Flower display in front of a house in Herrerias
The heading above gives away the fact that we went further than intended. We reached La Faba at 12.15pm and decided to keep going for another 5km, and up another 400m. We got up to O Cebriero by 2.45pm but we were fairly wasted. So, we have treated ourselves to a hotel room - not a parador, much more modest.
Looking back from near O Cebreiro
We encountered some old friends on the road today. Our mother and daughter from Finland emerged on the road ahead of us this morning - we shared a room with them on our first night and have been with them for some time but did not see them for maybe four or five days. We chatted - they have a tight schedule to make their plane in Santiago next Friday. Our American friends, Pat and John, who we hadn't seen for three days were also on the road - John has had shin splints for the past few days but was going OK today. The person we have most contact with is Gerry from Wisconsin. He is a retired lawyer who now, amongst other things, helps with the cranberry harvest. He is a very inclusive person - last night we were having dinner with him in the square in Villafranca when he saw a girl on her own at a nearby table. Not being shy, he asked her to join us, she did, and we had a great chat. She was an English girl who works in Hong Kong.
Mentioning English, it is the language of the Camino. It is a kind of 'esperanto'. If somebody from Korea talks to somebody from Guatemala, it will be in English. Clearly, a lot of Spanish is spoken, but even the Spanish turn to English when they need to.
Reaching O Cebriero is a great milestone for us. Tomorrow, the latter part of the descent from there will be taxing. After that, the remaining stages are shortish, with more manageable undulations. Santiago suddenly seems closer.
A large stone marker indicate we are leaving Castilla y Leon and entering Galicia.
Horses that have brought people up to O Cebriero go back down the mountain.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment