Ambasmestas to O'Cebreiro

A major correction on yesterday's blog: we had to climb over 2300 feet today, but not over 13 kms.  We climbed that much over 6 kms!  And it ended up being far easier than we had expected.  The people running the hotel where we stayed last night said it was going to be far worse than the climbing we had done the day before, and it just wasn't so.  

We began the day a little later than usual because of the short distance today, and the first 7 kms were relatively level.  While we ended the day with the super highway below us nowhere in sight, we were below this super highway as we set out...

 

We passed by an abandoned and ruined Saracen castle early on, but were not inclined to take the incline for a closer look...

Most of the first 7 kms were along this quiet paved road...

 

When the village of Las Herrerias came into view, or at least its church, we knew it was coffee time in preparation for the beginning of what was supposed to be a dreaded climb...

Actually, it was another km or so before we began the serious climb on a trail with a surface that makes everyone do what we have taken to calling the "Camino waltz," that is, constantly criss-crossing the path to find the smoothest route.  

The first part definitely did raise a sweat, and it's easy to see that Diane and sister Chris are working hard...

 

...while the whole thing seems to be a breeze for Jeff, who is more focused on taking photos than worrying about any climb...

About a third of the way up, we came across a couple doing field work the old fashioned way, with a mule and harness...

Part of the reason the climb wasn't so difficult is that we made sure to work several breaks into the day.  While that couple above was sweating (and shouting) in the sun, Diane and I enjoyed an orange break in the shade...

But we couldn't stay there forever, so on and upward we went.  I simply snapped photos along the way of what I liked and Diane deleted those she thought were redundant when we arrived at our destination.  So here's just a brief montage of our path and the views...

And finally we reached the top, at an elevation of 1310 meters, in the village of O'Cebreiro...

This village has the oldest church along the way, and although it's been renovated, parts of it date from the early 9th century.  I thought the flowers growing out of its ancient walls were beautiful...

...as was the row of Bibles inside the church, all of them open to John's gospel, chapter 3, but in the different languages of the world...

The village we are in for the night has several round homes covered with thatch.  The reason that round homes such as the one below were built is so that the devil could not hide in the corners!

One of the things that was very striking today as we went through a total of 5 villages was all the renovation of old buildings going on.  The growing popularity of this pilgrimage to Santiago has been an obvious boon to bars and cafés and hostels and hotels along the way, and the locals are definitely taking advantage of this (in a positive way).

We are in a very cozy little hotel again, with a warm decor typical of the major colours of buildings in this part of the world (and notice the scallop shells, symbol of the Camino Santiago, on the headboards)...

...and with a million dollar view from our window...

We were happy to know that dinner is served at 6, and are eager to taste the wines that are particular to the new province of Galicia that we entered halfway through the day!

Distance today: 13.2 kms

Time on the road: 5:05 

Total distance to date: 638.1 kms

Walking days remaining: 8