O’Cebreiro and Triacastela

Day 35 O’Cebreiero and day 36 Triacastela - Left Villafranca early for the 18 mile walk to O’Cebreiro. The last 10 kms of the route was one of the steepest, second only to the climb over the Pyrenees at the beginning of the Camino, but there were some stunning views along the Varcace valley that could not be captured by camera - although I tried. The valley is steep and narrow and heavily wooded with pine and chestnut so quite shady. Some of it reminded me of walks in Uttrakhand. Half way up the climb I stopped at a cute (and very welcome) restaurant for a fabulous meal and made the mistake of having a glass beer - bad choice because I still had a significant climb! Ran into the Aussies when I was at the tail end of the climb. Passed a pleasant half hour chatting while herds of cows passed right behind us. And then on to destination for the night.
O’Cebreiero is a very cute town that apparently used to be a dairy village and is now a tourist hotspot. Ran into my friend from Vermont - Ginny, and had dinner with her. Somewhere along the way she had taken a bus to catch up. I also ran into Josh who has moved to Burgos from Florida. His wife had done the Camino several years ago and loved it so much that she decided to move here. She teaches English at a local primary school.
Today, day 36, was similar with hilly terrain, there were some steep climbs and descents with a final steep descent into Triacastela. I walked for a while with the Aussies and Dr Steve and had dinner with a bunch of friends. It’s a small town and all the pilgrims had gathered outside this one restaurant that had seating all along the road.
Tomorrow I’ll be in Sarria - from there it’s just 100 kms to Santiago!!Read more