A Monday morning in the Sierra de Madrid

The first proper bike I got as a teenager was a mountain bike. I do not think road cycling was (or still is, for that matter) as popular as mountain biking in Spain. We don't have a vast network of tiny lanes like the UK, France or Germany, and so the roads always seemed intimidating to me.

That bike was made of cromoly steel, had no suspension, no v-brakes and no fancy accessories like today's rigs. We did not have GPS and only one of us had a cycling computer. Back then, when I first took on the the Madrid trails we did not have personal computers, and our only access to good routes was cycling magazines and other cyclists that we encountered on the Sierra.

One of our favourite routes used to start from Cercedilla train station, where we would cycle up to the Puerto de la Fuenfría (Fuenfría Pass) along the Camino de la República, and back down the valley on pretty technical singletrack full of roots and boulders. I still remember how sore my wrists were going down on those trails without suspension, but it was of course all great fun.

The start of the ride

It has been a while since I last cycled on those trails, and so a quick ride up and down the area was on my agenda. After I secured a borrowed bike for a few days, I set out to adjust a few things on it before hitting the trails. My mtb skills are definitely not up to scratch, and so I had to choose an easy route to get me back safely on a bike that I am not used to.

At 9:30 am, with the thermometer indicating 12 degrees C or so, I commenced going up the first few hills on the road of the Camino de la República. The first thing I noticed was that those massive hills that I had imprinted on my memory, were no longer that big. In fact, they felt fairly easy to cycle up. While on the road, I learnt that not only this is the official Camino de Santiago path from Madrid, but also that this road was built  as the only pass from Cercedilla on to the other side of the Sierra. It was also intended to be passable all year round, even in quite adverse conditions, and was almost completely sheltered from the high winds of the area by the high pine forests. Equally, they protect you from the heat in the summer.

Leaving Cercedilla for the Fuenfría Valley

May be nice to do the Camino from home, sometime

The road climbs steadily from about 1100 to 1900 meters for 12 km. The first 6 km or so are steeper than the rest, but nothing compared to the 25% hills that are so common in the UK. Sure, they do not go on for 12 km, but they do tire you out more quickly.

Climbing on the middle ring felt easy, and so I made good progress until the first mirador Vicente Aleixandre (view point) two thirds into the climb. I was still quite warm, so spent a bit of time taking in the views of the whole Northwest corridor of Madrid.

Pine forests to shelter you from the wind

View point Vicente Aleixandre (~ 1600 m)

After the miradores the climb eases out considerably. I rolled at almost 20 km/h all the way till the top, where another lone cyclist was taking in the great views. After a couple of minutes I started shivering - the temperatures were surely in single digits, and you could feel a breeze coming from the valley. Luckily I had brought a rain jacket and some long finger gloves.

Interesting cloud formation

Overlooking to the West on to the "El Escorial" area

Mirador de la Reina (Queen's view point)

I had made such good progress on the climb that I had lots of time in hand for my train back home. It was pretty much all downhill from here on, but I was going to take a different route that I hadn't done in the past, so wasn't sure what to expect. There even was some snow leftover from recent snow storms from a couple of weeks ago!

Probably the last snow I will see until the 2014 winter

Most of the route is on easy trails like this one

The downhill was a bit trickier than expected. Although the terrain wasn't particularly challenging, it was full of boulders and the front suspension of my borrowed bike did not seem to work well. Also, the disc brakes squeaked and vibrate quite significantly, making for some unpleasant braking and some rest stops were needed. It was also freezing cold now, as I was now on the Northern side of the Sierra, in the province of Segovia, and I wasn't able to warm up much in the shade. 

At some point the wide path became a singletrack, which was a nice change. My handling wasn't at its best after so many miles on roads, so had to take it fairly easy and dismount and push on a number of occasions. 

