Day 31 – Sarria to Portomarin (24km) & 1 Millon steps.

Today I hit 1 million steps on the camino (according to my Fitbit). I have covered roughly 645 km in 31 days so far. About 5 more days to go and I will be in Santiago. My body, spirit and mind love walking across this lovely country… My feet on the other hand are starting to call it quits. Although I can’t complain – theya be cooperated (more or less) for the first 4 weeks here – now they cry every day and tootsies have even started showing the the middle finger sometimes (i.e. The middle toe keeps getting a blister on it). “Dear tootsies. I know I’m cruel to you sometimes, but (a) you were made for walking, and (b) we’re almost done and I promise to find you an hour long massage at the end.” We can do it! Here I go talking to my feet again – I’m it sure if it’s the pain or the wine talking (could be a combination of both – Ha!).
Today was a lovely walk.. Once I was able to pull myself out of my bed (at 9:30am) and hit the road by 10:30ish. The good part about leaving late is I missed al the Tourigrinos that start the Camino in Sarria (it is the last point on the Camino where one can start and sill get the Compostella – roughly 100km).

They say after Sarria the number of Peregrinos (or Tourigrinos as we’ve dubbed them = Tourist + Peregrino = Tourigrino) increases exponentially. There was a group of about 40 teenagers that I saw pass me as I was having breakfast today. Plus lots of others who decide to do the last 100km for various reasons (lack of time, trying it out, not believing that they can do a long we stretch, etc). But I think that leaving late may just prove to be the right move to avoiding the crowds. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.

Aside from a late & slow start to the day, the remainder of the day was just lovely (as all of my other days on this camino). I walked through some farms and forests today, and even encountered an obstacle course that shot my knee for the rest of the day. Luckily thanks to K-Tape & and Italian physio-therapist who knows how to use it, I think my knee will be alright by tomorrow.

And to top off this lovely day, we had another fiesta in town with various bands walking around and playing all evening.

What a lovely thing this Camino is.

Here are the photos / videos of the day (no bubbles today – I need to remember to make some tomorrow)

An obstacle course at the end of a 22km day – Really !?!? – My knee has finally healed after the last crazy downhill (about a week back) and the Camino throws me another. Thanks!!!