Day 4 - Triacastela to Sarria

Triacastela to Sarria

Day 4 - Tuesday, April 14 - 38412 steps

The next morning I stopped in town at a cafe that was open, to have breakfast.

Surprise, Angela and Anna were there having breakfast too!  The cafe was also an albergue and they were staying there.  Not everyone uses the municipal albergues.

Right at the edge of town there was another choice of trail to take.  I chose the one that went into Somos because there's a monastery there that's supposed to be very impressive. 

The trail started out along a highway but soon branched off and followed a whole network of bridal paths through the country side.

Lots of tree lines trails and beautiful views.

I took a break to check out my blisters.

The trail passed through the small hamlet of Oribio before arriving in Somos.

The monastery truly was impressive.  They offer tours so I walked around to the main entrance (actually the only entrance) and went into the lobby area.  There was a man coming out of the main building and closing the door behind him.  I reached out to go through myself and he yelled at me in Spanish.  The only sign I could see say "No backpacks in the gift shop" and he didn't seem to speak any English.  So I went back out and walked around the entire monastery without finding another entry.  So I resorted to Google.  Turns out that they only allow people in on tours a few times a day.  The next tour was in 15 minutes and you have to buy a ticket! Doh! So that's why he yelled at me.

The tour was entirely in Spanish and surprisingly, I understood about half of it.

         

       

After the tour, a quick lunch of melted cheese in a croissant and of course a cafe con leche.

More time on bridal paths before I came across a herd of sheep on the path.  They were being led by a dog, with no human involved.  

The dog approached me first to make sure I wasn't a threat and I moved off the path to make way for the herd of about 50 sheep that went by.

The video of the encounter can be found on Facbook here:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1518139359643566

At this point my blisters were becoming more painful so my pace slowed down.  I stopped at a restaurant outside of Sarria for another coffee and some water - and a rest.

It had also started to drizzle, so this was also a good way to get out of the wet.

Sarria was a surprisingly large town - the biggest I'd seen so far.  I checked in and had a much deserved nap.  I went out to find a place for dinner, but it was only 6:00 and they don't start serving until 7:00 usually.  So I did a little grocery shopping for tomorrow's breakfast.  Since this was a bigger town, they had another grocery chain besides Dia.  This one was called Froiz.  And I found pastiche!  For those who don't know, these are a Portugese eggy/custardy/sweet kind of butter tart-ish deal.  Can't wait for breakfast!

Had dinner at a decent restaurant and met a couple from Australia.