100Kms to go - stones tell us every 500m now
Pink cape, hairy legs and leopard skin umbrella
Pilgrims outnumber the locals
Arriving on Portmarin
This is going to be a moan!
Woke up in the amazing Spanish house with clean white sheets about to luxuriate on the fact that we had time to stretch and come round as we wouldn't be turfed out at 7.30am. The German lady from Bavaria who had walked all the way from Geneva came back from the bathroom saying she'd had the worst night ever- and she had been on the road for over 60 days. She was bitten to pieces and had been fighting bedbugs all night!! She had their dead bodies and terrible bites to prove it. Although one reads about this, this was our first experience. The german lady had all the right sprays but they really went for her in her corner of the room.
Neither Ruth nor I were bitten but we were shocked into jumping up and getting out as quickly as possible. On the way out, I told the lovely Spanish lady who had welcomed us. She was mortified and I got a barage of incomprehensible Spanish, the gist of which was that she kept a very clean house and they must be mosquito bites. I showed her the dead bodies and gave her a hug and said the house was beautifully clean but she needed to know about the bed bugs Not sure there is a lot she can do about it as the place is so ancient with so many nooks and crannies. Just really grateful that we weren't attacked.
The bed bug room!
The whole atmosphere of the camino changed today. We got off to a bad start and things didn't improve. There were hoards of people en route and loads of day trippers with big hats, big boots and small rucksacks covered in shells. And it rained. The first rain for over a month so can't complain but I am!
To cap it all the whole route smelt of manure, muck spreading and slurry. It was wet and sticky under foot.
We knew from the numbers on the road there would be a problem with beds and there was a generalised frenzy to get to Portomarin. I wondered why I was here and my instinct was to get out. Thoughts going through my mind like ' stuff the Compostela', get off the camino and find a nice quiet pension somewhere to spend the next few days.
Inside Monastry
When we arrived we headed for the first albergue with lots of beds - completo - what a surprise! Went in everywhere with rooms/beds signs and eventually ended up in an Ok pension sharing with Ruth. Trouble us they are not set up to deal with wet clothes which are hanging all over the room now.
John and Mo have arrived in Portomarin and will meet up shortly. Hope they are in better spirits. They have been doing quite long days to catch up with me.
Now we have 89kms left to do and 5 days to do it in. Should be a breeze? We want to get into Santiago on Sunday, do the Compostela stuff on Monday and do a day trip to Finisterre on Tuesday. We'll see.
Church Portomarin
Peter (who I got on the plane with on Birmingham)
- just a wee bit p'd off with the
change of vibes en route today
I hope you feel better when you wake up in the morning in Portomarin. I know it won't be any consolation at all, but I laughed when I read about your strong feelings on the frenzy as you approached Portomarin: I remember feeling most dispirited in exactly the same way. I was all for ditching the thought of any Compostela, and getting a bus to Santiago and being done with it all. Fortunately I woke in a better frame of mind, and found much of the next day's walking in the Galician countryside and forest quite magical. I truly hope the same happens for you.
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