Author: RebWhite

We’ve had two short walks in a row and we’re both glad tomorrow is longer. BUT today was wonderful. Since we’d broken the stage between Sarria and Portomarin into 2 days, when we started off from Morgade, we were ahead of everyone by 7.5 miles (I had it wrong for distance yesterday). And we ended up being alone the whole time except for 3 bikes who passed us. We walked separately because I was dawdling. Taking photos, emptying rocks, adding/taking off layers, etc. It was cool, clear and rain held off until we were into our hotel. Rick marveled at how wonderful it was. He’s motivated to leave early tomorrow before the majority of people, so will be in the dark for an hour, but that’s ok since there’s two of us. 

Sunrise looking back at our hotel area and ahead to the next little “town”.

• 

• 

This little church was in the town above and surrounded by the cemetery as other’s have been.

• 

So much care taken to hold onto these old churches and it’s worth it as far as I’m concerned. 

Then passed the 100k marker. The books had noted that it was vandalized more than any other marker because this is the last point at which you can start and earn a certificate.

• 

Then a really cool collection of buildings that were probably owned by one family? It was clean and a beautiful blend of old and redone. But they had set up this hut with vending machines: 

• 

Proudly noting the 100k distance from Santiago. Couldn’t really capture the buildings in the group, but there was this strange container in the midst. We’ve seen a bunch of these and are stumped as to what they’re for. I’ll find someone to ask, just haven’t yet. Our ideas have evolved: chicken coop, hanging up meat, smoker – but don’t see fire below, put the bodies in there to get down to bone and then add to the family collection in the cemetery? That’s my idea – probably off base, but got it from stories from Greece. Rick looked at me like I was crazy. 

• 

But really, a cross over where you’d hang up meat? And there’s a door at the thin end where Rick is standing. Could just slide a body in – everyone seems thin here…

Great photo of a breed of cow that the sign next to it said they were bringing in to the area because they were ecologically friendly, renewing the ground that’s acidic and has little value, and they have “horns of great proportionate” – my translation app. 

• 

It was gorgeous walking:

• 

• 

Then we came into Portomarín for the night – in by 12:00. Wise Pilgrim says this town “has the distinction of being the newest oldest town along the Camino. There’s a document from 993 that calls the town Villa Portumarini, so a bridge must have existed at the time. The river was damned in 1956 and the whole town moved up the hill. They moved the Iglesia de San Juan and a few other buildings and churches stone by stone to make sure they had it exactly right. You can still see some of the numbers on the blocks. It’s amazing. They had just earned the distinction of historic district the decade before so I’m guessing there are feelings that are being glossed over. But it was Franco and doubt there was much ability to protest. 

Here’s the stair case that was there and they moved the tiny chapel of 16c Iglesia de Santa Maria and put it on top of the stairs – the natives believe it will protect them from drowning. Can’t see it from this angle, but you walk under it after the stairs.

• 

The Iglesia de San Juan is the largest single-nave Romanesque church in Galicia.Built 12c – 13c by the Knights of Saint John. The four corner towers lead to walkways protected by battlements that indicate the dual purpose of the church. I took one inside photo as we were waiting to do for the mass – Sunday here.

• 

• 

• 

Must have been something to see it rebuilt. 

The stand alone cross above is a Cruceiro. The sign nearby said, “Castelao said that a cruceiro is a ‘forgiveness of heaven’ because Stone Crosses are erected to obtain forgiveness of sins. Considering that in Galicia there are about 12,000 creceiros, our sins must be many.” They also protect traveling and given how hard it was to be a pilgrim in medieval times, protection was probably warranted. 

Iglesia de San Pedro’s facade was all that was rescued of this church from the drowning town and is from 1182. But it’s wonderful and we would have like to be able to see inside.

• 

And here’s the ancient bridge that was covered over and the extremely high (particularly for me, really practicing my breathing to get across it into town) bridge built to the newly placed village. It’s fall so low water and you could see the bones of the old village and walk across the bridge if you wanted to do so.

• 

This is the welcome sign – “Star of Desires” Portomarin. I’m guessing it probably means something a little different for the locals, that’s Google’s translation from the Galician. Different spelling, pronouncement, words…

• 

Short! Last night, Rick and I went to a pilgrim’s mass at the Iglesia de Santa Marina. In my book it described it as modern, I thought it looked older, but maybe they had to keep it “old” looking even in new churches. Well, it was built in 1883, not so modern. Nice because it was mostly about Mary, but I also really like the statue of the monk kissing the child’s hand, so sweet.

• 

• 

The walk today was beautiful. 

Crossed over a bridge to leave – originally Roman, 6th c, but continually added on. We’d started early for the quiet and because we were ready.  

• 

Avenues of trees, curious animals:

• 

• 

• 

As per advertised, we did pass a few large groups of school children, one group, elementary aged were getting a talk at an albergue. Another group/school? Maybe 40 (though the group gets bigger every time Rick talks about them) were strung out over the path and were middle school aged. All carrying their own packs with sleep pads rolled up. They looked fit and ready to go and were having a great time having just started this morning. There were also several groups of families with little kids, one with a dog. I guess a van supports them with water, warm stuff, what they need. Cool tradition for families to do the Camino – just a week from Sarria. We pass the 100K marker tomorrow – the official last place someone can start and still get a stamp in their passport. 

We stopped in Morgade – a town of about 5 houses – and our place is wonderful. The dining room/kitchen is in a 16th c building that they’ve adapted beautifully. Our room is in a block of 8 rooms, very simple, well designed, we love it. Plus – as Rick said, we get to just chill. No need to go look at anything. There’s nothing to look at, no town at all. Our little place is the only place happening. And it’s great – seriously good fresh juice, lunch was wonderful, simple and perfect. We were sitting right on St. James Road and everyone had to pass us as they walked toward our stop tomorrow – Portomarin. Met a bunch of Americans and an older couple from LA are in the room next to ours. 

Here’s the house cat, Mika. She expressed a lot of dissatisfaction that we weren’t sharing our food. Rick finally gave in and gave her some of his fish. She appreciated it and then went to the next table. 

• 

And here are the house cows outside our room:

• 

Sarria is a very small town as far as the old town goes, though sizable for the part of Spain we’ve been walking through. You can see it in the background behind the statue here, a crucerro (typical for Galicia).

• 

We took it easy this morning, then took a taxi (!) out to the Samos Monastery, monks have been here since the 6th century. There are 9 currently, though the monk told us there were only 4 functioning because the other 5 were sick. And the place is giant. I don’t know how they do it. However, I did see a nun later when I peaked in a door that was propped open to the sidewalk. Oops. 

• 

• 

The main in the center is Saint Benedict who started the Benedictine practices. The 2 Episcopalian priests we had a lot of meals with us knew a ton of history about the different practices and explained the transition of different orders. Benedict wrote the basic rules for living in harmony in a cloister and were so reasonable that most other orders ended up adopting these rules. 

Largest cloister in Spain:

The fountain was built in the 1700’s by a monk who loved Greek mythology. The monk told us that this was NOT Christian and was basically looked at askance by the other monks, but too late. 

The statue above is of Benito Jeronimo Feijoo y Montenegro (1676-1764) a brilliant mathematician, but also interested and wrote about physical, astronomy, medicinal, social sciences, literature…truly, he was remarkable and revered.

There was an incredible library, but there were two big fires, in 1536 and in 1951, both catastrophic, but rebuilding happened in both cases and some of the library was saved – though not much in the 1951. How painful. 

This is the pharmacy where they made medicines for the community:

• 

The second floor of the cloister had incredible paintings that were destroyed in the 1951 fire and new murals were painted, including many by a woman who wrote her name on one of them so that people would know a woman had contributed.

The murals all depicted different miracles by Saint Benedict.
Then the Iglesia:

• 

• 

It was a very relaxed exploring day, and Rick and I are now starting our own Camino. All we knew have moved on since we took an extra day. We’ll see if we end up connecting with others. Sarria is the point at which many people start because if you start here you make the 100k needed to earn the Compostela certificate or stamp in your Camino passport. So – lot more people moving forward. 

Today was a beautiful day because of the scenery. We’re in Sarria now, and have a layover day. Everyone else we’ve met is going on tomorrow so Rick and I will be exploring on our own after tonight.

Here are a few shots of the scenery and two very small groups of houses that were actually two different villages. The difference between them is that someone clearly had enough money to figure out how to integrate the medieval buildings with more substantial livable buildings – as well as filling in the street beautifully. I liked both places, of course. Each small village had a church at the end of the group of houses, the second one was wonderful. I couldn’t see how much it had until I used a flash on my camera just inside the security grille and I saw all the statues in the niches.

• 

• 

Hard to see, perhaps, but the light brown are all the ferns that have changed color for the fall – so pretty. 

Each little town had a chapel at the end of it. The run down town had the little one with the blue cross, this was at the end of the second one. Chapel of San Antonio da Balsa. I didn’t realize all the statues were there til my camera flash lit them up. I think this would be a wonderful place to sit. Elias Valina, I think the priest who restarted the Camino, described it as “humble, traditional” from the early 1800’s.

• 

• 

Below was a shot of a hippie like gathering, complete with a guy playing the guitar and a group sitting around on couches in this open area. Felt a little studied to me, but I also felt old! We just looked in and kept going on. Rick’s talking to Johanna who we’ve met a few times, so nice, taking her time walking the Camino. She’s the one who left our wonderful place a couple of nights ago at 5:30am and walked up in the dark through the woods. She moves slowly and wants a lot of time, but wow. She told us today she was worried about wolves. I’d be worried about getting lost and not seeing an arrow to point my way. 

But, whoever this group is, they built an amazing labyrinth years ago. Both Rick and I walked it and it probably took us close to 15 minutes and not going super slowly, just quietly. 

• 

• 

Then the cows changed – Jersey now? Not bushy and tan. And finally a few donkeys. I’ve heard them periodically over the days, but hadn’t seen any. 

• 

• 

And, finally, a little path that led over a creek, realized later that it was the same shot that was in one of my books.

• 

We had a great day in O Cebreiro after our hike, as I wrote about yesterday. But later I did get time in the church and the priest who was so dedicated to the Camino is buried here and the Pilgrim’s Prayer displayed to him was/is wonderful. Cut off the title – but it is Pilgrim’s Prayer. Think it’s similar if not the same as the one in … Burgos, I think.

• 

• 

So we started off today after breakfast, this is what it looked like:

• 

This is what I looked like without the dress and with a fanny pack instead of a pack:

• 

We were mostly warm enough, dry enough – not – but it made for a wonderful dream walk, quiet and I really enjoyed until I was cold enough that I was very happy to land here. We got chairs next to the fire and thawed a bit.

But the result of all this rain and why the area of Galicia is called the Ireland of Spain is not just because of the music and the ancient Celtic houses, it’s also because it looks like this:

• 

• 

• 

It started to lighten up a mile from the end and it was beautiful, plus both Rick and I were listening to fun things which motivated us, both dharma and then the Moth. Thank goodness for the Moth Radio for some of the end of the day miles. 

We’re now in Triacastela, named for 3 castles that are no longer to be seen. The church’s front porch is from the 6th (!) century with the rest added as needed after various wars and nature’s gifts. 

Only one restaurant in the small town, people very nice everywhere. Rick and I have a cozy little room on the ground floor of our very small hotel/albergue and it looks like it’ll be quiet!

Rick’s here! Notice the orange added to my pink on the map. It’s a wee line because we had such a short day, but oh my, he landed in a great spot. First, last night continued wonderfully with dinner after his arrival with the group I’ve been having meals with, then window open, quiet, just the river and occasionally the animal bells. 

Farewell in the morning to Herrerias with the fog coming in and out and then the sun coming out later, shot taken out our window as we left.

• 

Then further up the mountain with the Spanish flag waving:

• 

On the way went through a tiny town that had a few solid looking houses. This one caught my eye because it’s still used as those big houses in Akerreta used to be used – animals on the bottom, people at the top.

• 

• 

Gorgeous hike, not hard at all with a hot chocolate at the top at a little town, just to make the hike last a bit longer. Then we came into the best little town, O Cebreiro. Here’s a photo from the hill next to the town.

• 

50 inhabitants, many houses remodeled as albergues or hotels. This time we actually have 2 double beds instead of twins, luxury. Definitely stepping up now that there’s two of us in a room. 

Here’s Rick looking at our window, just delighted with the town, history and best – the church is wonderful and has music playing. I’m going to go sit – he’s already there –  when I finish this post. 

• 

This town has a wonderful history. Both ancient and recent. Wise Pilgrim: 

“O Cebreiro has grown from a small and ancient village of dairy farmers into a small and ancient village of tourism. 

It has played an important role throughout the history of the Camino. It was the parish priest, Father Elias Valina Sempedro, who is most responsible for the resurgence of the Camino. It was he that first painted the yellow arrows, and the tales that surrounded him doing so are the stuff of legend. Once, in 1982, he and his white Fiat van parked along a trail in the Pyrenees. It was a time when Basque separatists were training blows with the Guardia Civil, and when they came upon him, suspicions were aroused.

He opened the van door to reveal cans of yellow road paint and identified himself as the parish priest of O Cebreiro (which was far away). When asked what he was doing, his answer was as simple as it was prophetic: ‘I am preparing a great invasion!’ It was he that orchestrated the installation of the granite hitos (mile markers) as well.”

Wise Pilgrim continues: “The parish church is also the setting for a miracle. According to legend, The Holy Grail was hidden there and in the 14th century produced a miracle that was certified by Pope Innocent VIII. A peasant from a local village braved the hike up to O Cebreiro during a dangerous snowstorm to hear mass. The priest chastised him for endangering his life for a bit of bread and wine. At that the bread and wine turned into flesh and blood, cementing the reputation of this small hamlet.”

We’re now in Galicia, which was Celtic in the 800’s in origin before the Romans. The music – you think it’s Irish and then realize it’s just a little different, definitely a lot of it makes you want to dance with pointed foot and lots of intricate jumping and moving. The Celtic houses were round with thatched roofs and we saw a number of these on the way up and there are several in this village, though obviously or more recent origin than the 9th century. 

• 

• 

• 

The church’s foundations are from the 9th century, don’t know what happened to the churches in between, but the town claims the church is 9th century. Actually, from Pilgrimage Road: “In 1962 excavators found the meager foundations of a pre-Romanesque church under the streets of the village. Between 1965 and 1971 they rebuilt it from the ground up. Inside what remains of the medieval church are the Romanesque baptismal font and the chalice and paten.”

However, this is where the miracle happened. The Pilgrimage Road continues with this translation of an early 15th c poem by a Licendiado Molina:

I want to tell you – a miraculous story
about a host – which was being consecrated.
You will see changed – into perfect flesh
what was at first – was (its) hidden (nature)
An idiot of a priest – who was offering it
doubted the truth – of the consecration
The holy vision – was demonstrated to him,
as it is today – in O Cebreiro.

“The particles remaining from the miracle were eventually placed in a silver reliquary donated by Queen Isabel herself. The church’s statue of the Virgin is said to have inclined her head so as to better view the miracle.”

Ok, you have to love all of that. Such strong beliefs, no wonder the churches often feel welcoming and well loved. And now I’m going to go sit and enjoy the music, the feel and maybe some quiet. 

It was an easy day today, in to my hotel by 1:30 and such a sweet albergue. Just outside the town of Herrerias. I’m surrounded by green pastures, can hear both the river and the cow and sheep bells as well as the radio from the bar. Here’s a view from the balcony along the hotel.

• 

 And the food was good! Had a great lunch and am already looking forward to dinner in 3-4 hours. Sue and I have had all of our meals together for days now and we laugh that we get in, cleaned up, eat lunch. Huh, it’s 4 – 4:30 and yep, we’ll be good to eat in another 3-4 hours. Weird schedule, but it works. Rick’s coming in tonight and still on American thinking, re no – can’t eat that late. 

We start tomorrow with our shortest hike of the Camino, 5.6 miles straight up a mountain. Don’t imagine it’s all the way up, but it’s enough that the business that takes people up via horseback a-la-pilgrims-of-old does a steady business. 3 of our friends did it today and said it was great. 2 more are doing it tomorrow. Sue says no, then she’d regret not having walked the whole thing. I’d probably think about it, but can imagine what Rick would say for his first day of walking if I rode instead. So – probably not!

