with kids in tow

Camino Day 8 Sarria-Portomarin
sept...2010

23km
We woke up slowly this morning. It’s been a week of biking everyday and we are starting to feel physical and emotional signs of fatigue. Ruth feared that she had lost her wallet so she searched the hostel inside and out while I found an internet Café and found out that one of my best friends had her first baby! It was a hard day for homesickness.

Ruth didn’t lost her wallet which was a great thing because locating where to send her new visa etc. would be difficult in our nomadic state. We eventually found our way out of Sarria and did a series of tough hills for 15 K before taking a break at a stingy grocery shop with just a few items on the shelf. We then found a gorgeous trail that made me feel like I was on my way out of Hobbiton. This kept my romantic self happy until we encountered the gravel path of doom where we had to CARRY the chariot up hill for a Kilometer with Simeon sleeping inside! We met Keith our friend from Scotland on the path and then a South African family who offered us free accommodation but we wanted to reach Portamarin where the Cathedral was rebuilt stone by stone on the top of the hill because a Hydro dam was going to flood their town.

The best was that we stopped at a little restaurant at the foot of the Chapel where the crazy Brazilian pilgrims wouldn’t stop kissing my children. It was hilarious. They took Rob’s bike and trailer for a spin to see what it would be like to tow such a load and the rest sat around kissing Cammy and Sim for a good hour. We were celebrities. I also bought Kathryn and Sim a plastic Shell on a string for one Euro and you’ve never seen happier children.

We’re now at a pretty great hostel (Priavate room with a curtain and no door so you can unfortunately still hear the snoeres) and everyone is captivated by what we’ve done. They’ve nicknamed our children “Pere-kids” instead of peregrino’s. People keep taking our picture every two minutes shocked that we’ve come this far.

Dinner was sandwiches outside and speaking with a Parisian who has tendanities because he was trying to out-run the never ending planes, who informed us that the two rules of the Camino are:
a)You need to allow yourself solitude on the Camino
b)You need to carry your own backpack

Well, with kids we have possibly lost the time for silent reflection but we’ve made up for it with carrying more than our share of backpacks!