Stage 28/29 - Sarria to Palas de Rei

May 20, 2025 Sarria to Ferreiros. Distance 8.83 miles. Weather - partly sunny and in the high 60s.

I was given a taxi ride back to Sarria to start the last 114 KM to Santiago. The Way was definitely more crowded as I was dropped off at the Escalinata Maior and walked up the 50 steps, past the underwhelming Church of Santa Marina on the left and on up to the top. As I left the main downtown I was able to pass by the Convent of Magdelena, unfortunately closed, and proceeded out of town with several hundred other people. The vibe was quite different with several people having radios turned up quite loudly.

At the level crossing it was clear a train was coming, but many crossed anyway. When the train finally did come, it stopped about 100 feet down the track. It wasn’t clear when it was to start again, and, only naturally, people started crossing. At this point the train blasted its air horn and actually started to move. Thankfully it wasn’t a very long train.

It was an undulating day and not too taxing. I made it to the pickup point in Ferreiros by about 12:30 and was brought back to the same hotel as the last 2 nights.

A sparrow decided my window was a lovely place to stop and have a conversation. He stayed there for some time and I enjoyed watching him!

Dinner was again wonderful - a Mille foie appetizer with asparagus, mushrooms and a white sauce reduction, salmon for the main, and cheesecake for dessert.

May 21, 2025 - Ferreiros to Portomarin and seeing Chris again. Distance 5.63 miles. Weather mostly cloudy, a bit of rain and mid-60s. A lovely short walk away from the road and through the woods. At the end there was a choice to go the historic option or the easier option. I,of course, took the historic option which was fine until the end where it got quite steep and some hazardous areas of walking down rocks. It wasn’t wet and I had my poles, so all was good.

The town of Portomarin was moved up from the valley floor when the river was dammed, causing a reservoir. The most historic buildings had each brick numbered, were taken apart, moved up and re-assembled above the water line. The old bridge can be seen sometimes when the water level is low.

Chris was on the 12:40 bus from Santiago and we connected in Portomarin Of course it’s wonderful to be together after 6 weeks and to have a companion for the rest of the walk.

This was another quirky hotel, 18 miles outside of Portomarin. The owner picked us up in his well used car that still had manual windows and a CD player. Not the cleanest car, obviously used for hauling things.

He had refurbished the old building into a hotel. There was no signage saying it was a hotel, but our room was large with a 4 poster bed and a lovely view.

Dinner was noodle soup, local smoked cheese, a sort of ham and spinach cannelloni au gratin, nd poached fish with crème caramel for dessert, wine and water. Most of dinner was amazingly good.

May 22, 2025- Portomarin to Ventas de Naron. Distance: 8.42 miles. Weather partly sunny , windy and mid-60s. We left earlier than we normally would have because this is the first time our cases had to be brought into town for pickup by the luggage transfer company. This meant we would be arriving in Ventas very early. Much of today’s walk was along a path next to the road. As often as possible we took alternative ways to get away from the road and most of the people. The first diversion took us up into a nice forest area and away from the fertiliser factory.

The entire day was uphill, but we had plenty of time so we stopped twice. The first time was in probably the rudest Albergue/cafe I’d encountered since the start. Stale croissants, not willing to stamp our books and with toilets that were locked.

The next diversion was to see a 4C BC ruin which was very interesting. It got very windy and cool, so we continued to the pickup point in Ventas de Naron

Our hotel is again far out of town, but is beautifully refurbished and we had a 4 poster bed. The restaurant is well known in the area. That said, dinner was ok, but not the best on the trip. Had scallops and baked sea bass with a “crepe”/caramel sauce.

May 23, 2025 Ventas de Naron to Palas de Rei. Distance 7.59 miles. Weather - partly sunny, breezy and mid-60s. Lovely walk, undulating hills, mostly through forests, but some road walking. Breakfast was a disaster, which seems to be the case when we are not officially checked into a hotel. My sense is that these hotels aren’t reporting to the tax authorities and are having financial problems which are reflected in their breakfast options. In this case - no hot coffee, some bread which was cut the night before and left in clingfilm overnight. Some fresh fruit and packaged sweet rolls. On top of that, the taxi we ordered for 9:30 showed up at 9 because “that’s what she was told”- this time I have a witness that we said 3 times 9:30. Anyway…because we started midway between to big start points, there were fewer people for most of the day, so a quieter experience. We got to Palas de Rei at about noon- too early to get to the hotel - so we stopped for lunch. This town doesn’t have much to recommend it and most lunch places were closed at 12:30. Anyway, after lunch we had a successful pick up and 20 minute drive to our hotel. This hotel was a refurbished 12C farm and it was a very good experience, other than we had single beds. This was easy fixed by pushing the beds together. Dinner was amazing - vegetable soup, mixed vegetables with cheese and yogurt for dessert. Chris had a seafood appetizer, salmon and bread pudding for dessert. There was a family of cats with one small kitten which was very cute.