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Camino Frances 2018 day 2 - Barbadello

The same Spanish pair who came in late and were on their 'phones late last night decided that everyone should be up early as they switched the lights on in the bedroom and proceeded to pack their bags by spreading everything out as far as they could across the floor.


We'd bought some yogurts and snacks for breakfast and ate those in the kitchen of the albergue before setting off as it was still a bit dim.



We didn't take the long route to Samos but the shorter route that bypasses the monastery (it is worth a visit if you can walk the extra distance - very little of it seems to be still in use but you can pay for a tour which may be in English but may not be. The monk at the shop last time I was there was nice, jokingly refusing to give me my sello until I had asked for it in Spanish and then smiling to me and congratulating me when I had done that. Having gone this longer route three times we decided to take the shorter route which we had only walked once before).

Even here before the 100km mark (the minimum distance that must be walked in order to gain the Compostela) we saw more bars and albergues than we had before (and more than were in our guidebook although this was four years old).

For a while Dad walked with an ex-Englishman who now lives in Canada. He and his wife had set off from St Jean Pied du Port about a month before and so had been walking through the Beast from the East and so had had snow and wind and rain most days.

We stopped at the bar at Pintin for the first Cola Cau of our Camino.

Sarria itself did not seem very busy - there was no one out even on the main street up the steps where all of the albergues are so we could only assume that most people had set off the day before to arrive in Santiago the day before Easter rather than Easter day itself as we were aiming for.

We stopped in Sarria for dinner having burgers, tortilla and chips between us and then carried on walking. It felt strange to leave Sarria not first thing in the morning but so late in the day but we had decided to stay somewhere different this Camino and had always liked the look of Barbadello which was less than 5km on. the rest of the day's walk was also quiet as there did not seem to be anyone else so we arrived at Barbadello about 15:45.

Having washed clothes and done everything else we ate the bread and cheese we had been carrying and then me and Becky took our diaries to the bar and had a glass of orange juice each. We saw a few people walking past at gone seven.

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