|
Ales,
we found your note in Trabadelo yesterday, 31 (Paca and Salva phone me...).
We phone in the evening and a lady lets us know that you have not arrived
yet. We phone again at half past ten p.m. but nobody answers. This morning
we find a second note when we arrive at O Cebreiro. We phone three times
but nobody answers. We phone again at five o’clock p.m., nobody answers...
It
is twenty past six in the morning when we leave the Rutanova hotel. We
must follow the main road. We have breakfast in a hotel bar that is beside
the road. We quit the road in La Portela, how relaxing! Then Ambasmestas
and Valcarcel offer pilgrims its facilities, shops, bars and groceries.We
have a coffee in Vega de Valcarcel. Bar’s owners are nice and ask us to
write something in their pilgrim book. We do this with pleasure, feeling
very important.
We
walk happily along these deep valleys. We leave Sarracin castle behind on
the left.
Going
up to O Cebreiro.
In
Las Herrerias a bus leaves 50 walkers for them to continue their ascent on
foot to O Cebreiro. Bus walkers (armed with shells, staffs... and without
rucksacks) start their way up, they are high-spirited and all of them
overtake us. They look at us with both pity and self-confidence. These happy
fresh pilgrims think they are very fit and go up the first slopes very fast.
Their rhythm is impressive. All of them are very clean, tidy and fresh and
while they walk they chat and shout to each other. Paca and I are in last
place when the way up starts. We feel a little bit shy for their display of
strength. However, the camino imposes itself on walkers very fast. The slopes
start to do their work. When we arrive at the first hamlet with a well, Paca
and I already had overtaken the whole group. When we arrive at Lagunilla de
Castilla, they are not in sight. From the big stone (landmark) on the
boundary between Leon and Galicia, the bus walkers are almost a memory.
What
a beautiful day!
We
brand our credentials in O Cebreiro’s church, where the chalice miracle
happened (according to tradition), and we lodge in La Venta Celta. After a
while the bus walkers arrive (they are from Tarragona) slogging away.
After
the way up to Pradela yesterday, today’s stage was easy as pie for Paca
and I. Today’s way up has wells and hamlets, and besides, the most
important thing, you are going up to O Cebreiro and not going up and down
like an airhead. As you can observe, we do not forget Pradela’s way. When
we begin its slope we find a bill that encourages pilgrims:
« This
is a very hard route, only for good walkers... » (and they must be a
lot of drooling idiots, the author forgot to mention)
In
La Venta Celta, almost for the same money than in the worst inn ever, they
give us an almost luxurious room. We have a stroll around the village. We
come across Jose Maria, a priest from Guadalajara (Spain not Mexico) that is
a friend of ours. We tell him about Ignacio’s illness. Jose Maria, just
like us, only believes what we are telling him after a while.
We
have lunch in Carolo Meson. A bagpiper and a drummer play Galician popular
music in the Taberna Celta at five o’clock p.m.. The musicians play well,
there is a great and friendly atmosphere. Our entrance to Galicia could not
be better.
In
the morning, when we arrive at O Cebreiro’s church, a group of young
people get their pilgrims’ passports (credentials) and begin their route
from this place. How excited they are! Paca and I look back with nostalgia at
the mixture of emotion and fear we felt when we left Roncesvalles. Oh, my God,
how far is Roncesvalles in our spirits! It seems we left Roncesvalles a year
ago!
...Paca
in the very moment of arriving at O Cebreiro...
Many
pilgrims arrive at O Cebreiro. The pilgrims’ hostel, which is new and good, is
full up. There also are twenty army tents. Tents have no wooden floor, a bad
thing in country as wet as Galicia.
We
come across Marisa and her father. They also have a room, because when they
arrived the hostel was full. On the other hand, when Marisa’s father saw the
tents, he said he had already served his compulsory military service many years
ago and he did not want to sleep on the ground and without a wooden surface.
I t
is the first time we see O Cebreiro converted into a fiesta like this. There are walkers, many walkers.
Today is August the first, we are in O Cebreiro and even rocks give birth to
pilgrims.
Stage 24  Stage 25 |