Day 32 - to Portomarin

Thanks, as always, to my sponsors for today and for each set of 5000 steps - and to those who are following along.

Yesterday evening, I returned to the local church (up that giant hill) for the Sunday Vigil Mass. I knew that it would be hard to get a Mass in today. Most Sunday Masses are at around midday and I knew that we would not be in Portomarin by that time. The Mass was a little bit different. When the priest finally appeared, about 5 minutes late, he looked a little bit like the clerical version of just having got out of bed. He was wearing a stole and no chasuble and the stole was incredibly crooked. It hung about a foot lower on the left side than the right. It distracted me throughout the Mass. At communion time, I really wanted to go up and straighten it. He also walked out with his phone in his hand. He placed it on his small lectern and I thought not much more of it. There was no gloria, no creed, no second reaidng and no homily. Immediately after the prayers of the faithful, which the priest led, he returned to his lectern, grabbed his phone, and then moved to the altar. He placed the phone on the altar and swiped it a couple of times. Then, throughout the Eucharistic Prayer, when both hands are normally raised heavenwards, he kept dropping his left hand to swipe at the screen of the phone. It was most unusual.

After the dismissal, an American woman immediately approached the lectern and began to sing Ave Maria. It was not a bad performance, but I was not sure why it was happening. She had obviously asked the priest if she could sing it at the end of Mass - but I'm not sure why we all had to be a capitve audience to it. Interestingly, I passed this woman on the road today and she looked at me and said "You're doing very well!"  I'm not sure why I looked like I needed the affirmation or why she thought that it was an appropriate thing to offer.  It all felt very patronising and bizarre - especially given that it was her first day and my thirty-second.

After Mass, I returned to the hotel for dinner. Linda was not weel, so I ate alone. I had an exceptional first course of red peppers stuffed with a cheeses and accompanied by an asparagus sauce, with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. It was heavenly.

We had breakfast in the hotel - which was quite extravagant. We didn't get on the road until after 7.30am.  It was a beautiful morning's walk. I had decided that we were not going to climb the hill in the town for the twentieth time, so we briefly skirted around this central point before rejoining the Camino. We crossed an ancient Roman bridge and then proceeded to spend the day walking through the countryside.  The very first, though brief, part was a steep uphill climb. From then on, it was relatively easy walking, with about 90% of the day spent covered by shade on country paths.

There were a few firsts for the day. Walking down a narrow country path, we heard, all of a sudden, the sound of bagpipes. Turning the corner, we came across a busking bagpipe player tuning himself for the day. It was a delightful surprise.  Walking down the street of one of the villages, we came across a farmer moving his cattle through the town. Considering all of the cows I have seen these past few days, it is a surprise that I have not seen them moving about more often. Finally, passing a random farm, I saw two walkers inside the farm photographing something - it turned out to be an ostrich - how very random.

The first half of the morning, I basically spent walking with Linda. This meant that we either walked together or that I would head away for a while and we would meet at the next town. This was very pleasant, even though the pace we were setting was well below my normal average. The last quarter of the day, I shot ahead. It's easy to forget what the first day of walking 25 kilometres is like. I waited at the entry to the town for about half an hour until Linda arrived. Tomorrow, we will organise ourselves better for an eventual lunch reunion.

After going our separate ways, me to my hostel and Linda to her fancy hotel, we met up for a late and long lunch. I then had the opportunity to visit the wonderful fortress-like Romanesque church of San Juan - pictures of which I will post tomorrow.  Rest time now.

God bless