Day 36 - La Portela de Valcarce to O'Cebreiro

175 km to Santiago de Compostela

Up at dawn again,  we walked almost 10 km in 2 and 1/2 hours. And then everything changed; we hit the wall.  Very steep, I mean very very steep hill. It would take us over 4 hours to walk the next 10 km.  We went up 750 metres on those 10 km. But what amazing views, well worth the effort of the climb.   We had a great morning. One of best and more interesting days in el  Camino (and one of the hardest). It was not until we started to run out of mountains, may be an hour to go that the cold drizzle arrived and behind it the fog. This time even my wonder woman admitted she was getting tired. 

We met a nice couple from Florida on the way up.  They had heard of a man who had been to emergency twice in el Camino and kept walking.  I wonder who that guy is.

The little village of O'Cebreiro is at the top of a mountain.  It says it has a permanent population of 50.  So besides the views, the houses are very interesting, they are made of stone and some have thatch roofs.  Built the old way and I am sure most of them are very old.  Of course now the village lives from tourism (many tours stop here because of the views) and because of the old Celtic flavour of the whole town. Also lots of pilgrims stop here to rest and spend the night after the climb.

There is a little church here.  The Santuario Santa Maria Real de O'Cebreiro. Also called la Iglesia del Milagro (the church of the miracle).  This church is pre-romanic probably from the IX century and it has a story.  It is said that around the XIV century there was a Benedictine monk who was really fed up.  The snow was piling outside, the wind was very mean and he was loosing his faith.  He thought that with the bad weather no one would show up for mass. However a man, a farmer, climbed up to the church so the monk proceed to celebrate mass.  When he arrived to the consecration he was really surprised to see that the bread had become flesh and the wine real blood.  The news of the miracle spread around and the faith of the people was renewed.

After a dinner of caldo Gallego and trout we went to mass.  The church is now run by Franciscan friars.  It was only four of us pilgrims and two priests.  Really intimate.  During mass I could not stop thinking of the miracle of bread and wine becoming the flesh and blood of our Lord Jesus.  It is easy sometimes to forget that this really happens every time we attend mass.

At the end of the mass the priest came to talk to us,  he gave us his blessing and wished us Buen Camino.  And he reminded us than 800 years ago St. Francis of Assisi walk this very path to Santiago de Compostela.

St. Francis, pray for us.