O'Cebreiro: Reaching Galicia

Today was my penultimate day on the Camino, starting out at 7am to beat the heat, I walked two hours before reaching the base of the mountain then climbed without stopping for two and a half hours, steadily and slowly, til I reached the ancient 1st century village O’Cebreiro at the top. It was a glorious and beautiful walk in spite of the heat and the horse pies all the way up.

In the village I went straight to the church which has been set up partially as a shrine to Father Sampedro, the priest responsible for revitalizing the Camino in late 1980’s by painting the ubiquitous yellow arrows the whole distance of the French Way, making it more user friendly for pilgrims and contributing hugely to its current popularity.

The church is filled with votive candles lit by pilgrims, so I spent some time there with my prayer list and lit many candles.
I gave thanks to Father Sampedro for his devotion to this place and this passage; he has helped us modern pilgrims find a link to the ancient ritual of walking a pilgrimage—an offering of ourselves to God and a gift to our own souls.

A perfect place to end my pilgrimage.

Tomorrow, I walk my last 20 kms to get to Triacastela and from there make my way home via Sarria and Madrid.Read more