Epic: A long poem or story, narrating great deeds and adventures.
Friday Sept 20th, 2019
Las Hereirras to Fonfria via the O Cebreiro pass
20 km, 36,000 steps, walking day #30
and
Saturday Sept 21st, 2019
Fonfria to Tricastela
10 km, 15,000 steps, walking day #31
Friday Sept 20th, 2019
It was difficult to leave Las Herreiras for so many reasons. It's such a very pretty little village/hamlet. As with most little places on the camino, it developed longitudinally along one east/west street along the walking route. Because of this, all the buildings faced the mountains and the farm fields directly across the road.
The day started out a little misty and very green.
Today was the climb to O Cebreiro pass. Las Herreiras is at 705m above sea level.
O Cebreiro is at 1300m above sea level. There is a business in town that provides horses, so some people can choose to do the climb on horseback. The man in the picture below (the man behind the horse) owns the horses and the business. He will take 5 people at a time up the mountain, walking beside the horses and riders as they negotiate the rocky path. It costs 35 Euros (about CAD 50) for the two hour ride. He does that climb almost every day. Scholarly discussion took place the night before, regarding the acceptability of riding instead of walking. It was a lively conversation and it made for great evening entertainment. One school of thought allowed that although it would likely have been financially prohibitive, that horses did exist and could have been available to certain pilgrims in the earliest days of pilgrimage. People embracing other schools of thought felt uncomfortable with taking anything that could fall under the classification of "easy way" and were determined that the whole of the pilgrimage should be done on foot. Considering that the climb was going to be gruelling, I completely understood the people who chose to take a horse or taxi - especially the people who were wearing knee braces and lots of bandages on their feet. Once again - "we all walk our own camino" certainly applies, as does the principle of "acceptance" and especially the principle of "no judgment".
The walk definitely was long and steep, but certainly could be done by taking one's time and walking carefully. It was hours of climbing up followed by more climbing up. I met up with a number of members of my camino family at the first village on the way up called La Faba. It's at 920m above sea level. As you can see we're still feeling good.
If you have been reading this blog, you may remember that Evandro and Eliana are dentists in Brazil. As it turns out, Jane Terese is a dental assistant from the north of Norway. As it further turns out, Evandro and Eliana spent three years in Norway. And most epic of all, Eliana worked in the south of Norway, in the dental office belonging to Jane Terese's nephew. Jane Terese is 75 years old and is in fabulous condition. She is always laughing. I think she's awesome.
Today we officially crossed the border from the Autonomous Community of Castile y Leon to the Autonomous Community of Galicia. I have fun taking pictures straddling borders when the opportunity arises. I think it's kind of epic to do that.
As we were walking along a narrow path that was raised up and away from the motorway, I saw some horns (attached to cow heads) appear over a small rise about 50m ahead of me. There was a stone wall to my right and a drop to the road to my left. I said "Uh-oh". I looked at the stone wall to my right, and quickly calculated that I couldn't get over it. I looked at the drop to the road on my left. Not a lot of choice there. I figured the drop to the road was certainly survivable if carefully done. My walking companion and I scrambled down to the road just in time to let the cows and the cowherd pass.
Saturday Sept 21st, 2019
Albergues are more simple than hotels or casa rurals. Freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast was dispensed out of this vending machine. You could watch the oranges through the glass window as they were being squeezed. I'd never seen anything like that before!
I only had 10 km to walk this day, so it was going to be a true rest day. It was cold and misty. Fortunately a lot of the path was lined on both sides by earth or rock walls, which provided excellent protection from the worst of the wind.
After lunch, I followed my rule of "Rest Day": I checked into my hotel and had an epic nap.
Friday Sept 20th, 2019
Las Hereirras to Fonfria via the O Cebreiro pass
20 km, 36,000 steps, walking day #30
and
Saturday Sept 21st, 2019
Fonfria to Tricastela
10 km, 15,000 steps, walking day #31
Friday Sept 20th, 2019
It was difficult to leave Las Herreiras for so many reasons. It's such a very pretty little village/hamlet. As with most little places on the camino, it developed longitudinally along one east/west street along the walking route. Because of this, all the buildings faced the mountains and the farm fields directly across the road.
West view from my window.
After I took the picture of the mountains and the cows, I realized that the white horse had photobombed me, which made the whole thing much more epic!
East view from my hotel window
Today was the climb to O Cebreiro pass. Las Herreiras is at 705m above sea level.
O Cebreiro is at 1300m above sea level. There is a business in town that provides horses, so some people can choose to do the climb on horseback. The man in the picture below (the man behind the horse) owns the horses and the business. He will take 5 people at a time up the mountain, walking beside the horses and riders as they negotiate the rocky path. It costs 35 Euros (about CAD 50) for the two hour ride. He does that climb almost every day. Scholarly discussion took place the night before, regarding the acceptability of riding instead of walking. It was a lively conversation and it made for great evening entertainment. One school of thought allowed that although it would likely have been financially prohibitive, that horses did exist and could have been available to certain pilgrims in the earliest days of pilgrimage. People embracing other schools of thought felt uncomfortable with taking anything that could fall under the classification of "easy way" and were determined that the whole of the pilgrimage should be done on foot. Considering that the climb was going to be gruelling, I completely understood the people who chose to take a horse or taxi - especially the people who were wearing knee braces and lots of bandages on their feet. Once again - "we all walk our own camino" certainly applies, as does the principle of "acceptance" and especially the principle of "no judgment".
