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. :-)