Overnight - Albergue Reboleira
Today's alarm was a 6:00am music show by the albergue-ers who then put on a very pleasant breakfast. As odd as it sounds, the music idea worked really well with a skilfully selected playlist, including an Abba tune and the Beatles 'All You Need is Love'.
But I was keen to get away early and tackle the climb. I hit the road just before 7:00am and quickly got into stride. I passed through a village a short way down the road and then crossed over a bridge where the path kicked up quite suddenly. The early part of the climb was along a wooded pathway splattered with horse manure from the horses used by those who decide to pay 20 Euro to get a ride in the saddle to the top.
Much of the walk was a steady climb, sometimes it levelled out for a short way, and in other places it was quite steep.
My face was quickly dripping sweat, and at about 6,200 steps (I was looking out for the moment), the first bead of perspiration fell from the brim of my hat - a sure sign that things were getting serious. It continued dripping for most of the rest of the hill.
The higher we got, the smaller the trees became and the more exposed the path. The sun finally hit the track close to the top. Before that, the hill was either in shade or the early morning gloom. I started feeling for those who had attempted the climb in the heat of the afternoon.
As the walk continued up, I just kept charging along and felt the endorphins doing their thing. I'm sure I was going faster at the end than I was for the first half of the journey and I felt grateful for the endurance training I'd been doing and the effort over the previous 26 days of this walk.
Soon enough, the signage announced we were now in Galicia and shortly after that appeared a small but well-crafted obelisk by the path stating that Santiago was 160-point-something-something-something kilometres away.
I felt the strangest sensation - a kind of sadness or despair that immediately ended the rush I'd been experiencing up to that point. The little obelisk signalled in the most clinical of terms that this thing is drawing to a close. Sure, there have been occasional signs, in various states of disrepair, over the course of the Camino that give a vague indication of the remaining distance. But the brutally accurate nature of this one, and the identically designed ones which followed it at too-frequent intervals, placed into very sharp focus that the end is nigh.
It's also a good indication of the parallel universe (some of) us pilgrims are now inhabiting that such a distance still to walk is almost regarded as trivial.
I finally crested the hill, covered in sweat, 1 hour and 50 minutes (and 13,000 steps) after leaving the albergue. According to Brierley, it was a distance of 9.6 kilometres.
With no plan for the rest of the day, I sat at a cafe in the hilltop village of O Cebreiro (somehow pronounced ‘oh-thay-bray-air-oh’), lingered for a long time over a tea, and then went across to check out the local church. Among other things, it's home to the grave of the chap who evidently reinvigorated the Camino walk a few years ago by implementing the much loved yellow arrow direction system. As someone who has been the beneficiary of these invariably well placed arrows over the past four weeks, I thought I should pay my respects. The statue of him over the grave must also be the only one I've seen which includes sculpted spectacles.
And then as I walked into the church, I bumped into my wonderful Czech Camino buddy Martina and, with our Brazilian friend, Ned, we shared another drink, and decided to walk the rest of the day until we felt like stopping.
For the next couple of hours, the track wound its way around the next valley providing spectacular panoramic views of the landscape below. It was mostly flat or undulating with a tough but short hill coming into Alto do Poio, where we stopped briefly for refreshment. The final few kilometres overlooked yet another valley and led us into the tiny village of Fonfria, and its impressive, modern albergue - the end of today's stage.
The pilgrims (late) lunch at a nearby cafe was great value, although the unavailability of the famed pulpo was disappointing. It meant I had to postpone my resolution, now we are in Galicia, to eat seafood at least once every day. But the taste of Martina’s cheese and honey desert just about made up for it. It was ‘sensacional’ as we say in this part of the world. I’ll definitely be looking to have more of that in the week ahead.
Weather - Not as cold a start as yesterday, but still reasonably cool. Even though we are in the mountains now, the weather is completely predictable and following exactly the trajectory of the past many days. Meaning by the time we walked into Fonfria, it had warmed up considerably.
Health - No issues at all. The body didn't miss a beat up the hill or for the rest of the day. Seeing some of the carnage along the track with so many other walkers, and unworthy as I might be, I do feel a little blessed in this regard.
Food - Albergue breakfast at Ruitelan (coffees x2, glasses orange juice x2, toast with butter x2, mini muffins x2); Pots of tea x2 at O Cebreio cafe; Pot of tea at Alto do Poio; Pilgrims lunch at Fonfria (mixed salad, grilled pork with hot chips and rice, slice cake, pot of tea); Orange
Expenses – Accommodation - 8.00; Food/Drink - 18.00 Total - 26.00
Walking time - 7 hours, 30 minutes (start 6:50am, arrive at accommodation 2:20pm)
Brierley distance - 21.5km (total 631.0km)
Daily Steps - 33,640
Total Camino steps - 1,000,174
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