I’ll walk into Santiago righteous indeed…

My calves are still talking after the steep downhill couple days ago, hoping going straight uphill will undo that talking. 

Here’s a photo of chestnuts on the ground – big around here and saw people parked by the side of the road picking up chestnuts. An ancient woman was stooping and reeeaaaccchhhinggg out to pick up one at a time. She had already filled one apron pocket and was still collecting. I couldn’t believe people just walked by without helping. So I started looking and realized you do have to be a bit picky, rich color, nothing eaten into it. I gave her one, was going to find more, but realized her hands were already full. Sweetest face, talked a lot and I didn’t understand but maybe 1 in 10 words, thick accent. So cool. I love this adventure. 

• 

Not a single church today to explore. There was one that looked like it might be open with a curtain covering half the door, but it also looked like it might fall down on you if you walked in, so kept walking. 

It’s beautiful in this area, walking between the road and the river, flat pavement with easy hills. 

• 

• 

• 

The country has changed again, heading into mountains tomorrow. I don’t know why everyone makes such a big deal about the Pyrenees on the first day, then again, I was straight from CO. It was completely beautiful and also very doable. These next mountains look steeper and with more challenging trails. But maybe not!

The photo below is from a mural on the outside of a church outside Ponferrada, I’ve never seen the gospels pictured as animals. Attracting pagan practioners? Particular traits to all but Matthew?

• 

And this bit of a video is from where I took 10 minutes to eat a banana and sit with the brook and birds.

I passed the most complete castle on the Camino in Ponferrada, built by the Knights Templar, but it wasn’t open and I had a long day so couldn’t wait.

• 

• 

There’s also a castle here in Villafranca, but it’s not open to the public, but still cool!

• 

This town is wonderful, medieval falling apart mixed with updated, mixed with renovated and some new. The main plaza reflects this – churches in the background, old cobbled streets, restaurant/residence that looks good in the front, but has been sprayed heavily with the yellow insulation I’ve noted before that both keeps things warm and probably holds together ancient walls.

• 

This doorway is from a the Iglesia de Santiago – the church for pilgrims. We weren’t allowed to take photos of the inside, very bare, felt so old and not added/changed except to keep it standing over the centuries. The north portal, shown here, is from 1186 and is called the Puerta del Perdon. “According to tradition pilgrims too sick to go on could enter the church through this door, take communion, and receive pardon for their sins, a privilege confirmed by the 15th c Popes Urban II and Calixto III (great names). Then they could return home and not go all the way to Santiago. Evidently a French pilgrim in 1965 fell very sick and requested the door be opened. He prayed, healed and returned home contentedly. I’m not taking that option – plus I’m not sick!

• 

This church, Iglesia de San Francisco was huge – you can see the people in front to get a sense of scale. It wasn’t open, sadly, I’d have loved to see inside. The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: “Tradition holds that San Francisco (Saint Frances of Assisi) himself founded this church in 1214 on his pilgrimage to Compostela (Santiago).” There are a few pieces of the church from the 13th c, but most is now a 15th c Gothic church. The description of it sounds incredible, but I’m not meant to see it.

• 

• 

Four of the friends I’ve been with for the last two weeks are moving on tomorrow, doing a long hike that’s broken in to two days for Sue and me. We used the same travel agency out of England – they just happen to have an office in Boulder, of all places. Rick’s probably going to be disappointed, but his first day we only go 5.1 miles. It is supposed to be basically going straight up. Only short day of the trip. Sue and I will be thrilled!

First, a farewell to Rabanal with a gorgeous sunrise:

The scenery has suddenly changed to ferns, cows, trees:

• 

Passed a few little towns, eating lunch on the way. This one hut/stop was actually a town, Wise Pilgrim wrote: “Manjarin wins the prize for the least inhabited inhabited town on the whole of the Camino. Exactly one person lives here year round, joined occasionally by friends and pilgrims. His name is Tomas and he holds himself to be the last of the Knights Templar. No services…

• 

Climb up wasn’t bad, but the downhill was long and rocky so took it very slowly. This sign at the top of one downhill wrote: “a pilgrim without good humor is like the empty world.” And, really, everyone was good humored about the long trek down. I finished my book, In Love with the World by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Incredible. So many things to ponder as I walk. 

