Day 17 - 11.07.2020

Hello dear ones, it seems that age has made its presence known say, and I forgot to tell you something! On our way through the wonderful villages, when everything gets monotonous and becomes full of boredom, every time someone comes to warm our hearts.

This time the "angel" who came to get us out of the monotony is Jose, a Spanish "chico", who lives in Germany and carries the Way in his soul, he came by bike from Germany and rides the whole Camino and if he has no problems he will he also ride his bicycle back home to Germany. Jose gets off his bike to keep up with us and to keep us company part of the route. From story to story he tells us that he visited Romania and with regret he told us that he did not get to see it all.

Today's stage continues like the previous day, passing through rural areas and intersecting small villages. In the first half of the route, starting from 350 meters altitude, you reach 725 meters altitude, after Hospital da Cruz.

We arrived quite easily in Palas de Rei, passing through huge chestnut forests. When booking a hostel we find that it is totally inaccessible with many stairs, so we decide to look for something else. We finally find another hostel, but because of the Covid-19 hostel itself it is not open, so we get a room.

This whole stage is very tiring for me, not physically, but mentally, because going through many small villages that did not have bars and restaurants, I had nowhere to go to the toilet. We arrived around noon, it was exactly 2 pm, when we finished the accommodation procedures, and the rest of the day we do nothing but rest.

Day 15 - 09.07.2020

From Fonfria to Triacastela there is a continuous descent, as we started on the road quite early and the fog and low temperatures are tiring, the wind in front makes the descent even more unpleasant. We didn't really recover after the previous day and we don't feel like talking.

Arriving at Triacastela we stop for a coffee. We are in a real dilemma, where to go? Through San Xil, a shorter road in the valley or through Samos with 7.2 km longer? We choose to go through Samos to visit the famous monastery, a beautiful road with impressive oak and chestnut forests on both sides of the river Oribio (Sarria).

In Samos we are looking for the monastery, mentioned above, dedicated to San Julian founded in the sixth century, which unfortunately is closed under the given conditions, we barely manage to stamp our credential. After we leave the small town, I can barely move my arms, which puts Vasi to an extra effort. 

With great effort we arrive in Saria, we take accommodation at a boarding house, because no one answered the phone at the hostel. We weren't very inspired because the bathroom was very small, and it was impossible for me to go to the toilet or take a shower.

 

We rest the rest of the day without worries, we know that the albergues will be open. We didn't even think much about tomorrow, but in order to not get bored, life gets us in a little hassle tomorrow, which we could have avoided today.

Day 14 - 08.07.2020

We start early in the morning on the way, when it is still dark, so we can cover the 15 km to O Cebreiro.

It is said that it is the queen stage, it remains imprinted in your mind because it has the hardest climb of the French Way, on the territory of Spain. 12 kilometres of continuous ascent with a level difference of 660 meters altitude does not seem like much, but in the last part of 5.7 km from Herrerias to Laguna de Castilla is a level difference of 480 meters.

The climb from my point of view was torturous due to the fact that you have nowhere to buy water in the villages on the route, and the taps had warnings of non-potable water. Only in Laguna de Castilla we find a bar open and we manage to buy water. With small and very small steps we follow the difficult route, trying to encourage each other.

My hands hurt a lot, Vasi can barely breathe, but we don't give up. From birch to the next curve, from certain flowers to the next oak, somehow we manage to reach the plateau. The view heals and the beautiful mountain village is enchanting.

It's lunch time, we sit on the terrace of a restaurant, eat pinchos and then combined dishes and a mixture of embutidos, we enjoy our coffees and set off again. The municipal albergue in O Cebreiro is closed, so we made a reservation in Fonfria.

Because we were very tired, we went on the bike path, to make our descent easier.

At an intersection where we had to turn right, we didn't notice the marking because a motorcycle seating exactly on it, where two boys were working. Unbeknownst to us, we go on about 2 km until a lady in a taxi stops to tell us that we are going in the wrong direction and we have to turn around. Astonished, we believe we are in a nightmare, because we had come down, which meant we had to go back up. Slowly we reach the initial marking, where we notice with difficulty the almost erased arrow on the road.

Tired, with water running out, again, we climb drowisly el Alto de San Roque and el Alto do Poio. We arrive in Fonfria and to our surprise we are the only pilgrims in the huge albergue. For the first time at dinner we take the pilgrim's menu.

Day 13 - 07.07.2020

We start a fast and beautiful day, used to walk many kilometres in one day, today's stage is a blessing, until Villa Franca del Biezo we do not find many shady places, but we went early in the morning so we had no problem.

The next route to Trabadelo is a real pleasure because most of the route goes parallel to the river, which gives you a generous shade due to the vegetation, but also an invigorating feeling due to the water.

We arrive at Trabadelo quite quickly during the day, we try to find out about the difficulty of the next day's stage, because the climb on O Cebreiro makes us uncomfortable and nervous. The rest of the afternoon we enjoy the pool of the pension where we stayed, but also on the banks of the river Valcarce, thus reducing the foot edema that accompanied me for several days.