Heading into Segovia

Not sure what bird this was, but was fun to see it thermal flying

Shade and Northern face made for very cold conditions

The last 15 km or so included some gentle climbing if it not were for the very rough terrain, with lots of roots and big boulders that made for some sections that I had to walk. As I was still feeling quite cold, I ran up the hills and managed to warm up a bit.

Up towards Cercedilla on the Segovian side

Some walking was needed

The downhill into Cercedilla was a welcome sight, especially since the pine forests disappeared and let some sunshine warm me up. Eventually I made it back with just under an hour to spare, so had no option but to head into town and have a couple of cañas.

It had been a great day out and a reminder of how good mountain biking can be in Madrid.

Last few km back into Cercedilla

The infamous caña y tapa

Camino de Santiago day 14: Santiago - Finisterre

We woke up in our hostel in Santiago, earlier than any other day of the trip, to attempt the ride to Finisterre (Fisterra in Galician). We had been waffling about this decision for the entirety of the previous day. It was 90km and we had heard it was one of the hardest stages of the camino. But Alberto had always wanted to get there, so in the end, we headed off.

We stopped at a panadería in Santiago for a few breakfast pastries and we headed out the other side of Santiago by 8:30am. Right away, we were on the Camino proper (rather than a road) with plenty of rocky, root-y, muddy slopes. Alberto enjoyed it, but I found it really challenging. We let a pack of MTB's pass - there seemed to be several connecting MTB trails in this area - and passed a few walkers as well who were obviously heading out for their three day trek to Finisterre. It was very slow going for me, and I dismounted several times. Of course, I'd been doing this throughout the whole trip whenever the terrain got too technical, but having to do it so early, and on this day, made us both nervous. Throughout the rest of the trip we never truly had to be somewhere by nightfall. We had plans, but we could alter them. But now, we had to reach Finisterre today in order to be back in Santiago the following evening to catch our night bus to Madrid. Faced with a definite destination, the stress of making such slow progress was powerful.

We actually stopped on the side of the trail for a long while and considered our options. It's hard to describe, but I felt so low in those moments that I just truly didn't believe it was possible that I could make it to Finisterre that day. I didn't want Alberto to lose his opportunity to reach Finisterre, and begged him to continue on without me. We were still close enough to Santiago that I could have reached it easily even if I walked the whole way. Alberto didn't want to go on without me and turned  his bike around to start heading back, giving up on his dream. But eventually, he came up with a simple suggestion. If we really weren't making good progress, we could stay overnight tonight in one of the towns before Finisterre, and cycle the rest of the way in the morning. Even if it meant we missed our night bus to Madrid, we still had a spare day before our flight from Madrid to London. We didn't have to make it to Finisterre that day at all. With that psychological barrier removed, we were able to continue on.

Alberto used his GPS to divert us to the road where possible, which helped us make good time to Negreira, the first stop at 23km into the ride. We were there by 11am. The sense of progress we felt on arrival really cheered us up and I began to believe again that we could make it to Finisterre. We stopped at a supermarket to pick up food for later, and Alberto admired the old-fashioned pharmacy, which had wooden drawers for all their goods and the computer hidden out of customer view.

The approach to Negreira

After Negreira we mixed in a bit more Camino with our roads -- and it helped that sometimes the Camino was on roads. It was very rolling terrain, as we had come to expect from Galicia, but fortunately the day was cloudy which meant it wasn't too hot, so the hills didn't slow us down too much. I actually remember telling Alberto that I was enjoying them!

We stopped in Olveiroa, the last stopping point for pilgrims before Finisterre, at about 3pm for lunch. We called a pensión (like a B&B) in Finisterre to reserve a place to sleep, now confident that we'd make it. We asked the woman at the bar about the rest of the route. She said it was uphill from Olveiroa, then flat to Cee, and then mixed to Finisterre. Of course by this time we were so skeptical about such descriptions from locals, I'm not sure why we asked.

She wasn't lying about the hill, anyway. It was steep, but the roads were very quiet so we didn't actually find it too challenging. I reflected on how much fitter I'd become since starting the ride, knowing that a hill like this early on would have seen me struggle.

