O Cebreiro

Samos, Wednesday 25th May 2011

O Cebreiro is a village on a peak. In eight and a half kilometres we climb 700 metres. It is no mean or easy feat.

The guide books leave one with mixed feelings about tackling this particular stretch of the Camino. Rightly they tell that the route up is beautiful, passing at first through chestnut woods and then through open country and a series of hamlets. But then they go on to impart less palatable truths. We are now in Galicia, the fourth and final Autonomous Region that the Camino frances covers. Galicia, we´re told, is brilliantly green. That´s fair enough, and it´s also true. But do they (the guide books) then have to tell us this is so because it is so often wet? The point is hammered home with warnings to take extreme care. It is a long climb, and the weather can be very bad at any time of year. And finally, the encouragement: Make sure you have time to make it to O Cebreiro in daylight!! Thanks for the warnings!

So what can I say about my experience of O Cebreiro? In one simple phrase: it was glorious.

The climb up was certainly arduous, but so worth while. The weather was perfect - clear blue sky and strong sun ( in fact it wasn´t long before most walkers were showing quite a sweat). The landscape is beautiful. Mountains surround and surmount a number of green and often wooded valleys. Mountain streams gurgle and gush with quite some momentum. And the villages are delightful. We took breakfast at La Faba, a typical mountain village, just after 8am. The fresh coffee set us up for the ongoing climb, through Laguna de Castilla and finally into O Cebreino. It ws about 9:30 am and the place was bustling. In recent years it has become something of a tourist destination as well as a pilgrim point of passage. In the village was an excellent example of a pallazo, the typical Galician thatched building of Celtic origin. The twelfth century church of Santa Maria was open, and beckoned a visit. It´s a beautiful, simple building with a profoundly reverent atmosphere.

After O Cebreino, the walk was less arduous through the next few villages until a really strenuous climb up to Alto do Poio where we opted to finish walking for the day.

As I write this, the sun has disappeared and loud thunderclaps are reminding me of the guide book encouragement - ¨the weather can be very bad here at any time of year.¨

We´ll just have to wait and see.