Two more beautiful days. Much of yesterday's walk down from Fonfria was clouded in fog, but the sun burned it off just before we reached Triacastela, and the walk to Samos was one of the prettiest afternoons ever.
One more important item from the Fonfria visit. Ruth noticed a picture of a baby on the wall near the desk of our host Miguel. He and his wife were indeed the proud parents of the 8 month old baby boy. This boy was not only special to them, but to the whole village, for it was the first baby born to the families of Fonfria in 22 years! Most of the young people move to the bigger cities, and Miguel told us the farming life will disappear from this area once the older generation is gone. The Camino has provided his family a way to stay in the small town.
The Benedictine monastery in Samos is very impressive. It once had 100 monks in residence. Now there are 8, all of whom participated in the 7:30 pm Mass in the surprisingly cold church.
Today is our 30th day of walking on this trip, and as a reward to ourselves, we walked a very short day. We are at a highly recommended albergue in San Mamede. It has a very comfortable common area, and a sunny courtyard in which we are relaxing at the momment. It's a bit difficult to not feel bad for the passers-by, looking at us while they move with obvious pain and fatigue. Many of them stop at the long gravel entrance to consider whether or not to stop. The three shaded hammocks seem to call out. Most go on. The major town of Sarria is just an hours walk, and it also has it's appeal.
We enter the land of the "tiny little backpacks and great big shells" tommorrow.
Quote from RA's journal: "How many verses of 'How Great Thou Art' will it take to get me up this hill?"
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete