Day 27 – O’Cebreiro to Triacastela

Slept in an albergue last night with 55 other people and would you believe slept like a log.  Very big hill to climb yesterday and 55 people couldn’t have woken me they tried! 

Left before the sun was up this morning but the moon lit up the sky and it was quite light.  Beautiful coming over the mountains in moonlight.

Walked into Linares which was only another 3kms down the road and still fast asleep so moved searching for breakfast

At the top of the hill was the windy pilgrim 

There are so many fantastic statues to pilgrims all along the way. 

And then there was another hill to conquer. I think it was worse than yesterday but again the countryside is spectacular. I will be using every adjective I know to describe the beautiful area of Galacia. 

Mountainous, spectacular, scenic, green, autumnal colours, panoramic, beautiful.  Some of the most gorgeous country I have ever seen.  

Someone was telling me last night that Galacia was where the majority of the Way was filmed as it is so beautiful.  Hopefully I will see something soon that I recognise from the movie.  Will definitely be watching it again on my return.

So just to give you all an idea of the hills I have been scaling and descending over the last two days

Thankfully at the top of the mountain I scaled there was a very welcome Bar for breakfast. I sat with a few Catalan’s and naturally the conversation was all about what is happening in Barcelona right now.  The saddest thing is that the Spanish government won’t let it happen even if the majority want it. Typical, they will lose too much money!  

As I was passing through a little village I stopped to take a picture of the cows in the shed being fed and this little old lady, must have been at least in her 80s came out and called to me and all the other pilgrims as she had made a huge plate of crepes which she was giving out to us all as we passed.  I was talking to a South African lady who had done this walk 6 years ago and apparently she was there as well handing out crepes.  I just love the generosity of the Spanish people.  

Once over the mountain of course we had to go down the other side but the countryside is stunning.  

As you can see in the above photo in Galacia the early morning mists can give rise to the most ethereal ‘floating islands’ where hilltops appear above the clouds.  

So down the mountain I went meeting some ‘friends’ on the way 

As I was coming down the hill I saw a very ugly site of a quarry cut into the landscape but it turns out that these quarries provided the limestone used in the building of the Santiago cathedral. Medieval pilgrims would carry as much as they were able to the lime kilns in Castaneda.  

Arrived in Triacastela at about 20 past 12 but the albergue didn’t open until 1 so dumped the pack at the front door and went for a wander around town.

Triacastela means 3 castles none of which exist anymore but the parish church is dedicated to Santiago and has an unusual 18th century tower which has carved in relief the 3 castles. 

Wandering through town and I ran into my Brazilian friend Gil so we headed of the the restaurant for a pilgrims meal and I am still here drinking Rose and blogging as I have good wifi.

Just run into Kian and Oswin and I am meeting Gil again for dinner tonight.  

Tomorrow I will set off for Sarria which is only 112 kms from Santiago. Cannot believe my journey is nearly over.  

Out for dinner and ran into Pierre and he joined Gil and I for dinner and also Andreas from Sweden 

At the end of another fabulous day in Spain I say viva Espana and buenos noches