We knew that the sights along the camino would get better as we approached Cee, and so stuck to the proper path for the last part of the trip. We saw our first bit of ocean and got really excited, and then we even saw Finisterre in the distance. Alberto kept looking at his GPS, which registered us at 350m above sea level. Finisterre was at zero. When were we going to lose all that height?

First glimpses of the sea

We soon found out. The camino heads into Cee on a 1km ridiculously steep and rocky descent. Alberto was thrilled at the chance to ride such terrain while I dismounted and walked virtually the whole kilometer -- which was honestly tricky enough! I kept thinking I'd turn a corner and see Alberto lying in the path having been thrown from his bike, but he actually made it down fine and turned around after a while to come look for me!

Beginning the descent

Once in Cee, we joined the coastal road to Finisterre. At one point the camino turned right up one of the steepest paths I have ever seen in my life. It was a paved pedestrian walkway, but was as close to vertical as physically possible for people to walk on. Alberto struggled up in his lowest gear, but I dismounted without even attempting it. We went along a few more trails and then rejoined the coastal road, which wasn't too busy, although busier than many of the roads we had been on on the rest of the trip. We started to see Finisterre come into view, and the sun began to come out just in time for our arrival. We passed the beach on the edge of town and decided to change into our swimsuits and enjoy the beach while it was still light (it was about 6pm). The water was pretty cold but we had to say we'd been in the Atlantic ocean!

Fisterra in the background

Alberto took a walk along the beach and found the most beautifully formed scallop shell. After resisting  the urge to join pilgrims carrying mass-produced white shells for the entire journey, it felt fitting to have a genuine one to take home as a souvenir.

We then headed to our pensión, which gave us a pilgrim's price of 25 euros for the room - when you divide it by two, cheaper than some of the hostels we paid to stay in and share a room with several others!

After a shower we headed to the lighthouse, km 0 on the Santiago - Finisterre trail. This is where people normally burn articles of clothing or leave their boots when they complete their journey. There was a small fire going, and after much consideration we decided we shouldn't burn our clothes as they were all synthetics, and it wouldn't have been environmentally friendly. So we burned the printed-out elevation profile of the route - not that it had done us much good!

Large collection of boots left by other pilgrims

We watched the sunset on the tip of the peninsula, chatting to other pilgrims and watching some particularly zealous ones burn their hair in the fire (on purpose). Then we headed to the harbor to have a delicious meal, and back to bed for our early morning bus back to Santiago, to start our journey home.

Stats for the day:

Odometer: 95 km
Moving average: 11.8kph
Overally average: 7.8kph
Moving time: 8h 37m
Stopped time: 4h21 (including our time at the beach!)
Max speed: 59.8 kph

Camino de Santiago Day 13: Palas de Rei - Santiago

After getting all packed up (on the late side as had become traditional by this point) we decided to head to a bar in town for some proper breakfast. There were many pilgrims on foot, many of whom had been walking for two or three hours already, and it felt surreal to tell them that we planned to reach Santiago that day -- still several days away for  them.

Just as we were leaving the bar it started to rain lightly, and eventually became more steady as we headed off on the trail. But it was a warm day and there was fairly good tree cover overhead so we didn' bother putting on our waterproofs. There were some climbs at first but eventually we took to the roads for a long downhill into Melide. On our way into Melide we encountered a disabled cyclist who rode to different spots along the Camino and gave people stamps for their credenciales, while raising awareness about cycling for disabled people. We had a nice chat with him before continuing on.

Emerging from the Camino onto a crossing with the road.

In Melide we stopped for a second small breakfast and bought some bocadillos to eat later for lunch. We were passed by a group of four Korean cyclists who we had been hearing about for a few days from some of the other cyclists we'd come into contact with. Despite the heat, they were wearing long shirts and pants and even bandanas over their faces -- quite the sight!

Despite the early rain it quickly got hot now that we were out of the mountains. We had rolling hills the entire way, but plenty of shade, and the camino was nice and wide for the most part, so we made good progress. We had called ahead from Melide to reserve some beds in Santiago so we knew it didn't matter what time we arrived. (We had thought about trying to press on a bit from Santiago towards Finisterre, but decided we wouldn't have time. Plus I wanted to soak up the atmosphere of Santiago a little bit!)

In the afternoon Miguel and I managed to lose Alberto somehow--he was ahead of us cycling through a small town and Miguel stopped to adjust his luggage on his bike. Then we made a wrong turn and Alberto must  have been cycling back to find us just at this moment, so we managed to miss each other again. After about five minutes of wandering around looking for each other and missing each other's calls, we eventually managed to find each other again. Shortly after this, Miguel noticed something weird with his rear wheel. He looked down to see that the quick release was completely open and his skewer was actually out of place! No idea how long it had been like that but glad we noticed it before it caused a crash.

Through the trees, nice wide camino.

We stopped near Arca o Pino for lunch at a table on the side of the road, grabbing some cold drinks from the bar nearby. It turned out the table was covered in tiny little spiders which got all over everything! So it wasn't the most relaxing rest we've ever had, but at least we had shade.

We knew we had a significant hill coming after Arca o Pino which we once again managed to climb in the heat of the  day. After a few more ups and downs I could tell we were getting very close. I started to feel really giddy and happy, and suddenly my legs felt they had all the power in the world. Alberto told me were going uphill but I almost didn't believe him because it felt so easy.  I guess that's why they call this last hill into Santiago the Monte de Gozo (Mount of Joy)--I'm sure I'm not the only pilgrim ever to have experienced that sensation.

We reached the top of Monte de Gozo at around 6pm and stopped to take some pictures, and one east asian tourist seemed to be particularly interested in Alberto. She didn't speak and English but managed to communicate that she wanted to take a picture with him! Miguel and I found this very funny.

Monument at Monte de Gozo (documenting the Pope coming to Santiago in 2010, the most recent holy year).

Descending towards Santiago.

Eventually we headed down the final hill into Santiago. We located our albergue since it was on the way to the  Cathedral and checked in. It was pretty much a dump, in the bottom of a block of council flats and with a really weird hippy vibe inside. But as it was the only one that listed a number so we could call ahead, we hadn't really had much of an option.

After checking into the albergue we quickly headed to the Cathedral with all our luggage still attached to the bikes. We felt that we really had to arrive there, with everything we'd been carrying for the whole journey. Most of the walkers had arrived earlier in the day but we seemed to be in the prime arrival time for cyclists. It was great to watch other people arrive as well as we took the obligatory pictures and revelled in the moment.

In front of the cathedral

As we were walking around the plaza in front of the cathedral we bumped into Tim, the Kiwi, who had basically done the whole day without stopping at all and had arrived several hours before us. We made arrangements to meet later for some food and headed off to get our comostelas (the certificates that all pilgrims get upon producing the credencial with all the valid stamps). Miguel and I both ended up with the proper ones which you get if you've done the route for religious or spiritual reasons, where they write your name in Latin. Alberto didn't want to say he'd done it for spiritual reasons so he ended up with a less exciting looking compostela.

Miguel and some the spread of our food at Orella

We enjoyed lots of great food at a restaurant called Orella that Miguel had looked up and discussed whether or not we should head to Finisterre the following day. We weren't that convinced that we could make the 90km in one day, as we had heard it was very hard, but although my goal had always been to arrive in Santiago, Alberto had his heart set of Finisterre. Miguel would stay behind as his girlfriend was meeting him in Santiago for the weekend, so Alberto and I went to bed still not 100% sure if we'd actually attempt the ride the following morning.

