10 October 2017
Walking Day 27:
21 kilometers

Tuesday the 10th of October, finally a day that is written the same in the U.S. as the rest of the world, 10-10-2017 or 10/10/2017. All of the world writes the date dd/mm/yyyy while for some inexplicable reason, in the United States, we write mm/dd/yyyy. The international format makes more sense to me, as it is the smallest to the largest. Regardless, today it October 10, and it is Tuesday, and I started walking from the mountain pilgrim town of O’Cebreiro (the town exists almost solely for the Camino de Santiago). It was cold as we started, about 8 C (42 F), but because there was no breeze as there was the day before, it was not bad.

Today we passed the 150 kilometers-to-go mark, somewhere during the walk down the mountain. When we arrive in Sarria tomorrow afternoon, we will have 110 kilometers left to walk to Santiago de Compostela. To qualify for a “Compostela” at the pilgrim’s office in Santiago de Compostela near the Cathedral, one must show by the stamps in their credential that they have walked at least the last 100 kilometers. Therefore, many pilgrims start their pilgrimage in Sarria. We will see that there are more pilgrims walking after Sarria.

Here are the pictures for today – I will fill in addition text tomorrow.

Leaving O’Cebreiro, high above the valleys, the view was expansive and stunning.

Starting at the top of a mountain, I thought we would be going down but there were some good climbs ahead of us before the downhill section.

The pilgrim statue at Alto de San Roque, at altitude 1370 meters, the high point.

More stunning views as we traverse the mountains leaving the Bierzo Valley.

Another very steep, but fairly short uphill section. Just after this was a section that was steeper than climbing stairs. Very slow going there.

One of the nicer Galician Camino way markers indicating 147.4 kilometers to go to Santiago de Compostela. We now have less than 150 kilometers left to walk.

Along the top of the hill, just before starting the long downhill section into Triacastela, we can see in the distance a quarry in the valley.

One more slight up hill section before the long downhill starts.

We stopped to have lunch at this little cafe a little more than half way down the hill. This was perhaps the second best lunch we had on the Camino – second to the vegetarian place halfway up the hill yesterday.

More forest walking as we approached Triacastela.

Next: Walking to Sarria via the Monastery at Samos