Portomarin

Perhaps a little too much wine last night, as I felt about as foggy as the countryside around Sarria this morning as I set out. It was chilly, damp and not much of a view. It was like that last time as well. So I have walked out of Sarria twice and I still have no idea what it looks like. I do like Sarria though.

The trail was a lot busier today. Some big groups perhaps Koreans, Spanish family groups, and young Spanish guys with enormous back packs and wearing running shoes.

I guess you have to have a not so great day every now and then, and today was that day for me. But I've advanced to 88 ks to go, which means I've walked around 700 k - certainly more, given my propensity for wandering off the trail.

At the church in Sarria there is a notice to the effect it is recommended that one should get a minimum of two stamps from here on. They even give a leaflet with preferred sello locations. It is supposed to prevent people bussing or taxiing between towns.   When they guy who stamped my credencial stopped yacking to his colleague, I protested:"that (the two stamp thing)is silly". "Yes yes" he replied, the archetypical beaucratic response.  I got three stamps today, but one from a bar and it is upside down as a protest. Not really, i just couldn't work out the right way.

Portomarin is unlike the other towns the Camino passes through. The original town was flooded by the reservoir in  the valley below, and the fortified church of St Nicolas was dismantled and reassembled where it stands today in the new town's main square.  With the exception of the church and the steep stairs at the entrance, all the buildings are relatively recent, so you don't get the mix of collapsed collapsing fixed up that you get in other towns.

Tomorrow onto Palas del Rey, another shortish day.