We forgot to write the stats down before deleting them, so these are the estimates:

Odometer: 75km
Moving average: 10.9kph
Overall average: 7.9kph
Moving time: 6 hours
Stopped time: 3 hours 40 mins

Camino de Santiago day 12: Triacastela - Palas de Rei

We only managed to get out of the albergue after 9:30am, possibly due to the long day we had the previous day. For once, we were not the last ones to leave; there was a group of four other Spaniards (two guys and two girls) who were also on bikes, who took longer. As we were heading out the door, I put my sunglasses on my head and one of the lenses promptly fell out. Not only was this annoying due to the sun, but meant my eyes wouldn't have protection from dirt/rocks/bugs that fly at your face more odten than you'd think while mountain biking. We resolved to try and find some new ones in the next big town of Sarria.

The day was already very hot when we left the albergue and was forecasted to go up to 35 degrees C (95 F). Immeadiately out of Triacastela we hit a pretty steep climb on the trail that saw me walking, and feeling very discouraged! A random local had lost one of his horses and asked if we had seen it. Obviously not. We then hit the roads for the descent and passed the sign for Samos, where we had briefly contemplated staying the night before, and we so glad we hadn't attempted it.

Descending through the clouds and into Sarria.

As we started the descent we entered into an area covered by clouds which was quite chilly, and addded extra layers. At the bottom of the descent was Sarria, a main starting point for those who are walking the Galician section of the camino. We found a cafe and had some coffee and pastries, and bought some freshly made bocadillos (sandwhiches) which we would eat later. I also found a bike shop very close by and bought new glasses, so it was a rather efficient stop.

Overlooking Sarria

After Sarria the scenery was beautiful and green, though tough on the bikes and legs; not as many walkers as we expected though. We also passed the 100km to go marker -- these markers with the distance to Santiago had started appearing once we entered Galicia -- and we thought to ourselves how small a distance 100km is when we're audaxing.

Alberto at 100km

When we got to Portomarín we stopped and had lunch in a park, and then went through the centre of town which seemed a bit run down, though it had a nice central street. We filled our water bottles at a restaurant on the high street, which the waiter was happy to do - this made a nice change as we had experienced some problems filling our bottles the day before. We told him this and was scandalised - especially as it was 4pm and well above 30 degrees. We had set our sights on Melide as a stopping point but realised this was a bit out of reach, so decided to call albergues in Palas de Rei and reserve some beds.

Galician cow.

We had another long climb out of Portomarín to Alto de Hospital, about 10km and a mixture of road and trail. I found this really difficult, again not due to my legs but the heat. We always seemed to be climbing mountains at the hottest point in the day. We finally reached the top, but it wasn't the last climb of the day - there were plenty more ups and downs on the way to Palas de Rei.

On one of the hills we struck up a conversation with an American guy who was walking the camino from O Cebreiro. He told us about a trip to the Andes where he had trekked to 15,000 feet in remote locations, but with a group that included a cook, someone to wash your boots every night, etc. The mountain cabins they stopped at even had hot tubs! We all thought it was a bit ridiculous.

Miguel climbing in the heat.

We finally reached Palas de Rei about 7pm. The owners double checked that there were only three of us, as apparently there was a group of four cyclists also booked in for the night. We guessed it was our friends from the previous albergue. While we were chatting to the owners we heard them receive a call from the four cyclists that they were still planning on coming, they were just taking longer than expected -- we knew the feeling!

The place had a bar-restaurant attached which the owner said was the best food in town. We were a bit put off by this and so resolved to look elsewhere. As we were getting showered, etc, Tim, the Kiwi cyclist, arrived. He had taken several hours off in the heat of the day. The four of us walked around town and had a nice menu del peregrino and we learned about Tim's PhD in ecology and his 6 month trip to Antarctica. How cool! When we got back to the albergue we also ran into the quartet from the morning, they said they hadn't reached the albergue til 9pm!

