Day 35 - O Cebreiro - 6 October, 2014

Rest Day

Feelings: Henk - Relaxed, Neil - Relaxed, Di - Relaxed

It was good to have a relaxing breakfast. We were given the local, Galician Cebreiro cheese which was a light creamy one. We really liked it (except Neil who doesn't eat cheese!) and it was served with honey and cured meats. 

Walkers and cyclists came and went all day dressed in their rain gear. Some were quite enterprising. 

We felt very snug indoors either looking out our windows over the main cobbled street or from the bar.

We came across the "Pilgrim's Prayer" by Fraydino at the O Cebreiro's church, Iglesia de Santa Maria Real which is one of the earliest surviving buildings on the Camino. Its first stanza is:

Pilgrim's Prayer

Although i may have travelled all the roads, 

crossed mountains and valleys from East to West,

if i have not discovered the freedom to be my self, 

i have arrived nowhere. 

Many start their walk from the church as they only want to complete the Galician section of the Camino. Next to the church is the gravesite of the parish priest, Don Elias Valina Sampedro who died in 1989. It was his idea to mark The Way with the yellow arrow. His bust sits alongside the small church square. 

Lunch was home-made soup and local, rough bread in the hotel's warm and busy bar. Neil and I had Sopa de Casido which is made from potato and collard and is a local vegetable soup. We have seen collard frequently growing in the market gardens. Henk had garlic soup. They were delicious. 

As we were finishing our soups the hotel receptionist told us we were only booked in for one night not two! Our feelings of "relaxed" were about to change. Henk went upstairs to get the booking form whilst three ladies stood at our table counting and recounting the numbers in a very messy reservations book. The funny part was that we independently thought of American Jim and we were going to solve the problem by "just throwing money at it!" We were thinking taxis! All was resolved, we did have a booking and we got to keep our snug rooms.  

We spent a relaxing afternoon napping and reading. Tomorrow's forecast is mostly wet and it will be 21 kms to Triacastela.