Triacastela to Sarria – 18.1km, 4.5 hours, Praza Camelias, 75€

Today’s walk was short and sweet. It pays to do some homework ahead of time. Just outside our hotel door at the western end of Triacastela were two route markers. One said to turn right to go to Sarria vía San Xil and the other was going to Sarria vía Samos. The official route is via San Xil and about 18km. The alternative route is via Samos and about 25km – a fact that confused people. Normally, the alternative route in the guidebook is the longer or more hilly route but is on a much nicer trail and more scenic. This time, however,the shorter official route is much nicer and has great views. The alternative route had a lot of dangerous walking on the shoulder of a busy road but also passed by one of the oldest and largest monasteries in Spain.

George, get back in bed.

We, of course, took the shorter, nicer trail despite the 300m climb in the middle. We heard one pilgrim talk three others into doing the longer trail because it’s nicer. Wrong. By the way, I think San Xil was an old Roman village and was previously the 39th village named San. Hit me up if you get it.

The trail really was beautiful as far as possible. Much of it was in wooded or pasture areas on paths that have been beaten down several meters over hundreds of years by the feet of shepherds, farmers, cows, sheep and pilgrims. Part of the trail was also on an old tarmac road that no one uses anymore, other than pilgrims and cows. It was only the last four kilometers that we walked along a somewhat busy road in suburban or urban Sarria.

One thing about our route that wasn’t as nice was the two young men who thought it was a great idea to bring speakers for their phones so they could play loud music as they walked. I could only hear the speakers from about 100m away but I could hear their really bad singing and cheering for each other from much further away. It only seemed like this morning when I prepared myself for today’s walk. I kept saying that today would be the last day before the last 100km craziness starts – enjoy it. These guys started a day early. I also learned a new Spanish phrase today, “apaga esa maldita cosa”.

One last thing I learned today – Melanie has been stripped of her “Monarch of the Mountain” title. It turns out that post Camino drug testing showed that she had performance enhancing drugs in her system yesterday. She had high levels in her blood of Aquarius sports drink and Werther Original. Today, while she was clean, she dragged back so far that I thought she had returned to France. Once again, I am the true “Monarch of the Mountain”.

Because of the short day today, I have time to catch up on stories from yesterday. When we finally arrived at the hotel, I saw all the bags nearby that had been forwarded by pilgrims via several companies. The bags were just waiting to be claimed. Unfortunately, I saw my bag but Melanie’s was missing. That was worrying. Fortunately, Melanie has a loving husband who bought her an Apple AirTag tracker last Christmas. She used it to keep track of our walking poles and liquids that needed to be checked for the flights to Saint-Jean. After that, she just left it in her abackpack. That allowed us to locate her bag which was wrongly delivered to an Albergue 400m up the road. That AirTag just paid for itself even though it added 800m of walking to my day.

I also learned a new trick yesterday too. At dinner, I was trying to break off a piece of bread from the mini baguette that the waiter gave us with our meal. The crust was made from concrete though so when it finally came apart, my hand flew across the table and knocked over my half-finished large beer. It spilled all over the table and Melanie but, more importantly, I no longer had a beer. Everyone nearby offered napkins to Melanie and the waiter came with towels but I was still out half a beer. Once the commotion settled, the waiter brought me another whole glass and life was good again. In fact, I was now ahead in the beer count by half a glass. The funny part was that the waiter said that I am only allowed to spill one beer per day so I should be careful. Also, several other patrons were also now theatrically pretending to knock over their almost empty glasses, hoping for refills. Everyone is a comedian.

One final thing about yesterday, I did 40,678 steps yesterday which sounds like a lot but it’s only 80% of my personal best. We also climbed 664m and descended 985m. That still slowed some people today but it screwed me over. My watch sets a step goal for me based on recent day averages and today’s goal was 30,000 steps. On the short day today, I have only walked 29,000 steps. Apple is calling me a failure.

Peace y’all. Goodnight George and Leo. Don’t let the bedbugs bite. Don’t even let them look at you crosseyed. If they do, get Daddy to smash them.