Distance traveled: 25.7 km

The first 45 minutes of today was my favorite part of the entire Camino.

I set out from La Faba while it was still dark so that I’d get to see the sun rise as I climbed up to O Cebreiro. While the change in elevation was “only” 430 meters between La Faba and O Cebreiro, as you can see below, the route out of La Faba was pretty steep, just like the climb into La Faba the day before.

I left the village with Adam and a few other pilgrims who’d stayed at our albergue, but the moment we hit the trail, I got a burst of energy and motivation that powered me ahead of them. I found a happy rhythm tapping into both my lower and upper body muscles (thanks to the trekking poles), and it almost felt like I was flying up the mountain. This is what I could see looking back to the east as I approached the hamlet of La Laguna at the end of that steepest point:

The sky got brighter, and the path a bit less intense, as I continued up.

Somewhere between La Laguna and O Cebreiro, we crossed into Galicia, after so many days – since before Burgos! – in Castilla y León. We had finally arrived in the province where Santiago de Compostela is located!

From now on, our path markers will look like this, with very precise distances (down to three decimal places) to Santiago:

As I continued climbing, I found myself feeling more and more joyful. While the beauty of my surroundings certainly contributed to this, the main source of this joy came from within. I felt that each step forward and up, on one of the most challenging stretches of the entire route, symbolized a step I’d taken away from my struggles of the past couple of years – away from innumerable overnights in the office, physical and mental exhaustion, feeling like my head was being forced underwater while I struggled to come up for air. Each step, and the physical strength I used to accomplish it, reminded me that I had not been defeated. I had saved myself, and little by little over the course of the Camino, I’d started to come back to life. I felt a vitality and sense of connection with my truest self, and maybe even with God, that I hadn’t felt in such a long time. It’s hard to put into words just how powerful this was. I should have felt exhausted when I arrived at the top, especially considering how fast I climbed, but instead, I felt super energized. I felt I’d conquered an epic challenge. I wish I could start every morning in exactly this way.

We really were on top of a mountain at this point. Looking north and south, there were only valleys on either side. The clouds passed through quickly, allowing for some pretty cool video, particularly next to the statue above.

Now, I have to admit that once again, I kind of breezed through what is otherwise a pretty significant place. This has been a significant stop for pilgrims for centuries (perhaps they felt just like I did upon their arrival!). O Cebreiro is home to the oldest church on the entire Camino Francés; it dates back to the 9th century. I did not go in; I am not even certain that I saw it. I was on such a high from my climb that I was only focused on the scenery around me. I will do better next time.

Mark had spent the night here and was waiting for me and Adam to arrive in order to walk with us the rest of the day, so I headed to his little hotel after taking a lot of photos, and Adam arrived a short time later. We had a coffee and then began our descent into Galicia.

Galicia is often compared to England or to Brittany in France. It’s full of lush greenery, and it rains a lot. (As we’ll shortly learn, the weather can move in on you quickly.) It’s another region of Spain where the people speak something other than Spanish; here, it’s Gallego – essentially a blend of Spanish and Portuguese. (I was pleased to have studied both languages, which made my understanding of the Gallego I heard relatively easy.) There is a lot of agriculture, and we passed many cows over the next several hours.

As we neared lunchtime, the skies turned grey, and suddenly it began to rain again. We hadn’t been expecting this, so I had a fun moment of taking off my backpack and frantically trying to get all my rain gear on. Thankfully, about 10 minutes later we came upon a restaurant full of similarly wet pilgrims, and we managed to get a table and a hot bowl of caldo gallego – the typical Galician soup made with potatoes and green cabbage. It was the perfect thing for warming up!

We waited for the rain to pass, and fortunately we were able to go the rest of the day without any further showers.

We arrived in the town of Triacastela in the late afternoon and ended up in an albergue with a fireplace in the main room. We had a feast that night – Raul’s friend Joan (a guy from near Barcelona) was celebrating his birthday, so we got some octopus, which is one of the staples of Galician cooking. It was delicious!

Here are the stats for today. I don’t know if “Flights Climbed” includes down as well as up, but either way – that’s a lot of flights in a single day!