Day 9 of the Camino Eclipse Diaries: 18.3 km / 11.4 miles from Triacastela to Sarria on the quiet San Xil road, through mossy lanes and hill farms, past a hidden labyrinth and a prayer of St. Francis written on a stone.
Triacastela to Sarria via San Xil · 18.3 km / 11.4 miles
Just outside Triacastela the Camino divides. Two granite markers stand side by side, one arrow pointing left “Por Samos,” the other pointing right “Por San Xil.” The Samos route is longer and passes one of the oldest monasteries in the Western world, where Benedictine monks have kept their hours of prayer for well over a thousand years. The San Xil route is shorter, steeper and quieter. Every pilgrim has to choose one road. You cannot walk both.
We chose San Xil. The morning took us up through sunken lanes lined with moss and ferns, past old stone barns and a tiny chapel, and on to a great carved scallop shell where we stopped for group photos. Then the hills opened up and Galicia rolled away in every direction, green and gold under big clouds. At one waymarker someone had left a pair of worn-out boots, finished with their part of the journey.
Near Montán, a pilgrim rest stop had turned a stone wall into a gallery of painted stones: “Know thy self,” hearts, small blessings. One stone carried the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi: “Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted… for it is by self-forgetting that one finds.” A little farther on, under the trees, a sign welcomed us to the Samos Labyrinth, “a sacred place for you to enjoy, connect, pray, meditate and receive guidance for your way.” Next to it, carved on a stump: “This is my church.” So even on the San Xil road, Samos found us. We walked the labyrinth slowly, one path in, one path out, no way to get lost if you keep going.
The afternoon was oak tunnels, purple heather, a dog asleep on warm steps, goats in a dry field and coffee at a welcome café. By late afternoon Sarria came into view, the town where many new pilgrims begin their last 100 km to Santiago.
“Purity of heart is to will one thing.”
Søren Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing (1847)
“Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.”
Psalm 86:11
Where has your own heart been divided lately, between faith and convenience, between a spouse and a distraction, between who you have promised to be and who is easier to be? What would it mean to return to that vow, undivided, the way Samos’s monks keep returning to prayer?
Walk the whole road with us
This is Day 9 of the Camino Eclipse Diaries: sixteen days and about 257 km / 160 miles on the Camino Francés from León to Santiago. A new day comes out every Thursday and Sunday on our YouTube channel, our Facebook Page and Instagram. Missed the start? Watch Day 0: a total eclipse over León, Day 1: Listening, Day 2: There Is No Hurry, Day 3: Up into the Mountains, Day 4: The Cruz de Ferro, Day 5: Templars and Vineyards, Day 6: Taste and Sound, Day 7: Overcoming Adversity, Day 8: One Step Enough. Then keep walking with Day 10: New Beginnings and What We Carry Forward.
Walk with us in 2027
Angela and I will host a small group from Porto to Santiago on the Camino Portugués, 4–20 April 2027, in a Holy Year. Come to a free Zoom information evening at 7:00 pm Mountain on Wednesday 18 November, 16 December or 20 January. Read about the 2027 Camino Portugués.
Walk with one heart. Walk the Finisterre–Muxía route free in the Camino for Good app: your everyday steps move you along the real Camino, 215 km (133 miles) through 43 towns. No card, no trial, nothing to cancel. Start the free Finisterre route.
Buen Camino,
James M. Gehrke, MS, DMin, and Angela Gehrke, your hosts
Free download
Planning your own Camino?
Get our free Camino Starter Kit: the packing list we actually use and an 8-week prep plan, with every distance and weight in kilometers and miles.
Get the free Starter Kit