I've walked through Sarria twice now. The first time was in late June 2008 when I had walked from Le Puy, and my body was feeling quite shattered. The day from Sarria to Portomarin came as a huge shock, with all the crowds of people, and the noise of mobile phones and ghetto blasters, plus it was far hotter (30C+) than I had expected in Galicia. At the end of that day I felt like giving up entirely on the idea of a Compostela, and wanted to just catch buses to Santiago to finish. But fortunately I woke up next morning in a better frame of mind!
At that stage I was feeling a bit resentful about the crowds who had invaded 'my' path. And I found it was wiser not to talk with others about where I had started, or they would 'swoon' about how far it was.
But there was a Spanish family group- two mothers and four teens- who helped me to be more grounded again. They'd started in O'Cebreiro. They had arrived there by taxi late in the day, and didn't qualify for a bed in the full albergue. The hospitaleros helped as much as they could by finding unused pillows etc for them to sleep in the entrance-way outside. It must have been a bitterly cold introduction to their Camino. Next morning they were starting early- no doubt to try and warm up. I was to see them walking every day until Santiago. Their footwear was barely suitable, and they got terrible blisters. But when they arrived in Santiago, their smiles said it all. Their's was perhaps the most joyous arrival I was to witness.
Then in 2012 I was in Sarria again. I had still walked quite a long way- I'd walked 4 weeks in France from Cluny to Conques, then a couple of weeks in Spain- but it had been a 'broken' journey with a rest in the middle, and I still had lots of energy. And this time I was 'ready' for the crowds. Perhaps they weren't quite so 'bad' yet- as it was slightly earlier in the summer. But also I am relieved to note I had become less judgmental.
So when I saw a Spanish couple, middle-aged, in the albergue in Sarria, all dressed in brand new clothing that 'matched'- I knew that their Camino was just as meaningful as mine- perhaps even more so. Their first morning out of Sarria it was pouring with rain, and I met them along the way at a point where they had had to retrace their steps after missing seeing an arrow in the mist/rain. In Portmarin that afternoon they looked exhausted. But when they arrived in Santiago a few days later, it was obvious from their smiles that they had had an experience that 'mattered.
We can get too tied up over 'distance'.
Margaret