Home Stretch

Pilgrim Fountain!
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Foolish as in the Hare from ´The Hare and the Tortoise´ foolish.

I got up and had brekkie and started on my way towards Sarria, which as I explained in the last blog, is where the people come in their masses!

Today I was very Foolish!

So I found the net cafe and did my 2 days worth of updates and leisurely browsed sites on the Camino then decided to have lunch. Then I started on my way until I found a shop that was selling cloth badges (It´s my crack. Leave me alone.) I was able to collect all the ones for places I´d been to that didn´t sell any. It was fascinating! Then I ran into an Australian girl (proper Aussie though) that I´d met back in Mansilla before Leon. I had a chat to her as well and didn´t actually LEAVE Sarria until about 2:30pm. Note that I arrived there at 10:30am. On a beautiful day for walking which had sun (thank you for no rain prayer people!) without heat, I sat in a town for 4 HOURS!

The Torte de Santiago
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As a result, the town that I was aiming for wasn´t quite as attainable as it seemed at 8:30 this morning. Nor was the town before that or the town before that one too. I had to try to make a town that I felt was bordering on ´underachieving´. I pushed ahead but in all my excitement I needed a rest after about 14km. Unbeknownst to me, an hour slipped by while I tried to understand a TV DIY show that was like the authentic version of ´Tool Time´ in Spanish.

I continued to race ahead but upon arriving at the town prior to the ´underachieving´ town, I realised that I had to lower my standards and settle there instead. Now I´m somewhere between 90-100km from Santiago and hope to finish the day after tomorrow (Thur). That is why I feel ashamed.

Morning dew evaporating in the sunlight
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I just hope that because I´m so far behind that it might motivate me in the morning to get up and get moving earlier than I´d planned.

However, while I was in Portomarin for the night I decided to try some of the famous Torte de Santiago. Apparently its a almond tart that´s ´plate-sized´ and very filling according to the guidebook. I figured it was a course that was served. I asked for it at the bakery, or Panaderia, and was given a ´cake´ in a box to take with me.

I checked into the hostel, which I was lucky to get into due to the numbers. It was probably the most expensive so far but I got a bed which is more than Christian, the German, got at his alburgue. He´s on the gym floor. Much prefer the bed thank you very much! No sooner had I walked into this alburgue, Jessica appeared from the kitchen. "Jason!" she said surprised that I only made it as far as they did and they arrived before me. Just! "Not a word." I replied as I was escorted to my room. The girls kindly offered me some of their pasta which they had an abundment of and I treated them with some of the tart which was larger than I thought. We still have some for breakfast and that was after 2 helpings for dessert!

I promised that I wouldn´t do a short distance and meet up with them again and they offered to do a short day to make sure I get ahead. I think there´ll be trouble if we´re in the same refugio tomorrow night as well.

The trip is almost over which will be sad in a way as I never need to put much thought into what I do each day. I get up. And then I walk. That´s it. I´ll need to start thinking a bit more after this. But then again, my feet my not be as sore at the end of each day which is one of the positives. Not that I complain about them at the moment, it does no good, no-one understands me!