We went to bed knowing that, in all likelihood, we would reach Santiago the following day, as it was only 63km away. This left us with mixed feelings, and we couldn't believe it had already been 12 days since we set off from London. We toyed with the idea of pressing on part of the way to Finisterre if we reached Santiago early enough, and set the alarm for 7am - ever optimistic that we'd make an early start.

Stats for the day:
Odometer: 68.61km
Moving time: 5h30m
Stopped time: 3h15m
Max speed:60.4kph
Moving average: 12.4kph
Overall average: 7.8kph

Camino de Santiago Day 11: Foncebadón - Triacastela

We were the last ones to leave the albergue, as usual, and we only got on the road at about quarter to nine. We cycled 2km down the road to the cruz de ferro (iron cross), and saw the view to the East which supposedly stretches to Leon on a clear day. Then we headed on over the top of the mountain and arrived at the very top, Manjarin, just a few minutes after 9am to see the spectacle of a man dressed as a Templar Knight giving a speech about the spirit of the Camino and what it means, etc. It was all a bit cheesy and touristy but one of those Camino moments I guess.

 Cruz de ferro

Listening to the templar knight in Manjarín

We had made a plan that the guys would descend on the trail and I would take the road which follows down the mountain. Carlos (the previous night's hospitalero) had said that the camino trail was quite difficult even for walkers, so I knew it would be a nightmare for me and my poor descending skills, but the guys wanted to try it. So, we said our goodbyes and agreed to meet at a town a few kilometers down the road.

Here's Alberto's report from the trail: "On our way downhill, lots of walkers were surprised to see us on the trail. The Spaniards we had met the night before said 'why would you go on trail when you could take the roads?!'. Miguel was doing very well with the descent. It certainly wasn't as bad as Carlos had described, although I could see for a novice rider or a walker who wasn't in the best shape that it could be tough. We met Lucy at the agreed town to check in and then turned back to the trail while Lucy carried on on the roads, until we reached Villafranca at the bottom of the hill."

Miguel descending the camino

Meanwhile I enjoyed a beautiful descent down the mountain on a very quiet, well-paved road. I didn't take the road as fast as I could have, both because I was by myself and so thought it best to be cautious, but also because I wanted have time to enjoy all the beautiful views!

We cycled through the town of Villafranca del Bierzo, which looked like a nice town, but carried on further across the valley. We were following rougly the route of the new A-6 highway that goes all the way from Madrid to A Coruña in the Northwest corner of Galicia. Alberto's family lives just off of it, down in Madrid! It was pretty spectacular to see the big, modern highway passing high above us. We were going along the N-VI, which had been largely replaced by the A6 so the traffic was pretty light. In any case the Camino followed the left shoulder of the road and was protected from the traffic by a guardrail so we felt pretty safe.

The road was pretty flat so we just kept pushing on, stopping in Vega del Valcarce for a quick bite. Shortly afterwards we started to climb O Cebreiro. There was some confusion about how much further we had, as Miguel thought he had been told that the hostel of O Cebreiro was at the base of the mountain, but I thought it was at the top. It didn't really effect things as we were going to keep pedalling anyway!

In La Faba, we asked a local about the best way to get to the top. There were three options: the camino proper, which we had heard would be very difficult as it is very steep and rocky, a small road that is shorter and steeper, or the N-VI which was less steep but a longer route to the same destination. The man recommended the smaller road because it had the best views, so we decided to take that one.

We followed its instructions!

It was late in the afternoon by this point and the temperatures were around 30 degrees. Not when you'd ideally start the final tough climb of the Camino, but we did it nonetheless. There was very little shade on the road, and whenever a bush did appear we all pointed our bikes in that direction just to get the tiniest bit of relief. I found that my legs were coping quite well with the hill, but the heat was really taking its toll. I had to a few times under bushes to drink lots of water and let my heart rate settle down again, but really enjoyed the climb. We all took it at our own pace and soon were spread out across the climb -- looking to the switchback above me I could make out Miguel in the distance, and he in turn could make out Alberto above him.

