Yesterday evening was peaceful and refreshing beside the millpond, just chatting to other pilgrims and drinking beer. We chatted to an interesting Japanese man about our reasons for walking the camino and with a Swiss German man who had helped us find our albergue the day before.
At around 5 people began to get up and get out. We ate a yoghurt each and then set off in the dark to Portamarín. We walked through the Galician villages and rolling hills and dropped down into Portomarín where we saw the wide river, boats and gleaming white buildings.
We climbed down a treachorous path with huge steps to the road into town, crossed the bridge and climbed the steps to the old gateway. We visited the strange romanesque church like a fortress and ate a dish of Galician octopus - 'pulpo' in the square. I saw my first tour bus arrive and a smart Itlaian couple drank wine beside us. In fact we are out of phase with the main group of walkers who are going from Sarria to Portomarin so we still walked in relative peace.
After lunch we still had 13 km to go and after the first hour or so through pleasant woods it became a bit of a slog. We saw an Indian tour group on the path who took photos of us trudging up the hill and smiled and greeted us nicely. We also passed massive earthworks and a site of settlement from 4th century BC to 1AD.
Just as I thought we would never arrive and was looking for a ditch to throw myself into, Ventosa appeared and we got bottom bunks in an aubergue with a bar and are now enjoying beer, Spanish soap opera and a rest as our clothes wash. Viva the pilgrim life!
PS We now have less than 100km to go!
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