fredag den 16. august 2013

Ambasmestas to Fondria via O'Cebreiro, 16.08

Yesterday I had dinner at a nice restaurant. It was actually my first time if eating out while In the Camino since so much bread, pasta and starch in general is served. I usually go to a tienda (a small supermarket) and buy cheese, chorizo, tuna or something similar. Then I know exactly what I am having. Besides that I munch in nuts along the day and the occasional piece of dark chocolate. When walking 6+ hours day after day you need some extra energy.

After dinner I started having stomach aches and they only got worse during the night which ended in me getting only a few hours of sleep. Besides that I was extremely cold so when I woke up this morning I was not exactly feeling ready for a challenging day where the highest and longest mountain on the Camino had  to be conquered! 

It was such a cold morning and to make things worse my stomach was still acting up. I quickly felt that my energy levels were low and that it would be a day more about getting through than anything else. I walked my own pace and took my time so for most of the day I was on my own. A few times I tried to eat but every time it came back up. :-(

The walk from the albergue to the bottom of O'Cebreiro was up and down for around 7 kms. O'Cebreiro is at around 2200 metres of altitude and it is around 6 kms getting to the top. In other words it was STEEP and I made so many stops along the way because I kept feeling dizzy and lightheaded.


The walk was beautiful though. The first few kilometres were the steepest and was in a forest so it was hard to see how much climbing had been done already.

But then I came out if the forest and the most amazing scenery appeared.


But I was still nowhere near the top and unfortunately I couldn't enjoy the scenery as much as I wanted to because I had to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.



A cloud on the mountain. That is how high the mountain is. I ended up walking in that cloud.




When I was finally at the summit there was a flat section before coming into O'Cebreiro. And all of a sudden this was in front of me:


I had finally made it to Galicia and Castilla Y Leon is now behind me. Santiago de Compostela is situated in the region of Galicia so that means I am getting closer to my destination. :-)


And then I reached O'Cebreiro. It is a small village with the oldest church in the Camino:


Unfortunately it is also very touristy and there were so many busses parked along the road.



It was cold up there as it was cloudy and windy and I was absolutely knackered after the 13 km walk on very challenging sections on an empty stomach. I tried eating some cheese and that helped a little. We had planned to stay at Fondria which meant around 16 kms from the summit. The guide book lead us to believe it was a flat road getting there or at least downhill. That was stretching it a bit and I am glad I could keep the cheese down otherwise I think I would have had to stop earlier on.


On the way I was talking to Sue from Australia about their issues with aboriginals (she is a police officer so she knows what she is talking about) and later on I was talking to Siobhan from Ireland about abortion and euthanasia. That is one of the thing I love about doing this. Talking to people I would never talk to otherwise and get another perspective of things. And you don't know if you are walking next to a student or a CEO and it seems like your job doesn't define you out here like it normally does in society. Me like. :-)

It is clear that Galicia is an agricultural region since I passed so many cows along the way and the smell is definitely landly. ;-)



The final climb of the day which was very steep and not mentioned in the guide books. I think we were all swearing over that since we thought we were done climbing.

We are staying in a very small village called Fondria which we reached at 14.30 after having walked 29 kms. The albergue here is very nice.  It is called Reboleira and is €8 a night.






It even has a living room so one doesn't have to lie in bed all day long.


 
The view from the living room is also not bad at all.

My stomach is a little better and I managed to nap a little when I got the Albergue so I am hoping I will be fine again tomorrow. 

We are only 140 kms from Santiago which means I have walked 160 kms in 6 days!!! By our calculations we will be there by the 22nd of August which is two days earlier than I expected. And the least days are even going to be easy with less kms every day as I have done do far.

Thanks for reading. :-)

2 kommentarer:

  1. Det er vildt som omgivelserne har ændret sig, fra de første billeder til de nyeste. Ked af at høre at du bøvler med din mave, håber den snart arter sig! Kan du ikke få taget nogle billeder af dig selv også? Kram

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  2. Er det småt med internetadgangen? Savner nyt, her på din fødselsdag.... Tillykke stort kram <3

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