Starting the climb

Alberto took this picture from his vantage point further up the mountain. If you look really hard you can see a slight blue dot near the middle of the picture, that's Miguel!

Miguel and Alberto found a fountain and stopped to dunk themselves in water, but at that moment I felt I wouldn't get back on the bike if I got off, so I continued on and soon was passed by them again. There was one merciful section just before La Laguna that was relatively flat, and even better was at an angle that meant it was completely shaded by the mountain. That respite was necessary to get us ready for the next section, which was an incredibly steep bit on the way out of the small town of La Laguna.

Alberto reached the top of O Cebreiro first (naturally) and caught up with Tim, a Kiwi cyclist who we had seen a few times on the road (although we had mistaken him for Italian for a while due to his tricolore cycling shorts!). Once we had all reached the top and had our rest and some food, we tried to figure out where to spend the night. Once again fooled by optimism and the Spanish capacity for understating the gradient, we thought it would be a fast descent down to Triacastela, 20km away. Miguel and Alberto teamed up with Tim to take the trail, while I would take the road.

View from the top of O Cebreiro

It turns out there were a few things wrong with this plan:
1. It turned out Triacastela was 28km away, not 20.
2. It was not downhill to Triacastela. There was actually a not-insignificant uphill for about half of the distance and then a descent to Triacastela.
3. The road we had been on prior to O Cebreiro didn't head to Triacastela!

Fortunately aboout 2 minutes down the road from O Cebreiro a man in a car pulled over and asked if I was on the Camino. When I told him I was, he told me I was on the wrong road! I had to return to the town and take a different road instead. I was so grateful for that man! I have no idea how far I would have gone before I would have realised my mistake otherwise.

I returned to town and asked at the bar just to make sure I was now headed on the right road, and sent a text to Alberto telling him the situation. By then we had realised that Triacastela was a bit further but it just seemed better to stick to the plan and head there, rather than try to change our minds once we had already separated from one another.

The guys were having a nightmare of their own in that the uphill was really steep and they even had to push their bikes up some of the hills! I took them nice and easy on the roads and eventually reached a downhill section. (Not before getting offered a ride by a taxi driver who was passing -- I turned it down!)

A few km before Triacastela I heard a voice shout 'Lucy!' and braked to see Miguel and Alberto through the trees on the side of the road. We said our hellos and agreed that we'd see each other in Triacastela soon. When I got to Triacastela, I started asking around at the albergues seeing if any had spaces. It was nearly 8pm by that time and many were full, but the guys arrived and we managed to find one that still had spaces, although not three beds in the same room.

We saw Tim arrive in Triacastela as well, but he opted for a casa rural outside of town for the night, a bit pricier, but might have been worth it for the opportunity to sleep in a room by yourself!

We stayed in the albergue Xacobeo which was actually quite nice, although a bit expensive. We managed to make it to the supermarket just before it closed and cooked pasta for dinner in the communal kitchen. We could tell we had entered Galicia because people had left the kitchen a complete mess and the place just generally had the atmosphere of a normal hostel; what a contrast from the night before!

Stats for the day:
Moving average: 14 kph
Overall average: 9.3kph
Max speed: 65.1 kph
Odometer: 105km
Moving time: 7h30m

Camino de Santiago Day 10: Hospital de Órbigo - Foncebadón

After a fitful night's sleep we woke up with the rest of the pilgrims and I was still feeling quite nauseous. We slowly got ourselves ready, and soon found ourselves alone in the hostel. The boys cooked some plain pasta for me in the hopes I'd be able to get some food down, but I was only able to eat a small amount of it. The staff at the albergue were not particularly kind or understanding, which we were surprised about, especially considering the stories we'd been told from previous hospitaleros about how they'd taken care of ill and injured pilgrims. (Also, I had only gotten a very small amount of vomit on the mattress itself, but I was still a bit grossed out to see them just flip it over rather than washing it!!) There was no way we were staying another night at that terrible albergue anyway, so we decided to head to Astorga, about 15km away, and just see how it went. We took the attitude that any amount of ground we could cover today would be better than nothing.

