Day 19: Portomarin to Ventas de Narón. The day of the touragrinos.
Tourigrinos, like a pack of locusts, descend, devour, declaim and then
depart. I don’t have a problem with the whole busing around having
someone else carry your pack for you. It’s more the incessant chatter
on the phone as you grind up the hill with your backpack on. It’s the
ordering of ten thousand coffee’s for the entire bus load just before
the stop you’ve been walking for three hours to get to. It’s the using
all the toilet paper just when you need the toliet paper. You get the
idea. Sure, go ahead and enjoy the walk, have someone pick you up in
buses and carry your bags but please leave a little space for others.
Anyway today was the day of the touragrinos as we played leap frog
with a bus load of them. We slept in a little in Portomarin. Then went
into the overcast day. The first section took us down out of the town,
across the rickety iron pedestrian bridge and then up, up into the
hills. We hoped to stop for breakfast. Three hours later we hobbled
into the first place open for breakfast. I say hobbled because the
uphills did cheeky’s knees no favours.
Our breakfast break done we plowed on through more stone villages and
their animals, their grain stores on stilts and their garrulous
farmers. Finally we ended up at the little farmers hamlet of Ventas de
Narón. A few huts surrounded by fields, a cafe and an albergue. We
stopped. Rested, ate, wifi’ed and enjoyed an easy day. Tomorrow
another easy day. Oh, and cheeky lost her big toenail today. If we
make it to Santiago she’s really gonna deserve that compostela.
