Morgade
CAMINO DE SANTIAGO DAY 2 was getting exciting! We now had 1 day and 12kms of walking under our belts and were pumped to get back on the path early.
(Head to my blog for the previous 2 posts of arriving in Sarria at the start of our 118km journey and day 1 from Sarria to Morgade)
We left the village of Morgade with our new Aussie friends Devon, his wife Sybil and their friend Georgia. We had connected so well and I guess it’s hard not to have lots in common when you’re all doing this pilgrimage together.
Me, Georgia and my sister Jade
Devon and Sybil sped off into the distance while Georgia walked slowly behind us for a little while until she dropped back and our group had all spread out on the quiet country path of the Camino. This leg was 11 kilometres and took us about 2 and a half hours.
Morgade to Portomarin 11kms | 2hrs 18min
We very quickly reached the 101km-to-go marker and continued past white blossoming fruit trees through rolling hills.
Experiencing this part of the world in Spring time is so rewarding. I just wish I had taken even more photos, but I’ll just leave these little teasers here and rather encourage you to experience it for yourself.
1 short kilometre later we reached to 100km-to-go marker. This is a milestone of note for any pilgrims that had walked the full Camino or even 100kms more than we did. Our full distance would eventually be 118kms over the 9 days. And here we were on day 2. Now 18kms done and 100 to go. We had broken the wall on to short bite size portions because my sister Jade has MS (Multiple Sclerosis) and we were staying cautious to see how she would cope with the distances.
We all happened to stop at the same little restaurant for a snack and finally a good coffee!!! A real barrister-made latte and not some instant rubbish.
I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the place, but the painting on the back wall of The Last Supper made an impression all of us. The warm fireplace was a welcome sight after walking through some sleet and mud for the previous hour.
Warmed up and refuelled with some caffeine we got back on the path and made our way over the hills until we saw the New Bridge and Bridge Vella (Punete Nuevo de Portomarín). It felt quite ceremonial to walk the bridge towards the town on the opposite hill and then climb the stairs that lead us through a giant set of doors to enter the town.
Portomarin was also where we got hugest carbo-load of our whole trip when we decided to each have a pilgrims set meal at a local Italian restaurant.
Our set meal included:
Spaghetti
Pizza
Wine or beer
Dessert or coffee
Cost = €9
Jade and I could easily have shared the entire single pilgrims meal because after the first coarse of spaghetti we were stuffed and took all the pizza back to the aubergue. (Breakfast and lunch for the next day)
The town itself was a mixture of old and refurbished 2 and 3 story buildings surrounding the square with the most beautiful church steeple in the center. We walked and took in all that we could in the short afternoon that we had spare while recouping for the next day.
We spent the evening snacking on pizza, doing some washing and watching Spanish TV before heading to bed tired and happy.
Tomorrow would be a wet one, 12kms and almost 3 hours.