• 

This is what part of the descent looked like looking back up:

• 

I just took it really slowly and at the bottom our whole group collected over time for lunch at an albergue run by a guy from Houston who lives there for the season, then goes back home for the winter months. It was so nice to chat with someone who spoke English, got a great salad instead of the usual meat/cheese/giant bread sandwich. And they made the best hot chocolate yet, so two more people joined me when they saw mine. The owner and I then exchanged stores about the Rice and A&M bands competing at football games. Flash from the past! There were four of us at the table with Texas roots. 

Then I got to my town for the night, Molinaseca. A beautiful town. Here’s a day shot, then a night shot. Sue said it looked like Diagon Alley.

• 

• 

Tomorrow’s a long one, passing a town that has a castle – wish I could see, but won’t have energy probably. I’ll just admire as I pass. 

Here’s morning views of the Cathedral on my way out of Astorga:

• 

• 

Then right after the cathedral, I saw this sign and a memorial re the peninsular war with Napoleon.

• 

• 

I’ve read a ton of books based during this time and realized that I rarely see anything about it when I’ve been in London. Granted, maybe I wasn’t looking, but to see these notes brings back how rough that war was. War is always awful, but for some reason, this one isn’t too present in current language except everyone knows aboutBattle of Trafalgar (recognized at Trafalgar Square in London) and Waterloo  which finally ended Napoleon’s reign and come back. 

Then a long walk. Actually, only 12 miles, but for some reason the second half felt long. Luckily, between book, The Moth radio and Poetry Unbound podcasts, finally got my mind off how tired my legs were. I think I’ve slowed down to about 25 minute miles, whew, really flying along. I do take breaks thus part of the slow pace. 

Another interesting artistic interpretation for pilgrims at a more modern church:

• 

This town is the only town on the entire Camino named after a woman:

• 

And an impromptu creation by passerby pilgrims, went the length of the fence:

• 

And, then walked into Rabal del Camino. 

• 

I know it looks like yet another ancient Spanish town, but something’s different about it. It’s really small, but feels solid. The town before this was literally falling down – and was noted as so in the Wise Pilgrim, the app I’ve started using. Great details. 

But Rabal feels welcoming, kind, I don’t know. Thought it was just me, but then talked with a couple of guys over lunch, both late 20’s, episcopal priests, great people. One a chaplain in the army (“I differ from others of my profession, I profoundly disagree with war and think there better be a very good reason for being there – not for oil, etc.) and the other from Houston at the cathedral downtown. They said it first, that walking into this town was different. Feels healthy and welcoming. Yep –  I thought the same. AND there is a vesper service with the monks every night at 7. Definitely looking forward to it. A tiny church, only holds max 25 (that might be a little bit because of COVID). 

Another sign of this cool town was this little table and the poem next to it:

• 

Of course I had to take part, so dropped in an euro and got this poem as a random pick:

               The small man builds cages for everyone he knows
While the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low,
                            Keeps dropping keys all night long
                            For the beautiful rowdy prisoners.
                                                                                                              Hafiz

I did go to the vesper service, sung by a single monk (the other one was sick) and the returns were sung by the woman who sat next to me. The only villager who was there aside from the pilgrims. She told me she was born in the town and clearly knew and took part in the services. Seems like it could be lonely for the 2 monks, except they probably know everyone in town and take care of counseling, helping, and whatever else the community might need. Both of them had great voices!

It was nice, sung in Latin, so couldn’t understand anything, though there was a Spanish translation running parallel in the program. Just knowing that services had been held there since the 1100’s is amazing.  It was really small, there were probably maybe 20 max people and that basically filled the space with COVID space between people. There were patches everywhere as part of ongoing renovation, but I did look a bit gingerly at the roof.

• 

Then dinner with 8 of us here at our hotel, Refugio. Should be fun, then the three amigos go on farther than me tomorrow, sad to see them go. Maybe I can get them to come up to Boulder to visit. Sue’s with me at least one more night, maybe a couple more, not sure about Bev. Things do shift and turn on this journey.