O Cebreiro 18.4 miles
Today was another amazing day. We had sunshine! The walk was mostly asphalt leaving Villafranc, a long time along the road, then through small towns which was not the best part. The final 5-6 miles was our ascent up the mountain to O Cebreiro. We kept thinking we were at the top but it just kept going. I’m thankful for the beautiful weather since some spots were already muddy.
Just like the past, a horse is available to take you up for 50€ now. In the past, pilgrims who used a horse to travel up the mountain was a sign of wealth. We did not see any horses. Only their poop.
O Cebreiro—the third highest peak on the Camino, at 1,330 meters (3,364 feet)— my watch said we climbed about 2,900 feet.
O Cebreiro marks a final major threshold over the Cantabrian mountains. From the 9th century and onward, O Cebreiro was exclusively a settlement to support pilgrims on the Camino. Today, the only survivors from the Middle Ages are the continued style of palloza building and the excavated and reconstructed 9th-century church of Santa María.
The down hill tomorrow will be more difficult than the up today. We plan to get an early start since it may rain again.
We had dinner at 6 pm then had the Pilgrim Mass at 7 which was quite nice, packed with so many pilgrims. At the end, the priest had five or six people read a prayer in different languages and it was very touching.
We have met so many different groups of people in different towns and we run into them every few days. There is a gossip factor. We got an update on Evette, the woman who fell. She broke her ankle in three places and needs to have surgery. We heard her rescue was quite dramatic and she made the Spanish news but we could not find the link.