Day 32 - Biduedo via O’Cebriero, 14 miles

‘Twas a day of humility and Grace…our job today, to climb the steepest peak of the Camino, 5 miles straight up.

5 am came dark and early…we were again out by 6 as we knew we had a big day ahead of us…it is difficult to see the yellow arrows that guide us through the Camino in the dark, so you have to be careful not to get lost…

The road immediately starts to ascend and our legs get a taste of what’s ahead of them today…after about a kilometer, we are directed off the road onto a typical, wide, muddy Camino path.

Shortly the road makes a sharp turn to the left, and ahead is a steep, very rocky ascent.  While it is a challenging climb, the sheer beauty of the surrounding woods is breathtaking, and the incredible birdsong is the only thing you hear. I made a short video so that I could share the birdsong.​ ​

The road goes up and up for about 1 1/2 miles before I hit the first village and can have a cup of coffee… Then the climb begins again… now though the panoramic views make up for the burning in my legs. It is very humbling to be surrounded by mountain ranges while being towards the top of one of them.

After another coffee stop, I make a mistake…I take the road out of the village and where it splits off to take another muddy trail to the top, another hiker walking by tells me he’s taking the road to avoid the mud…hmmm, it’s only another two kilometers, and not having to deal with the mud sounds enticing…and so I end up missing a big, important photo op,  concrete marker that tells me I have entered Galicia the final portion of the Camino…my disappointment is short lived though, as I have survived the infamous climb to the top o O’Cebriero!!!  And miraculously the weather has held out…this is typically a cold, wet, snowy, not very pleasant climb.

The church is surprisingly not as spectacular as many of the churches I have entered… And what I notice on this day, after entering several small churches afterwards, is a distinct switch to an emphasis on Christ and more of the masculine figures from the bible… Will continue to watch for this… Here is a stature of Mary that I found on the side of the church….interesting different ethnic origin…

Now there is a beautiful walk starting around and down the mountain.

After another stop for lunch and reconnection with Christine and Gina in Hospital (the name of a town), I am walking along the side of a road trying to keep up with them, and I trip on a small rock sticking up about one inch…so ironic after what I had traversed this morning…because of holding my poles I couldn’t catch myself and fell straight forward, my knee and left elbow hitting a rock ‘broke’ my fall, by some miracle I didn’t hit my face and did no serious damage, but the pain was excruciating for a while, it knocked the wind out of me and I had a full, nuclear meltdown…two women from Wisconsin were right behind us and stopped to help…all my gear was strewn around, I was a sobbing mess (all the frustration of the pain I have been dealing with for 3 weeks finally let out), 4 women were standing helping, when a Korean male pilgrim heading towards us, seeing an emotional female gathering that he wanted no part of, wove his way through the middle of us, stepped over me, with his head down and no comment…it was just the comic relief we all needed….we looked at each other and cracked up…my tears of pain turned to tears of laughter and I managed to pull myself together to walk the remaining 5 miles.