Rupert and I set out a little after Team Somerholter, having agreed to meet at the summit of the morning's climb - but when I poked my head into the cafe at Laguna de Castilla (halfway up the hill from La Faba) I saw the four of them getting stuck into a rather large looking breakfast in the mistaken belief that they'd reached the summit. Rupert and I pushed on to O'Cebreiro at the top, which was a charming village, albeit a little pricey and geared up to selling Camino de Santiago trinkets rather than a really decent breakfast. We had breakfast with Jenny and Mark, and set off with Kurt, Kim and the boys when they caught up.
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| Walking above the clouds before breakfast |
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| Jenny |
The day really was one of the most beautiful days of walking I've had on the Camino so far. Galicia – which we entered when we got to O'Cebreiro – is meant to be the prettiest part of the Camino, and we had beautiful sunny weather that gave us huge vistas as we walked along the 1200m
high ridge. Eventually the path descended into Triacastela, where we found a lovely hostel where we had a large room just for the six of us – Camino bliss.
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| Kim climbing up to the second summit of the day |
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| View from the ridge |
Supper was pretty dire (undercooked chips and tough steak), although it could have been worse – I asked the waiter what one of the soup dishes was, and the waiter rubbed his stomach with enthusiasm. I thought he meant it was a delicious, tasty dish, but Kim stepped in at the last minute to warn me that it was actually tripe soup. As we had our first course a large Alsatian dog walked over to us, and Rupert gave it a friendly neck scratch. The dog repaid the favour by engaging in vigorous sex with another large Alsatian next to our table and then carried on with her new friend all the way down the street. I told Rupert that under no terms was he to give any of us neck rubs lest his magic rub off on us as well – we still have 130km to walk to Santiago together, and I want to be able to look everyone in the eye between now and then!
