Camino Day 30 - October 6

Today was a big day, as it contained our last major climb of the Camino. We walked just over 25 km from Vega de Valcarce to Fonfria. This walk included about 700m in ascent, which was at many times very steep. We also entered the region of Galicia today, which is the last of several regions of Spain which we will be walking through on the Camino. It is the region we will end in, so this day felt like the first day of the last stage of our pilgrimage. 

 

Galicia is known for a few things, including rain.. Our guidebooks said that rain was not only a likelihood, but pretty much a certainty. We have only had one two-hour stretch of rain in the first 29 days of our Camino, and we figured that would soon change.. We figured right.. Indeed it rained today.. The rain started a couple of hours into our day, and continued for the rest of the day and through the night. It made the dirt paths very muddy, and the steep climbing on dirt paths a little more treacherous and a lot more sloppy. We were careful to watch our step and tried our best to dodge the puddles..

The first high point we reached was the town of O Cebreiro, which as a town has been declared a Unesco Heritage Site. We arrived there tired and really wet, to find a town full of tourists, as we should have expected. I think I counted 8 tour buses parked at the entrance to town. There were people everywhere! We were going to stop there for lunch, but decided to keep going and get away from the chaos and busyness. Before we could leave, though, one of the tourists stopped me and asked if she could take my picture. She turned me so that my backpack would be visible.. It was a bizarre experience, but I didn´t say no.. Funny that I might be in someone´s holiday album..

 

After O Cebreiro were had some up and down climbing and descents for a while, and then started the descent. The rain was still really heavy, the clouds were low, and the wind was high. I think the views were lovely, but we couldn´t see much of them..

 

We arrived in Fonfria wet, tired, and ready to stop for the night. We stayed in the one albergue in town, which offered a community meal (with vegetarian option). We signed up, and had a lovely supper with about 25 others from our albergue. We had a Galician vegetable soup to start, and the main dish was rice with a meat and vegetables. I got my own dish or rice with vegetables, eggs, and cheese.. We ended with the Tarte de Santiago (an almond cake). So tasty, and so nice to share in with other pilrgims. It was a great end to a long day..

For those of you wondering, my leg pain was still there today, but less, which is encouraging..

 

Blessings to you all,

susan