115 km to Santiago de Compostela
Breakfast at dawn outside a cafe in the main Street of the old town. We sat near a couple from USA who live in Germany, soon a young girl we saw in O'Cebreiro came by, she started to talk , we found out that her name is Cathy she is from Seattle. We ended walking with her for a while.
Leaving Sarria is up, up, up again. 300 metres. There were lots of pilgrims and we saw lots of Spanish teens. It looks like they come in school or church groups at this time of the year.
We passed several little hamlets. There seem to be lots of cows in this area (which make for a smelly Camino). We were hoping to get to the Village of Morgade by 1pm. That would be the first place with a restaurant where we could seat for a while and have lunch.
We were walking in an area where the Camino becomes a creek but they have built on the side a walkway made of stones or rocks. Suddenly my feet got tangled with a branch that was on the ground and down I went. Walking with poles and a heavy backpack it is difficult to react so I stopped the fall with my forehead. At least I did not fall in the water. Lots of blood, my poor wonder woman looked more scared than I was. It took me a while to get up but she very quickly had the first aid kit out and was cleaning and stopping the blood. I was surprised to see a few adult pilgrims go by without a word. Then four Spanish girls, teens, came by and right away tried to help. That is why I like young people so much. All of them had first aid kits and passed things to Brenda. I got the wound cleaned and patched and we walked another two kilometres to Morgade.
By then Brenda had decided that I needed stitches so we asked the host to call us a taxi. A Spanish pilgrim that we had met before said he knew first aid and asked me to let him have a look. Soon he had a good amount of materials. He disinfected and cleaned the wound again and also said that I needed stitches.
The taxi finally arrived (we were on a little hamlet in the middle of nowhere) and we asked to be taken to the clinic in Portomarin. The doctor checked me out and gave me two stitches. Somehow this took very long time, all kinds of paperwork even an incident report to the police.
The only problem I was left with is that the vertigo came back. Lying down in the clinic the room started to move. Fortunately is not bad and I don't have the nasty nausea that sometimes comes with vertigo. I am feeling a bit better and I am hoping I can walk a bit tomorrow.
We had a good dinner at a restaurant that has a magnificent view of the river and I have been resting all afternoon.
Portomarin has an interesting story. The town was in a place that was flooded when they built a dam so the town was moved to higher ground. The church from Saint Nicholas which is unique in this area and Romanesque in style was moved and rebuilt brick by brick in the new centre of town. Pretty amazing.
Saint James the great, Santiago el mayor, I am one of your pilgrims, I ask you for your protection for all the pilgrims in el Camino, for my wonder woman and for me. I also remind you of the very special favour that I am asking from Jesus thru you.
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