We planned to sleep in this morning, enjoy breakfast, and meet Victor at 9:30 to ride horses up the steep climb to O’Cebreiro. But rain in the forecast was likely to interfere. When we got up it was breezy and overcast, but not raining yet, so we enjoyed breakfast with Nicki and Andrew. About 9:00 when we set out to leave the hotel, they said Victor was looking for us. The rain had begun, and Victor said it was looking too wet, cold, and windy to take the horses up, so we should make other arrangements.
We considered taking a taxi up to O’Cebreiro. Victor said the lower part of the walk, up to the first town, La Faba, was beautiful and would be an easy walk. We could enjoy that part and then take a taxi from La Faba up to O’Cebreiro to avoid the more difficult sections above. So that’s what Sara and I chose to do. The rain was steady but not especially hard, and we had our good ponchos to keep us dry.
However, today we confirmed what we’ve experienced before – the poncho does keep the rain out, but since it also keeps all of your body heat in, you tend to sweat profusely (especially when working hard, like climbing steep tracks over rocks and streams) and in the end, you’re just as wet inside the barrier as you are outside.
So, by the time we reached La Faba, we were soaked. Ok, so ask the barman there to call a taxi for you. Very obligingly, he called – three different taxi services, but none were willing to provide the service on this Sunday morning. So we put on our wet clothes and started hiking again. The universe had somehow decided that Sara and Evan were going to walk this one, in the rain. The path was often rocky, and with the rain, it was often a stream around which we had to make our way, avoiding the puddles, skipping on rocks, and sometimes just squishing through the mud. Did I mention that we were very wet??
We always try to look on the bright side, so I should note that the scenery was beautiful, what we could see of it, through the mist and clouds floating among the mountains. We also passed the boundary between the Castillo y Leon region and into Galicia, marked by a pretty impressive monument celebrating that border on the trail. That’s also the point at which we have less than 100 miles to go before Santiago.
So we finally arrived in O’Cebreiro, seemingly at a mountain top, some 600 meters higher than where we started. We see lots of people milling about, and not just pilgrims like ourselves. This is a tourist spot, attracting a Sunday crowd. There are busses and cars parked by the 9th Century Iglesia de Santa Maria Real, the oldest surviving church directly associated with the Camino pilgrimage. It’s a beautiful church, with its simple roman design, and quite nicely preserved. We visited and had our credential stamped there before finding our way to the Hotel O’Cebreiro. And then it was all about quick showers and dry clothes before lunch.
Tonight we’re meeting with more Camino friends for dinner in the hotel. Then to enjoy a dry night’s sleep before setting out tomorrow for another 18km, probably still in the rain.
