Las Herrerias to Fonfria (18.00 miles/28.98 kms)

Today was a long and challenging day, most of which was walking uphill in cold, foggy, and rainy weather.

I left at 7:30 to make sure I would be climbing the longest stretch in the cool of the morning to the top at O Cebreiro. The sky was clear and it looked like it was going to be a warm sunny day but it was cold, foggy, and it rained some of the day.

There were a few other pilgrims starting up the Camino on the asphalt road out of Las Herrerias. It starts out steep right away and stays that way for the next four and a half miles, and never levels out during that distance.

After about a half mile from Las Herrerias the Camino splits in two, the dirt trail to the left and the asphalt Camino road for the bicycles straight ahead. I chose the asphalt road because the trail is very rocky and rutted. Unfortunately, the asphalt road is about two miles further in distance but it is just as steep.

Once you get to Laguna de Castile there is a bar that everyone on both paths seems to stop at. It was interesting to see the carnage that the climb inflicted on so many of the pilgrims. People look sweaty and spent, and you could hear that it was tough more than once. There were two woman at the bar that could barely speak and I heard both ask the clerk for a taxi. The taxi driver happen to come in and told them that his mini van was full this trip and he’d be back. On the short walk to O Cebreiro I passed at least three taxis going back and forth to get more pilgrims.

I can’t say it wasn’t tough for me, because it was and even in that chilly weather I was completely drenched with sweat. I had forgotten that what they call the top is not the end of the climb. And as the clerk said, “it’s only two more kilometers.” Ha! At the top, O Cebreiro, the Camino climbs another few hundred feet in elevation, and for the next eight miles it is like a roller coaster with many downhills and many long and short steep uphills (see the elevation chart). I have to say I noticed a big difference in my lack of condition compared to two years ago.

Once I got to O Cebreiro a heavy fog rolled in and the temperature dropped to the low forties. After about an hour it started to rain, and not for very long, but enough to stop and put on rain gear.

After a very long steep climb on the dirt and rocky Camino, it suddenly popped out at a bar at Alto do Pollo. I was tired and cold and I remember this bar from the last time I was here because they have a rotating fireplace blazing away. It was a welcome comfort on both my visits here. Funny that it’s called Alto do Pollo but I see why, because there are chickens running around everywhere in and outside the bar.

I had originally thought of going all the way to Triacastela, another six to seven miles, but after a hot chocolate and resting I decided to stop at the first place I could find. I saw the Pension Casa Lucas in Fonfria on my app, called, and booked a room.

Fonfria was another two miles and when I get there I was a little surprised by the village, if you could call it that. It’s accessed by a short chopped up concrete and asphalt road that parallels the highway. There are a few houses and one alberque. No store or anything else and maybe a population of less than one hundred people.

It is obviously a sheep town because the street was covered in sheep droppings and the smell was obvious too. I won’t tell the owners, but I had to rinse the bottoms of my boots in the shower so I would not smell sheep manure on my room!

When I saw the Pension I was a little skeptical at first, but once I walked in I saw that it was a nice place. The owners and workers were very hospitable and welcoming, like most on the Camino!

My room was newer and very clean, always a plus, and it was the typical €35 s night. I had dinner here, which was the typical pilgrim meal for €10, which of course comes with either a little bottle of water, a beer, or a giant bottle of wine. Too bad I don’t drink wine.

The dinner was actually one of the better pilgrim meals, and the salad was fantastic with giant dark red tomatoes. I think there are six other pilgrims staying here as I saw them at dinner.

Tomorrow the weather forecast is for heavy rain all day long. The rain I won’t mind too much if it’s not cold. The elevation chart for tomorrow’s Camino looks like mostly a gradual downhill, a plus after today. I was hoping to make it past Sarria, which is where eighty percent of pilgrims start their Camino, but it might be a little too far from here. I might stop short of Sarria and then go through the next day and stay just outside the town. I am not in a rush and I’ll just play it by ear.

Best wishes to all,

Ted

As always, please excuse the typos, grammar, and spelling, etc., because I am writing this on my phone and don’t always review my blog. And, even if I don’t review it, it’s s good a good excuse for my mistakes!

Leaving Las Herrerias in the morning

Starting the steep uphill climb. The photo doesn’t reflect how steep it is

Looking back on the climb up. Beautiful view I’d appreciate more if I wasn’t drenched in sweat and hugging and puffing

Made it to the so called top, O Cebreiro

O Cebreiro, beautiful little tourist village

O Cebreiro

Nice forest trail coming out of O Cebreiro, and another uphill climb to the top?

It’s beautiful, I just wish it wasn’t another uphill to the top

Hey is this the top? No! Another downhill after this and then another uphill. Notice the fog

This was the climb just before coming to Alto do Pollo. It started at the bottom, but what a beautiful view

The bar at Alto do Pollo

Chickens everywhere!

That fireplace felt good!

That’s Casa Lucas, my home for the night? Looks a little shaky. Is that a dead dog on the road or a guard dog? Those blotches on the asphalt are from the sheep. Watch where you step!

Casa Lucas looks a little better from the front

Hey, the rooms is nice

New and clean bathroom

Wow, great view from my window

Elevation chart. Look at that climb out of Las Herrerias

Hey, I thought the top was back at O Cebreiro?