Today's route from Villafranca del Bierzo to O'Cebreiro is one of the most challenging routes on the entire Camino Francés, rivaling that of the route over the Pyranees from St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncevalles (in my mind, anyway). There were three routes to choose from today: hard, harder and hardest. We chose the hard route which was a gradual uphill climb of @ 650 feet over the course of @ 14 miles. Then, the hard part started!
Because our route today was @ 19 miles, we left Villafranca @ 6:45 am. The first 14+ miles were along the N-VI highway, but we also had the river Pereje on the other side of us, so we had more to look at than just asphalt highway. We stopped in the small town of Herrerías for lunch before heading up the challenging hill to O'Cebreiro, which is at 4,265 feet. The afternoon was hot and, although there was quite a bit of shade, we were in the sun a lot and the terrain was very rocky and littered with horse manure. For those faint-of-heart pilgrims who don't want to attempt the climb, there are horses for rent in Herrerías to take you up the hill. Needless to say, between picking our way over the rocks and around the manure and stopping to catch our breath, it took us quite a while to climb the hill! For those of you who have hiked Dog Mountain in the Columbia Gorge, it was Dog Mountain on steroids!
O'Cebreiro is a very small town (pop. 50) with a small parish church run by a Franciscan friar. We were able to attend a pilgrim Mass tonight followed by a pilgrim blessing, after which Father gave each pilgrim a memento of our journey: a smooth rock painted with a yellow arrow, the symbol of the Camino.
We are now 7 stages, 7 days and 96 miles from Santiago. Hard to believe we've walked almost 400 miles! Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we will keep you in ours. Vaya con Dios.
Buen Camino
Leaving Villafranca in the pre-dawn morning
Herding sheep outside the village of Portela
The road to O'Cebreiro, horse manure and all
Almost to the top - only 1.5 miles to go
We are now in the region of Galicia
Group picture after we cleaned off the dust of the road
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