Day 42 - 32.8 Kilometres

Villafranca to O Cebeiro

We are back into green country. The mountains are so green that the colour even seems to bounce up and tint the sky faintly greenish. The hills are dotted frequently with little villages and contented cows. The cows are not fenced, and sometimes it seems like they are doing their own Bovine Camino as they walk along with us to greener pastures.

In the little villages, many of the cats and dogs have discovered that perigrinos carry cheese and choice ham. In particular, one small spotted cat in front of the local tienda hopped up into our laps and looked pathetic until he had consumed most of an egg and a good bit of cheese. He did reward us with thunderous purrs and contentedly curling up for a while on both of our laps after his snack. We enjoyed the "cat therapy".

Hospital de _ the last town before the big climb up O Cebriero mountain is a picturesue village, one that could easily pass as a town in the Swiss Alps. At the foot of the town was a COLD stream with a little park. We took a long break soaking our feet in the icy water and bracing ourselves for the climb. Supposedly OCebriero is the steepest climb of the Camino, but I refuse to believe it. Perhaps it just feels so because it is the last 6Km of a 30plus Km day.

The views from the peak were stunning, and everyone poured out of the Albergue to watch the sunset over the mountains. A German church group sang some hymns as the sun slipped behind the hills.

Views aside, OCebriero is also supposedly one of the sites of the Holy Grail. A German pilgrim was lost in the valley, and followed the sound of a shepherd´s pipes up the mountain. The music lead him to OCebreiro on the Grail. I wonder if he still continued on to Santiago...