O'Cebreiro

July 19

With the threat of thunderstorms, we started walking at 5:30 am with our headlamps. Finding our way in the dark takes some concentration to make sure we don’t miss an arrow pointing the way and, at one point, we had no idea which way to go. Thankfully, some other people walked buy that did, so we were on the right track.

Today started out with a lot of walking on pavement, and that is really hard on my feet. We wanted to go 10 kilometers before we stopped for breakfast, but the surface we were walking on was at a constant slant and it was really hard on my left foot. So, we stopped for breakfast sooner, then stopped again after 10 kilometers so I could put some Fisio Cream on my foot and Achilles, and then again after 20 kilometers for a snack.

The last 8-9 kilometers were straight uphill which, even though was hard, felt much better for my foot and my back. It is easier on my body when the terrain changes. I think today’s stage was the hardest, physically for me. It took 8 hours, and we did a bit over 18 miles.

Once we found our place to sleep in O’Cebreiro, we didn’t do much except try to shower, eat and get some sleep. The food ended up being comically bad and, since our room was above a cafe/bar, sleep was difficult 😂. Our Japanese friend (who is a chef) taught us the word he uses for really bad food. He called it “hazare” He claims he will find us an excellent “atari” restaurant in our next town. 🙂

We head to Triacastela tomorrow...only 13 miles, so a bit shorter.Read more