There had been minor disharmony at the end of supper last night over the general wake-up call time. Our Dalai Lama host had wanted 7am, but the general pilgrim population voted for 7:30am. So 7:30 had been agreed upon.

Jade was unhappy about this, as she was keen to get earlier starts back on our agenda. In general, we have now been setting off around 8:30am, which is about an hour later than before… (especially since the clocks went forward), and subsequently haven’t been arriving at our day’s destination until around 6pm…sometimes even afterwards.

In some ways, we were all keen to get going sooner, if only it didn’t feel so damned early!
In any case, we agreed to stagger alarms at 06:33, 06:42, 07:00, 07:07 

I’m not sure if the Dalai Lama heard us, or whether he just blatantly wanted an earlier time after all, but shortly after 7am the whole albergue was treated to a wholesome rendition of Ave Maria sung throughout the household!

I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Music makes me happy and moves me indescribably. I am a lucky girl to have it as my profession and there is rarely a day that goes past when I don’t count my blessings on this score. (See what I did there?!)

It makes me think that I should wake up to music, rather than the news, more often. We were then treated to some operatic arias over breakfast.

Despite now having some extra k’s to cover yesterday’s shortfall, I was actually glad of an extra 2km on the flat as a warm up, before any sort of incline began.

Everyone we had spoken with, has spoken about O Cebreiro in terrified tones. They say it just goes on and on.
Even Franz the Formidable had sent a text saying “it is 1450m high and very, very difficult to go”!
Just knowing that it was twice the height gain as we’d achieved yesterday, meant that I was dreading it.

It was a beautiful day. The storm had cleared the air and the sun could shine effortlessly. We gained height steadily with enjoyable banter.

At a fairly early “bier hydration” stop, where again I also couldn’t resist the freshly squeezed orange juice, we discovered that only Hartmut’s glass had the pilgrim’s yellow arrow on it!
Much delight! I made a mental note to find him such a glass when we got to Santiago…

In the bar, we met two elderly gentlemen drinking coffee. They were from Sheffield. Super fit and friendly. One was 82 years old and still working as an upholsterer!

When we left the bar, Hartmut hung back slightly mysteriously. Turns out that he had asked the bar lady if he could purchase the glass he had been drinking out of! Hilarious! It was a big, heavy glass that weighed at least a kilo! Not only that, but he didn’t want a clean one, he wanted the very one he’d been drinking from, dregs and all!

Oh how we laughed at our “turtle man” and his heavy load, just making his task even harder! Somehow quite endearing.

We soon crossed into Galicia. Land of good music and food…or at least we were hopeful! We met up again at the Galicia stone with the delightful and charming men from Sheffield and exchanged photo opportunities. So wonderful to see such hardy sorts (in just shorts and shirts) with such an air of delectation and delight about them. It’s wonderfully infectious.

The climb continued in a jovial vein, until we entered a thick cloud of fog, which felt like climbing into a twilight zone. The temperature immediately dropped and suddenly anything could happen.

Something did happen. We arrived at O Cebreiro. At first I couldn’t believe it - I could hear Scottish bagpipe and fiddle music. I thought I must be dreaming, but then realised that we were in Galicia! Of course, the Galicians are Gaels…as are the Scots!

Then I thought that this must be another village before O Cebreiro, as I didn’t expect it so soon (or so easily, for that matter!) But I was wrong. We had achieved our goal, we had walked over 10k uphill and it was still morning!!!

We celebrated with a round of cheers, high fives, and then our favourite celebratory drink of hot chocolate and rum! Toasted my deskie, David and ate cake. Our hardy Sheffield men made it too, but they sat outside in the fog. Too warm and toasty inside for them!

Heated up from the inside out, we headed out, expecting to head downhill. We were not only disappointed, we were astonished that it went up! For quite a lot longer! I wondered if we’d made a mistake, but there is no mistaking these arrows (or perhaps “errors”?!) We hit the snow line, where we insisted that Hartmut show us some of his most dazzling climbing manoeuvres!

When we came upon the next village, just under 4kms away, we dove into a cellar-like bar/restaurant, where a table full of hungry locals looked like they were feasting. We asked to have the same as them. Menu du jour. Heavenly! Followed by café cortado’s and then we were off down the hill, replete and sated.

Bearing this in mind, it was perhaps unwise of me to then place an idiotic bet on myself to finish my whole water bottle during the last 4kms. 1.5 litres is a lot for me. I nearly made myself sick. But I guess I won the bet. Who would buy the first round of drinks…not such a serious bet.

The albergue at Fonfria pops up out of blue from the side of the road. It looks modern and uninviting, but we check Hartmut’s guidebook which gives it “3 shells”, the highest accolade, so we go in.

Inside is a completely different story. Beautifully presented, wooden interior, welcoming bar as you enter, with a circular wooden cask-like room inside for dining. 

An open vista with huge windows to the outside. A central reclining area in front of the fire with books, games and bean bags. The bunks were solid tree trunk type constructions and very comfortable. (This, compared to some of the wibbly wobbly, flimsy and creaky frameworks…) Showers also good, strong and clean.

After showering, we play cards. It’s a new game that I don’t know, but quite easy to pick up. Over dinner we meet with many of our past pilgrims. It’s good to feel familiar.

With another post dinner lounge around in bean bags drinking digestifs, and a relatively early bedtime, I’m surprised that I don’t find much sleep this night.

Su-a Lee