Sarria to Morgade

DAY 34: SUNDAY, MAY 21

What a change a day makes! Sarria is the starting point for many who are doing the Camino. To get your Compostela, you only have to prove that you have walked the last 100K which is from Sarria to Santiago. We are so spoiled by having the peace and quiet of the trail. Today, it is crazy. Countless number of pilgrims hiking through. We are seasoned old dogs who have come from St. Jean Pied de Port. All of a sudden there is an endless stream of people wearing new tennis shoes and clean clothes. They carry little day packs and have sent their back packs or luggage forward with a courier. 

Terry called the rush of pilgrims  a combination of the State Fair and Grandma’s Marathon. AND, it’s only May — June, July and August will be much worse and the whole Camino will be packed with people vying for miles and beds. 

Leaving Sarria, by 9:30 am there were so many people on the trail ,we had crossed paths with six people we had met previously in different places on the Camino.

Horse riding pilgrim with two horses … one for himself and one for supplies.

This camino tree looks like a work of art.

This structure is something they store grain in … I think in Iowa they would call it a corn crib. You see them everywhere. They’re somewhat small and you see them in yards, not just on farms.

On the trail again. The rock walls remind me of Ireland.

So hot today … even the cows can’t stand it.

This was delightful … Galician guy playing Irish tune on the bagpipes on the trail.

We stayed in a town called Morgade which has a population of 4. We had to call several times to make sure we had beds reserved because there is nothing else around other than the Morgade Albergue.

We loved this place. We shared this dorm with 4 other women. Yay…. no bunk beds. We met two delightful, very tall women from Mexico City, Mexico. Laura is an executive with Ford Motor, Madrid who is accompanying her 80-year-old mother, Lupe (aka Guadalupe). This is Lupe’s dream to walk the Camino. They are both very sweet people who speak very good English.

This is what you get for lunch when your order a “mixto salad”. Cost is less than 5 dollars.

Dog is not dead … he’s just hot and decided to lay down in the street. Cars drive around him.

This is Paco … he is one of the 4 people who live in Morgade. He runs the  Albergue which his family owns and he works so hard. His English is excellent. He was overwhelmed with the herds of Camino people that came in on Sunday. He said Saturday and Sunday were wild with a record breaking number of people. When we arrived, the place was rockin’. They had Irish musician playing in one of the rooms and the place was packed. We felt so lucky that we could go upstairs and lay down until all the commotion settled down around 3-4 pm.

Paco said this was a hospital at one time. His family started with a littled sandwich shop next door and eventually bought the facility. The did some remodeling. I think they are making a ton of money and we were so glad to see that … they work really hard.

This is one of the public areas at our Albergue.

This is another public area. There was a plexiglass ceiling over this patio …. so let it rain!

This is a different dog and he is not dead either. He was laying under our table.

We met a huge group of people from Sweden in the outdoor bar. There was a constant turnover of people.

This is the little chapel that belong to the hospital that Paco’s family now owns. They had to lock the chapel because people would write on the walls, sleep in it and everything else.

This is a view of the Morgade Albergue, it has the most spectacular view from the back patio. Nearby, the cows graze.

This is the back patio of our Albergue. We love this place!!!