilt when a dam was built to create a reservoir.  The fortress church of San Juan was taken down stone by stone and rebuilt, together with one or two other buildings, otherwise the whole town is newly built with clean wide streets and modern buildings.  On entering the town you have to walk across a long bridge over the river and then up a set of very steep steps.  It seems inevitable that at the end of a very long hard day constantly walking up and down hills and with tired legs, we have to walk up steep steps!   On walking through the town past the church I noticed the church was holding a pilgrims concert at 6 o’clock and decided to go.  We were staying just a few yards down from the church and left our room at 5:50 pm and had just reached the church when who should we see coming towards us but Thadeus and Vincent.  We ran towards each other and all had a group hug.  We had not seen them for four or five days and spent five minutes quickly catching up before going in to the concert.   I hope we see them tomorrow.

The concert was very good.  It was a young man who played the flute and then sang and finished with the pilgrims song on the flute.  The acoustics in the vast chamber was amazing and we really enjoyed it.

We have had a very good day meeting new friends and old, and rounding it off with some wonderful music in the church and in the countryside.