This horse wrangler walks to the alto (the top) almost every day.
The walk definitely was long and steep, but certainly could be done by taking one's time and walking carefully. It was hours of climbing up followed by more climbing up. I met up with a number of members of my camino family at the first village on the way up called La Faba. It's at 920m above sea level. As you can see we're still feeling good.
L-R: Evandro, Eliana, me, Jane Terese, Elen
If you have been reading this blog, you may remember that Evandro and Eliana are dentists in Brazil. As it turns out, Jane Terese is a dental assistant from the north of Norway. As it further turns out, Evandro and Eliana spent three years in Norway. And most epic of all, Eliana worked in the south of Norway, in the dental office belonging to Jane Terese's nephew. Jane Terese is 75 years old and is in fabulous condition. She is always laughing. I think she's awesome.
Eliana and Jane Terese are speaking fluent Norwegian with each other.
A Brazilian dentist who just transformed in front of me
into a fluent Norwegian speaker. Pretty epic.
They have just discovered that there is only one degree of separation between them.
My mind is officially blown. Epic.
We continued climbing through chestnut forest and we paused often to look out on views over the Valcarce Valley. My
walking companion and I shared a running joke: “Hey – look at that beautiful
green spot down there!”
Epic and breathtaking views.
We finally arrived at O Cebreiro. Everyone visits the Iglesia (Church) de Santa Maria Real. It dates back to the 9th century and is the oldest church of the camino that is still standing. A number of miracles were said to have occurred there.
A short break for some camino humour.
Each cow slowed down and looked at us as they passed.
The sky was blue ahead of us, but black behind us, and we started to hear thunder. Turning around, I could see that it was raining heavily behind us, and I hoped that we could out run the storm which was definitely heading in our direction. These mountains in Galicia are the first objects encountered by the wind that as been blowing across the Atlantic for 5,000 km. The guidebooks foretold that this creates an abrupt and significant change in weather immediately upon entering the Galician mountains. Chubascos y tormentas (rain showers and thunderstorms) and niebla (thick mountain fog) are the camino norm while in these mountains. For the first time we pull out our rain ponchos and waterproof pack covers.
I arrived at my Albergue (a type of pilgrim hostel) just as the rain began. I was very grateful to find out they would be serving a communal dinner in the great round dining hall. Served at the table, family style, it was more than anyone of us could eat, for the princely sum of 9 Euros.
Communal dinner - at least 60 people.
The mood was fabulous as more and more delicious food came out of the kitchen.
Huge soup tureens were placed in front of every four people.
Nick from South Africa was serving up.
He mugged instead of posing!
He said he met the cows on the path today, too.
He said he stood still on the path and the cows walked around him,
but I needed my feet too much to risk that!
First course was Caldo Gallego, a specialty of the region.
It's a thick soup of greens, potatoes and beans.
It was hot and filling and fabulous.
Private label red wine.
Dinner continued with platters of a stew of peppers and beef that melted in your mouth, and platters of perfectly cooked rice, accompanied by all the red wine you wished to drink, bread, and finally another regional specialty for dessert called Tarte de Santiago, a moist almond cake. After a very long and very tiring day of up, up, up then down, down, down, it was exactly what we needed. It was an epic meal. We all staggered back to the sitting room to digest.
Some epic evening mountain weather.
Saturday Sept 21st, 2019
Albergues are more simple than hotels or casa rurals. Freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast was dispensed out of this vending machine. You could watch the oranges through the glass window as they were being squeezed. I'd never seen anything like that before!
There was also a vending machine where you could purchase knee splints, medicated ointments and rubs, personal care items, and of course the Compeed blister dressings. Fortunately I still need none of those items.
I only had 10 km to walk this day, so it was going to be a true rest day. It was cold and misty. Fortunately a lot of the path was lined on both sides by earth or rock walls, which provided excellent protection from the worst of the wind.
Galicia is a cattle farming region.
She stopped bathing her calf to check me out.
This tractor has its own glass house!
It was nice to see some sunflowers again.
This chestnut tree is estimated to be 800 years old.
One of the farmhouses in the village of Tricastela.
The three castles no longer stand.
Lunch for one. Right after this was served some new friends who I had met the night before walked into the restaurant, so I invited them to sit at my table. Over our lunch we had a nice visit and compared how our morning walk had gone.
Sign in the restaurant. Apparently women in Spain stand on one leg
and touch their face, and the men point at themselves in a mirror.
After lunch, I followed my rule of "Rest Day": I checked into my hotel and had an epic nap.
I always include a cat pic from the day, if at all possible.
These succulents really like the wet weather.
Galicia
No comments:
Post a Comment