Day 11 - Villafranca to Samos

A day with great weather and a lot of climbing. We started early with a picnic breakfast in our room. The climbing started immediately. After 5 km I discovered that I had left my bicycle bar-bag outside the hotel! I left Derek and flew down the hill. The bag contained my wallet, passport, iPad and our stamped pilgrim “Credencials “! Happily it was OK and I got the hotel to order a taxi, dismantled my bike, and was back with Derek having only lost about 40 minutes of our day. 

The early morning was sunny with no wind, but cool. Notice Derek drinking coffee in full kit with the chair pulled into the road to get sun. It was a very quiet village. The road was uphill all morning with the motorway bridges always rising above us. At one point the road was blocked and we had to descend again to find a way round. it was depressing to lose height but it wasn’t too bad once done.  At 12:20 we left Castile and Leon and entered Galicia. 

The road became steeper for the last 4 km up to the village of O Cebreiro and Derek’s bad knee had returned. We rested every 500m and eventually finished our initial climb - which had started around 7:30 - at 13:18. The village of  O Cebreiro is probably the most famous on the Camino and is very busy with both pilgrims and car tourists. It has a series of pallozas, or round stone houses with a straw roof, which were inhabited until relatively recently. It also has a cute pre-Romanesque church which had been open on my previous Caminos but was sadly closed. Never mind, a bar was open and we had a beer in the sun. 

The scenery looking from the village over the green Galician mountains and valleys is stunning. 

Setting off from the village there were two further stiff climbs to the Alto do San Roque at 1,270 meters and the Alto do Polo at 1,335 meters. At the Alto do San Roque is a statue of a pilgrim holding on to his hat. With good reason. On my first Camino I was nearly blown away and on the second Lindsay and I almost suffered hypothermia in cold rain and winds! Today, warm and a light breeze. 



We had “lunch” at a bar at the Alto do Polo. Derek ordered a pie which he considered, on tasting, disgusting. That is saying something given his adventurous appetite! He had to have beer and a Kit-Kat chocolate bar for lunch instead. Mostly downhill after this to our destination of Samos. We showered and visited the huge monastery in the village. 

Relaxed with G&Ts before an excellent dinner. Finished the evening, as always, with Patxarans.