Our next stage of the Camino sees us reaching the province of Galicia. We climb to 1300m to the village of O Cebreiro. It is quite a steep climb over a period of a few hours, made even harder by the rain. Of course it would rain; our second day of rain in over 4 weeks, but hey, we like a challenge🙄.
Once the rain clears, the views are beautiful.
We pass the Galician marker, and we reach the picturesque village of O Cebreiro, The village is known as a tourist destination but luckily for us, the weather has kept them at bay.
The village sits on a high ridge looking out across the mountains; filled with ancient stone roundhouses and cobbled streets. The stone houses are known as pallozas, and their history can be traced back over 1,500 years to the Celtic times and were inhabited up until the 1960s.
We leave O’Cebreiro in the morning and its a gradual descent and again, lovely views of pastures and farmland until we reach the town of Triacastela whose main monument is the Church of Santiago, originally built in Romanesque style but now Baroque. On its façade, the tower stands out, with three castles that justify the name of the town.
We then head for Sarria, the biggest town until Santiago where we take a rest day to recharge and get ready for the final push to the end. Our albergue just happens to also have an Italian restaurant which makes Mr Carter very happy!
So let me explain the significance of the last 100 kilometres. To receive the ‘Compostela’ which is the the document awarded by the Church that certifies that a pilgrim has completed the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrim must show evidence of walking the last 100 kilometres. So, the last 100 Kms has become a ‘thing’ for people to do. So you get thousands of pilgrims arriving just to do the final stretch of 100kms….they come in groups, families with kids and pushchairs, old and young…all with the goal of reaching Santiago and getting their certificate. It does completely change the dynamic of the walk, but we are determined that this will not ruin our amazing experience and we find ways to avoid the crowds as best we can.
We stop at the town of Portomarin. About a century ago PortomarÃn was a small village at the Rio Miño with an old Roman bridge crossing the river. In the 1960’s the government decided to dam the Rio Miño and build a reservoir right where the village was located. The government didn’t care so much about the village but they did care about the old historical buildings. So, they decided they would have the villagers deconstruct and reconstruct all the old buildings, brick by brick. Included was the church of San Xoan, one of Galicia’s most important Roman buildings.
As we leave Portomarin, a short distance from the path we follow a sign taking us to Castromaior, one of the most important archaelogical sites of the Iron Age. We can’t but wonder how it can be left in disrepair when other such sites around the world receive funding to preserve and restore similar important historical landmarks.
Our next stop is at the delightful albergue run by Heidi and Rolf. They have been here for over 10 years and regale us with stories of their early years. We enjoy a wonderful home cooked meal and the company of other pilgrims.
The next day we pass by the quirky ‘bottle’ albergue …its pretty evident where the name came from.
The last day we only have to walk just over 10 kilometres before arriving in Santiago where we head straight for the Cathedral.
Regardless of your religious beliefs, its quite emotional to finally arrive here at the Cathedral amongst hundreds of other pilgrims…what a change from when we were last here 2 years ago.
So, it’s been over 720 kilometres of walking, across 4 Spanish provinces, temperatures ranging from 5 deg C to 40 deg C, suffered one Achilles tendinitis and one soft tissue injury, multiple blisters and various aches and pains, but we wouldn’t trade any minute of it.
We have a few days rest planned and then we will head off again, this time we will walk the short Espiritual Camino, a 3-4 day walk heading south toward Portugal.
So stay tuned!!
Where are you going to be celebrating Mr C’s Birthday?
He will be how old??? But still going strong