Day 12 Wednesday 11th May - Laguna de Castilla to Triacastela

May 11, 2022

Today's walk was a biggie. Not so much the 24km distance, but firstly just getting into Galicia, and then secondly to O Cebreiro which for many represents a starting point for the last push to Santiago. After a lay in, we hit the track at 7.15. Within 20 minutes of hauling uphill we arrived into Galicia. Half and hour later, still climbing steeply, we got to O Cebreiro. The sun was just rising, so the climb was made in the cool air of dawn. Looking back towards the east, the hills and mountains were beautiful in their hazy mist. Exactly how I wanted it to be. I was quietly buzzing deep down inside.

A coffee in O Cebreiro was followed by a wander around to the church. Just next to it was the bust of the former Parish Priest Don Elias Valiña Sampedro. Now this Gent is widely considered to be the Father of the Camino. He dreamt up the "flechas amarillas" (yellow arrows), and spent so much of his life trying to "restore and preserve the credibility of the camino". It was in O Cebreiro that the "caminoguides" were born. So without old Dom, the chances are that Mrs Norridge and I would have been down on the Costa del Sol drinking Watney's Red Barrel and singing "Torremelinos, Torremelinos" for a holiday.

According to our book, a kind of "Bradshaw's" for Camino wally's, it was a 21k roll down the hills into the throbbing metropolis of Triacastela. Well it blinking well wasn't. There was much "uppy downy" for nearly 9k. In fact the last 500m into Alto do Pojo surpassed the steepness of any of yesterday's agonies. At the Alto we stopped for drinks and the usual Bocadillos. We got chatting to Tom from Florida. A nice enough chap, but with a foghorn voice. Readers in the Brighton area may well have heard his half of the conversation with us!

Stunning!

Statue with a bad toe!

The views ahead of us were breathtaking. A real change from the dark orange soil and vineyards of the previous days. Now it was sweeping hills with lush green fields. Stone walls had replaced wire fencing. It could have been the Dale's, or West of Ireland. I couldn't resist singing "Stone walls and the grass is green" at the top of my voice. A line from a song by one of my favourite Irish bands, the Saw Doctors.

Shortly after leaving Alto do Pojo two fellas were passing us, and one said in a great Irish accent, "I see ya got collared da the Yank back there", with a playful glint in his eye. And that was it. For the next hour(ish) the time flew past as we walked and talked to Ray and Gary from Waterford. I literally haven't got the time to write about our conversation. Both were in their 50's and previously done 2 of the shorter Caminos. Ray described his passions as "Travel, music, beer and football" - consequently, we had little to talk about!

It may have been "like rush hour in Kerry" but the Irish lads were pretty jumpy about the cattle

Typically Irish, they were warm, generous, open hearted and straight talking. Great company. Eventually we stopped for drinks; which ended up being a couple of beers. I've no idea where it was, as I lost all track of where we were, and the time was. They headed off, and we then slowly wandered the final 7k downhill into Triacastela. Day 9 of walking was done. Easily the best day so far. Stunningly beautiful verdant scenery great company and some good landmarks achieved. 139 km to go to Santiago!