Day 26 – Fonfria to Samos

What a difference a day makes! For me, this was because the weather was beautiful with sun, blue sky and a gentle breeze; beautiful scenery much like the UK; much of the track was gently down hill, winding through small hamlets of ancient buildings; I had a really good night’s sleep!

Last night’s communal dinner was held in a huge round house. It was an amazing construction and had a huge stove in the middle, with the chimney climbing up to the centre of the roof.

Dinner started with the normal Galician vegetable soup, which was lovely, followed by rice and chunks of beef, followed by Santiago cake made from almonds. During each course, they kept bringing more and more servings to help yourself. Before the meal, I was quite hungry by the end, I was so full up, I had to leave some of the cake!

I was sat next to a Polish man, opposite me was Christoph from Switzerland, to his left were two French priests (one of them could speak Polish) and to my left were 3 Italians. What a lovely friendly atmosphere.

 

Today’s journey was relatively short so I was in no rush to get out early. Even so, it was before dawn and I was treated to a fantastic night sky, with all of the main constellations visible. And the a beautiful sun rise. What a lovely way to start the day.

I made my way down to Triacastela which used to have 3 castles but none of them remain. I waited for the small supermarket to open at 9:30 and then went in to get some provisions. The owner was vey grumpy and immediately sent me out of the shop – no rucksacks allowed. I had to leave my rucksack with all of my possessions leaning up against the wall. What a weird feeling. But I didn’t have a lot of options and fortunately all was well.

Walking onto Samos was through a beautiful lush valley. The first couple of kilometres was next to the main road with large lorries charging past, but then the track went away from the road and through little villages that looked as if noting had changed in three hundred years.

Having arrived at just after 12pm, I had time to relax for the rest of the day and also to visit the monastery that dominated the town. It is one of the oldest and largest monasteries in the western world and was founded in the 6th century. The tour was all in Spanish and I didn’t understand a thing but was able to enjoy seeing the architecture and the size of the buildings, which were huge.


Comments

  1. Mo7 October 2021 at 14:14

    Amazing pictures, looks like you’re enjoying it. Hope you continue to enjoy, stay safe xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. MartinV7 October 2021 at 20:14

    Thanks Mo. All going really well at the moment and thinking about going on to Finisterre.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Martin8 October 2021 at 20:16

    Amazing old tree - that would have some tales to tell. The inside of the monastery looks amazing and probably didnt need a commentary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MartinV9 October 2021 at 19:48

      Yes, I loved the old tree too. Imagine the people who have been born under it's branches, grow up, grown old and died. And then more generations have followed.

      Delete
  4. Shirl Benbow9 October 2021 at 13:24

    Stunning sunrise shot

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MartinV9 October 2021 at 19:45

      Yes, the sunrises have been the highlight of my Camino 😊

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction and Route Details

Image
  Alto del Perdón  Introduction. I was inspired to do this walk whilst on a flight to Toulouse in September 2019, with my son Tom. We were travelling to the Spanish Pyrenees for a short walking holiday. On the plane, I sat next to a retired teacher, Maeve from Glastonbury, who told me that she was travelling to France to start her walk on the Camino de Santiago. This was to be her seventh time!  Chatting with her, for about an hour on the flight, started something in me that I couldn't forget, and for weeks after I kept thinking about the possibility that I could do it too; to walk around 800km (500 miles) from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port at the foot of the Pyrenees in France (literally "Saint John at the Foot of the Pass"), to Santiago de Compostela in the far north-west of Spain. I had heard the popularity of people walking the Camino many times, seen it on celeb TV and the film, The Way etc, but I had dismissed it as something I didn't want ...
Read more

Day 19 – Calzadilla De Los Hermanillos to Puente Villarente

Image
I think it may have just been me and a German lady staying in the albergue. It seems like everyone else went on the normal route. We both went into dinner and sat at separate tables (as you do) but I started speaking to her and then she came over and joined me for dinner. The meals in albergues seem to be the same where ever I stay. Occasionally there is some Spanish dish, but normally it is some meat and chips or salad and meat, not what I expected. Her English was quite good and so we were able to have a enjoyable conversation. She started her Camino in Vezelay in France, a 1000km before St Jean, where I started! She started on the 18 June, but somewhere along the route, she developed tendonitis in her feet. She couldn’t move. She was staying in a convent at the time and the nuns said she could stay until she got better. It was only after 3 weeks that she was well enough to carry on. She promised to return to the convent (not walking!) once she has reached Santiago. I...
Read more

Day 39 - Santiago de Compostela

Image
If you haven’t read my recent blog posts, you might not be aware that I have completed my Caminos and I am now in Santiago. I’m enjoying a bit of a rest before I fly back to the UK on Friday. If you know me well, you will know that I find it hard to be a tourist, I would prefer to be out walking on the hills. But today, I have been determined to have a good look at the Cathedral and Santiago. I first went to the museum and bought an inclusive ticket to the museum and guided tour of the Cathedral (in Spanish). Despite my lack of understanding  of the language I enjoyed looking around the museum.  There was very little English translation so I just looked and appreciated the craftsmanship of the stone masons as there were lots of examples of very old carved stone. The paintings were interesting but quite a few depicting the Spanish soldiers attacking the invading Moors. The library didn’t do much for me for obvious reasons....
Read more