On the way to Astorga

The 16km to Astorga were not the easiest and we all agreed it was probably good we hadn't attempted it the night before, despite our bad experience. I was struggling because I hadn't managed to eat much and the camino was quite bumpy which was upsetting my stomach further. Alberto wasn't feeling great either, his allergies were bothering him quite a bit and of course he hadn't slept well either.

On the way into Astorga we came upon the cycling couple who had had so much pain in their butts a few days ago. We had compared notes on where we had been and where we were going and discussed our various ailments. Eventually we made it to Astorga where we split up with our new friends, took in the sights and then headed to a park where we all fell asleep. We spent over two hours in Astorga and didn't leave until around 2pm. I still hadn't managed to eat much although I kept trying. It hadn't been pleasant but it was clear that I was still able to pedal the bike, so we just decided to keep going and see how far we could get.

Palacio Gaudí in Astorga

We knew that there was a big uphill after Astorga, but we took a very quiet road up the climb (rather than the camino path itself) to ease our passage slightly. The road was beautiful and the climb was actually quite gentle--I spent most of the time thinking about how much I would have enjoyed it if I was feeling good!

Climbing after Astorga

We made it to Rabanal del Camino at about 4pm and learned that we were only 5km from the top of the mountain. We decided to have some lunch and then push on. Since we were quite late for lunch on the Camino the only thing available was a full three course pilgrim's menu--completely unreasonable for me given my tiny appetite but I ordered it anyway. I picked at each portion and had the boys eat what they could -- the manager actually came over to ask if the food was okay, but we explained the problem was with me, not the food!

We then departed up the road and I just kept thinking that there were only 5km to go - even though it was uphill and it semed to take forever. It wasn't my most successful climb, especially when we got passed by several machacas from an Astorga cycling club on their fancy road bikes -- they all shouted things to me as they passed, like 'Buen Camino!' and 'Venga chica, casi estás!'

Arriving in Foncebadón

The albergue in Foncebadón

Finally, we made it to Foncebadón where we located the albergue parroquial. Foncebadón is a tiny town near the top of a mountain, not much more than a few houses and albergues. By this time it was around 6:30pm. We asked the hospitalero if there was any space for us -- of course there was, but just in mattresses on the floor! That sounded great to me since I was very much blaming my top bunk for the disaster the night before. A few minutes later, the cycling couple came in behind us -- very pleased to see that we had made it this far, I guess I must have looked really bad in Astorga! They were from near Burgos and it was their first major bike trip. The guy, Félix, seemed to be enjoying it much more than his partner, Gema! We really liked them, though I had a lot of trouble understanding their accent!

View from Foncebadón

We had a communal dinner of Paella which I managed to eat a good amount of. It was really nice, there were some pilgrims from other albergues there as well because the hospitalero, Carlos, has a rule of never turning anyone away who needs to eat. Conversation was pleasant and then we all had to go around the table singing songs from where we were from. Carlos said that he knew not everyone liked it, but he was going to do it anyway. Then he said how glad he was to see so many Spaniards there because he often has mainly foreigners. Then, the first person to sing, promptly said that he was NOT Spanish, he was from Bilbao (Basque Country)! Everyone laughed, but it was a bit awkward! Fortunately towards the end of the table was another guy from Bilbao who said he was from Bilbao, Spain, and the World! So that put things right again. Thank goodness there was another American girl (who lives in Spain) near me, we sang 'This Land is your Land' together!

Waiting for dinner to start

By the end of the night I was feeling better than I had all day and we had high hopes for climbing O Cebreiro, the last big mountain before Santiago, the next day.

Stats for the day:
Moving time: 4h6m
Stopped time: 3h35m
Max speed: 49.7kph
Moving average: 10.8kph
Overall average: 5.8kph
Odometer: 44.35kph