Day 33 Pintin to Portomarin, Spain   October 24, 2022

I woke up to sunshine and very little wind. It was a fantastic day for walking as not only was the weather great but the scenery was awesome. I decided to walk further because of the great weather and not knowing what tomorrow may bring.  I walked 28.9 km, my longest day yet –

As far as an intention, I decided to look at the weather from a positive point of view. I know that my attitude is completely controllable and so I decided that whatever the weather was going to be today, I was going to enjoy it and did I luck out! Attitude is really something that we can control and it can make or break our day. One of my most favourite movies of all time is Life is Beautiful which was an Italian black-and-white film. A dad and his son are in a concentration camp during World War II and the dad knows what’s going to happen to them but the child does not. The dad does a really good job of keeping a positive attitude to keep his son happy. It is a must see and an Oscar winner.

Along the way-

Sarria in the distance –

Sarria is the starting point for many walkers because a person can get their credential which is the fancy certificate for only having walked 100 km. It was a different day walking than the last 32 have been. There were lots of groups who were busy talking the whole time. I tried to either let them go ahead of me or I picked up my pace to stay away from them but it wasn’t easy. 

There are lots of souvenir shops to cater to all the newbies-

The Monastery of the Magdalena is in Sarria but was not open.  There are a lot of nice mosaic sidewalks in front of it-

 After Sarria-

The Ponte dá Aspera is a Romanesque bridge built in the 18th century –

A typical cemetery –

I stopped at the Iglesia de Santiago de Barbadelo.  It’s in Romanesque style from the 12th century.  The graveyard is next door.  That’s the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery. A graveyard is next to a church and the cemetery is elsewhere –

Carrying on-

So many rocks-

There are people everywhere –

I came across a very small stone building and inside was an altar –

And this creepy Madonna looking down on me-

Every village has a church but most are not open –

More memorials and places to put prayer wishes –

I’ve seen a few of these buildings and I think they are used for food storage for animals -

This is hard to believe!  Only 100 km left-

More beauty along the way-

Finally Portomarin came into view but it was still 4km away-

There was a really steep stone walkway at the end of the trail. It would’ve been horrible yesterday with water gushing down it –

This Portomarin was born in 1963 after the Belesar Dam was built and the old town was flooded.  The bridge is enormous-

There’s a bell to ring before you cross the bridge-

I did not have a reservation but I wasn’t worried because Portomarin is at the end of a stage which means  it has a lot of albergues because most people walk the suggested distances/stages.  I got a bottom bunk at the first one I went to. I am staying at Casa Cruz-

I ran into Helle and we enjoyed some wine.  I’m not sure how far I’m going tomorrow as it will depend on the weather.  Fingers crossed for a fairly dry day.