An overcast, but completely rain-free! Had to be out by 8. Had desayuno at the same bar. Start post:
Left around 8:40. In Lameiros, we came to the Cross of Lameiros (PRS-79). It has Jesus on one side and related items on the base. The other side is the Virgen de los Dolores. Here are several shots.

In Airexe, aka Eirexe, we found an open bar, had café con leche and bought a bocadilla de jamón y queso (love that Spanish ham and cheese) which we ate later for lunch. Here are the beer taps at the bar.

More nice scenery down into Palas de Rei. Including eucalyptus trees, an invasive imported in the 1800’s for lumber, which wasn’t a good use. With no natural enemies they thrived.

Arrived in Palas de Rai and were in the Albergue San Marco by 3:30 we had showered and were doing laundry. At 7 PM, we went to Mass and then went out to dinner at a great tapas restaurant. I had pulpo Gallego, which is the Galician style octopus.
it was wonderful as was Susan’s raxo, pork with potatoes. Unlike tapa restaurants in the States, they serve huge portions. We had dinner with a mixed group of pilgrims. Lawrence from Arkansas had come from St.Jean in early October, a father from Scotland and his son from Switzerland and others from Spain and elsewhere. Interesting conversation and the Galician wine was great. Back at Albergue now for bed.

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Before leaving town, I took several pictures of the church/fortress. It is quite imposing.

We had come up a ton of steps to get to Portomarín and on the way out we went down a long curving road and over a much less scary bridge to get to our first km post of the day.
As you may have noticed there were a bunch of bicyclists in front of the church. Since it was Sunday, a day off for people, there were hundreds of cyclists going up and down the Camino and getting completely filthy. But they were clearly having fun!

I took a few scenery pictures, including pine forests, during the day as we continued to dodge cow pies

We had a cerveza break in the afternoon and decided that sore feet necessitated a stop for the night. We left the restaurant and missed the Albergue in Hospital de la Cruz and walked another km or so to find that “open all year” in the guidebooks didn’t mean anything so we walked back and found the Xunta de Galicia Albergue. Low bunk beds but not many other people (BTW Xunta is pronounced hunta and means government). The major drawback wa the men’s and women’s showers were sort of like high school boys locker room. Had dinner at same place as previous break and slept until 7.

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Long walk today. Off before 9. Starting post:

We started without the poncho, but before the magic kilometer-stone, we were in rain. 100 km to Santiago.

The rains made for interesting going. As before we were often stepping around little rivers. It is a good time to discuss Galicia. It is a temperate rain forest, similar to Oregon. The winds off the ocean fed by the Gulf Stream generate tons of rain.

The main smell that has accompanied our last few days brings me mind back to my great grandfather’s dairy farm in Jamestown. We also had to avoid frequent brown piles on the road, since there doesn’t seem to be anyone carrying plastic bags following the cows.

We then came to the Cruz de Memientos and saw various momentos left by prior pilgrims.

Susan and I were talking about famous first generation Spanish-Americans and Martin Sheen and Jerry García certainly came to mind. Shortly after that comment, we saw this graffito.

We finally got a break in the rain as we came in to Portomarín.

Portomarín is entered going over a high, scary bridge (old Roman bridge below)

We were totally exhausted by the 11+ mile walk and found the lovely Albergue Ultreia and got a room. We went to 7:30 mass at the Iglesia de San Juan (PRS-78-1) and went out for dinner after that. We then came back to the Ultreia to finish drying a batch of clothes which we had washed earlier. The hospitalera helped and we all had a long talk in Spanish again.

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Started around 9 after a nice breakfast. First kilometer marker of the day.

We walked along and saw an interesting black and white sheep and got a view into Sarria.

We then went into Sarria which is a start of many caminos since it is just over 100 km from Santiago. We stopped at a bar for café con leche and a croissant. As soon as we left the bar, the rains that Galicia is famous for let loose. We raincoated up and continued on. A slight wrong turn was corrected by nice Galicians. No pictures for a while, however. There were many old chestnut trees with intriguing trunks.

As the rain let up we arrived in Barbadelo and a lovely older gent, either a caretaker or priest, gave us a tour. The church is the highlight of this section of the road, PRS-77. It is a late 12th century church which has very interesting capitals and other outside sculpture.

Another feature of the churchyard are the multistory crypts.

We then went to Casa de Carmen for lunch. While we were waiting, Susan called ahead to Morgade, where we had intended to stay and found that the hostal was closed for the year, so we decided that our walk was done for the day.

While waiting Susannoticed their stove, a wood fired Aga-like one and took a picture in the kitchen.

Since we were staying for the night we had a full menu del día served in the kitchen with the owners. We had calzo galego (veggie soup) for the first and albondigas (meatballs) with home grown Italian beans and potatoes for the second. During the meal we had a lovely conversation in Spanish, with Susan doing most of the talking on our side. I understood what was happening but don’t speak it that well. One interesting point was that Jenna Bush visited Casa de Carmen during her 2004 pilgrimage on the Camino.

After dinner we went upstairs for a nap and came down around 6. We were told that there was a mass either at 6 or 7 so we hurried down but no luck. We did get a nice sunset though.

Off in morning for long walk to Portomarín.

