O Cebreiro to Triacastela

We leave our history book hamlet, but not before we buy a couple of walking sticks. After the first day of fighting the slippery rocks, I decided that before we break our necks, legs or arms, we best follow the lead of the seasoned peregrinos (pilgrims) and look like we know what we are doing. So today we will see what 20 km (12 miles) feels like. The day is promising and appears we may get no rain, a nice breeze, and a few peaks of the sun. We ended up getting all that was promised, along with view of hills and valleys that were taken from an Ireland travel brochure. We walked through several small villages that appeared almost deserted, but always coming upon a place for pilgrims to get a drink, a snack, a cold pop, or even an ice cold beer. I figured I better stay with the water until at least lunch, or better yet maybe at the end of the days hike...NOT... the beer at lunch was superb, ice cold, and did hit the spot. Lunch was a picnic prepared by Jason who is one of our guides. A culinary wizard who makes soups and salads which are of Spanish origin and ones that force you to a second helping. Did I tell you that the local cheeses are also a work of art and are served with every meal of the day. The luggage has still not arrived, but with fingers crossed, our hope is that when we arrive tonight in Sarria that we will welcome these 2 gorgeous bags. My red shirt now has made it 4 days, complete with an evening hand wash in the shower. I have begun not to really care if it makes it or not, and besides our group would not recognize me now if I was dressed any differently. I guess all of our pre-Camino walks have paid off. The fact that we started to get ready for this adventure a couple of months ago has sure kept things manageable. So far we have no blisters, which is good since all of our band-aids, moleskin, and blister kits are in the suitcase. The temperature today reached about 60 degrees, so what a day! The pilgrims this year will most likely set a new record for numbers. The estimates are from 250-500,000 people will walk this route that began over a thousand years ago. I forgot to tell you that as we pass through all of these small villages we have our "Pilgrims Passport" stamped at the refugios, bars, restaurants, and churches in order to prove to the good people in Santiago that we did indeed accomplish this feat. The requirements are that one must get 2-3 stamps a day and walk the last 100 km. We will be walking 160 km, so we will more than qualify. We then get an "Official Compostela" from the Cathedral in Santiago with our names officially inscribed in Latin attesting to our feat. We arrived in Triacastela around 4:30 this afternoon. We all stopped at the Rio Bar for a cold beer and a well deserved rest before heading to our hotel in Sarria. We will use this hotel for two nights and then be transferred back tomorrow to begin where we left off. It is nice having our support van and being able to stay 2 nights without repacking all of our gear. We were welcomed at the hotel with news that the bags have indeed arrived. We can't wait to put on some clean clothes and not be forced to wash what we wear each day. You know it's just the little things that make you happy....Hooray!!! Tomorrow we will do about 18 km (11 miles) or so and then this will tell us who is tough and who is not. I just hope I am not the one who breaks down and has to ride in the short bus. Having a great time...Buen Camino and Buenos Noches for now. Dave and Judy