Time Departed: 8.55 am
Time Arrived: 3.15 pm
Distance: 21 kms
Cumulative Distance: 654 kms
Percentage Complete: 82%
Weather: Cold, Misty, Light Drizzle
Accommodation: Casa Pacios
Feelings: Henk - Eager, Neil - Eager, Di - Eager
We had an excellent day's walk and took our time enjoying it. We left O Cebrerio wearing both our warm clothes and outer rain gear as it was very cold and it was misty due to the low cloud cover.
Throughout the day the weather was very changeable but apart from a few drizzly spells the rain held off. At times visibility was down to about fifty metres. We really enjoyed walking in the cold. We walked high across the mountains through a number of villages until the last six kilometres when we descended from 1300 metres to 500 metres on quite a good track into the small village of Triacastela.
The cloud cover came and went during the morning and when it cleared we had extensive views over mountains and deep valleys.
Today's walk was very rural walking alongside farmland with cattle. There were many walkers on the path. We met two Aussie women, Helen who was walking alone and Kate who was walking with her daughter. Both women would have been about the same age as me. Kate was undertaking the walk for a second time having completed it two years ago.
At Alto do San Roque which has an altitude of 1270 metres we came upon the large stature of a pilgrim appropriately fighting off the wind. Visibility was very low at this point.
After eight kilometres we climbed up to Albergue del Pueto and the smell of cooking bacon drew us inside. It was very warm with a fire and many peregrionos took the opportunity to have some warm food and coffees. We spent some time indoors and had some good chats with fellow walkers.
About three kilometres further on we started to walk through the very small village of Fonfria when we had to stop. Two farmers were walking their cattle from their sheds to high pastures. There was much flurry of activity from the barking alsatians and cattle not wishing to comply with them.
At the end of the village an elderly lady emerged from her door with a hot plateful of crepes which she was folding and handing out. Before she gave each of us one she sprinkled it with sugar from a screw top jam jar with holes punched in the lid. They were very good. We paid for them and she wished us Buen Comino.
It was also a day of seeing interesting sites. After a break at Biduedo at a very warm and modern cafe where we fed our Arroz con Leche addiction (creamed rice) we came across an old granary being re thatched.
We're hoping to see a few more varieties of these in the next few days. With Neil's keen eyes we also saw many different toadstools including our favourite Enid Blyton ones.
Just before we reached Triacastela at As Pasantes we saw a very large 800 year old chestnut tree.
When we arrived at Triacastela we had to ring our accommodation as it was a few kilometres out of town. It took us two phone calls to be understood as our host does speaks very little English. However, we managed to say in our limited Spanish who we were and where we were in the village and in "un momento" she was there to pick us up.
The farmhouse we are staying is in the middle of nowhere and seems to be hundreds of years old.
We driven back to the village at six thirty to have dinner and picked up at eight thirty. It is very cold.
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