That was grueling and it didn’t need to be.  We enjoyed it anyway but I should rethink the logic of planning a 26km walk with a steep, rocky 450m ascent in the last 5km of the day.  We were kind of tired by the time we got to Las Herrerías at the 20km mark for the day.  You can rent horses there to take you up to La Laguna or O Cebreiro. I should have considered that option longer too. About 1km after that town the climb takes your breath away but, hopefully, only temporarily. 

The day started a little rough. We wanted some food before leaving Villafranca but everything was closed at 7:05am so we we went back to our hotel and got our backpacks.  As we walked out, we saw a cafe opening late so we went in.  The bar lady took an instant dislike to us and I returned the love in equal measure. She ended up shortchanging us by 10€ so I guess she won that battle. I just wanted to get out of that place.  

Much of the first 20km of today’s trail was either along the National Road VI or on the main roads through villages along the national road. We were also often near the much higher A6 highway but that often runs on viaducts, hundreds of meters above us and it shortcuts through tunnels in the higher mountains.  The trail along the little used national road had a barrier wall that separated us from the traffic.  It was less successful keeping the bicyclist away from us so we still were able to practice jumping away from speeding bikers when the rider yells “bici” when he’s a few meters behind us.  “Bici” apparently means “get out of my way, moron!” and I take offense.

We walked a significant portion of the day with Poh who is missing her two Camino friends, Christina and Pedro, who returned to Madrid.  They will return to finish their Camino next year.  We also briefly met up with Susi just as we stopped for lunch.  She pushed on though as she probably already had her fist five meals of the day. I won’t say why we knew she didn’t have to stop for the toilet either. 

We also met up with an older American man during the climb before La Faba, the village 2.5km before Laguna. He looked to be struggling a bit on the steep, continuous section. I asked him where he was heading to today.  I was shocked when he replied “O Cebreiro” which is 2.2km after Laguna, a few hundred more meters of climbing to go.  I am glad we were there though as Melanie had heard from Susi that all beds in O Cebreiro were sold out today.  When we asked if he had a reserved bed, he said that he doesn’t reserve any beds anywhere.  He was not happy hearing that there might not be anything available but I convinced him to check the albergues in La Faba and if nothing was available there, to check at Laguna. I think he took our advice.  At least he never made it to Laguna. When Melanie and I reached La Faba, we waited for him so that we could send him in the right direction. 

We had a lovely dinner tonight with Poh and Susi. A hearty Galician soup and special ribs was highly recommended so we all had that- delicious!  Mama came out of the kitchen to announce the desserts and when Susi asked which desserts were homemade, mama cook instead said the question should be “which dishes are local?”  She pointed to the universally recognized desserts of flan, Santiago cake, cut fruit, etc. and she said “you can get these anywhere in Spain, get the local goat cheese with quince. It too was awesome and mama was happy as could be. 

That’s it for tonight. It was another long day but we had much to be thankful for. We are warm and dry, it only rained over the last 3-4km, I got to walk another day with Melanie and, even better than all that, the albergue hosts did the laundry for us. I really like this place. 

Peace y’all. Goodnight George, Leo and Stella. We love you all.