Spain, Day 6

May 28: Triacastela to Sarria

And we did sleep well! We didn't have the company of perigrinos or the accuracy of an alarm clock to wake us but we were all up by 7 am anyway. Obviously we have adapted to the time zone. We were on the Camino by 7:40 and joined the flow of perigrinos exiting Triacastela.

It was a peaceful and beautiful walk all day. The Camino followed a little river for much of the day so we saw a lot of river-things: old bridges, waterfalls, millponds, old men fishing. And we walked between countless farmyards. The Camino is used as a transportation route for locals, too, and in this area the path is deeply scented with cow urine. At one point we encountered a man leading a herd of dairy cattle wall-to-wall filling the path and coming right towards us. They were languid and dopey until the farmer yelled out something complex and suddenly the cows picked up their feet, doubled their speed, forcing us to press back out of the way against the fence. I was impressed – I didn't know cows could be so responsive to directions! It wasn't until they were almost past that we noticed the two German Shepherds moving nimbly at the back of the herd, nipping heels and keeping things going.

The dogs of the Camino are generally pretty laid-back creatures. I suppose that a thousand years of pilgrimage has shaped the temperments of the breeds here. At some point, the dogs must realize that there is simply no point getting all worked up about strangers walking past. Most times you will walk right by a dog asleep in the middle of the Camino path and unless you see the ears twitch you have no reassurance that the dog is even alive.

We had lunch in Samos, a tiny town grown up around a huge monestary. The monestary hosts an aubergue but we were feeling too good to stop so we carried on until Sarria. Now we are in a nice aubergue, with supper over and food stashed away for breakfast tomorrow.