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We had a huge day going the “short” way towards Sarria. We left around 9 am and started toward San Xil and the Alto de Riocabo. Seemed like a good idea, but several hours later 300+ meters higher, we weren’t so sure The big problem was lack of bars to rest and get café. Views were astounding.

While going up we were in a part of the Camino which had eroded over the centuries to create a trench of at least 10 feet.

Of course, what goes up must come down. The descent was lovely and treacherous, walking on slate or granite with wet leaves and chestnut husks.
Once we got to the bottom we came to the river. At this point, the river had taken over the whole path and we had to walk on the wall.

We finally got to the first place we could have lunch around 2 pm and were ravenous. We had to go another 5 km to get to San Mamed del Camino (Spanish spelling, note Galega in title of today’s blog. We are at Albergue Paloma y Leña.

the Albergue is lovely, one of the nicest we have stayed in. It is motel style so each room has 2 bunk beds. Since perigrinos are few at this point, we got a room to ourselves. We had a lovely vegetarian dinner with a French couple whom we had seen a couple of nights ago at dinner in Trabadelo.

We are now encountering km to Santiago posts every 500 meters. This is a big encouragement. We are at 117 or so tonight.

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When he said “bon jour” we suspected something different.

This gentleman told us that he and his dog, Franckia, were on the way home to France, completing his fourth Camino! We showed his picture to several people later on the Camino and were told that the guy was probably a bum hustling for spare change with a great story. Cute dog and good story anyway.

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If you want to see all of the pictures Susan and I have taken, you can look on the web at this location.

This might not work on iOS devices, but if you wish to connect on your iPad or iPhone send me your AppleID and I will set you up n

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Our last taxi rides of the Camino. After packing and breakfast, we got a taxi to the start of the 1300 meter high O Cebreiro. This was our first town in Galicia, the westernmost region of Spain. In addition to Spanish, Galega is also spoken. It is a Celtic language, since the people here are from the same stock as Scottish and Irish. Most obvious thing is the use of “X” in words to replace the “J” in Spanish. This is similar to what I remember from the Basque language in Navarra.

We went into the little tienda which sold all sorts of great hiking equipment and Susan found the Altus poncho she had been looking for.

We then went into the Iglesia de Santa María la Real. In the 1960’s an ancient church was found and in the 1990’s it was restored. Only a few things are original, including the baptismal font.

Here are other shots in the church and around it.

There was also a bust of Don Elias Valiña, a priest and scholar whose 1985 book was the first modern Camino guide. He is considered the father of the modern Camino. He is also responsible for the km markers throughout Galicia.

In O Cebreiro their is also a reconstructed Palloza, the way people would have lived in early mountainous Galicia. It would have a thatched roof, two rooms, one for people and one for animals and a single entrance.

We then started to walk up and down the hills at the top of the mountain. Gorgeous views when we were below the clouds and it got better as the day went on.

We stopped for lunch (bocadillo de jamón y queso with cerveza) in Liñares and then went over Alto de San Roque

More ups and downs and we arrived in Hospital de la Condesa and had tea and coffee. We were now around 1200 m ASL and we plugged ahead. The views were getting better.

We were quite exhausted and only around 1260 m when we got to San Oxan (St. John in Galega) church. The cross at the top had a bird and a fox. I am not sure if the significance

The next 70 m vertically were very steep but we reached the Alto de Poio.

We stopped at a bar there, had agua con gas and called a taxi who arrived 20 minutes later to bring us to Triacastella. We checked into the Albergue Crispeta, cleaned up, had dinner, and are now relaxing while a load of wash cycles.

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We started the day with a delightful 5 mile walk through the vineyards of the Bierzo.

Legend has it that a pilgrim from France brought Cabernet Franc to the Bierzo and the rest is history.

We then came to Villafranca del Bierzo and immediately came upon Iglesia de Santiago. The main door is known as the Puerta del Perdón. Pilgrims who were too sick to continue were treated here and often could go on.

I haven’t photographed capitals yet on this trip so here we go with the magi meeting Herod and animals.

We then looked over at the Iglesia de San Francisco (yes he did the pilgrimage in the 13th century and is said to have founded this church) and saw a rainbow.

We went past the Castillo and into town.

We went into Villafranca and had lunch and decided to jump slightly ahead to Trabadelo where we are staying Albergue Crispeta. Again we have done laundry and had menu del día. Off to bed. I am caught up.

¡Tomorrow in Galicia!

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We ate a quick breakfast at the Albergue and headed out of Pontferrada, after a quick telebanco hit to provide us more euros. It was raining but we were better prepared. Just a few shots on the road due to rain.

I love the stork nest beside this little ermita.

This couple of statues was cute.

When we stayed in the Albergue Verde, we were given an ad for the Albergue El Serbal y la Luna in Pieros. We were tired in Camponaraya and stopped for wine tasting of the wines if the Bierzo, the region between the mountains where we are hiking. The wines were lovely and we decided to taxi to Pieros. A lovely hospitalera from Bulgaria with a British accent, due to years in Ireland, checked us in and cooked a wonderful vegetarian dinner.

The fellow perigrinos included men from Denmark, Czech Republic, and Spain (via Venezuela and Portugal). There were also two young Americanas, one if whom worked in Maine with puffins. Somehow, the name Franco came up at dinner and the barefoot pilgrim from Argentina had been there the previous night. Another great albergue experience.

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