Day 24: Ambasmestas to Triacastela

I got a late start at 09:00. I left the hotel in Ambasmestas and started pushing up the Valcarce River valley. I saw alot of men meeting up with trailers of hound dogs. It was Saturday morning, and they were going hunting. By the time I got through Las Herrerias, the climb started to get steeper. It was slow going through La Faba and up to the last village in Castille and Leon, La Laguna. I stopped to get a bottle of water out of the vending machine there and took off my my jacket. I was sweating bad. It had gotten into the low 50's Fareinheit. Between La Laguna and O Cebreiro, I passed a marker on the mountain, saying I had entered the autonomous region of Galicia.

I made it to O Cebreiro around 13:00. I thought about getting lunch there, but it seemed most of what was being served was octopus, a popular Galician food, at the restaurants there. I got a stamp at the church and decided to keep pushing since I got a late start. There was more uphill after O Cebreiro, but eventually the path descended.

I walked on through the small towns of Linares and Hospital da Condesa. There was possibly the steepest uphill walk of the day up to Alto do Poio. When I got to the top, there were two open restaurants full of hunters and two large dogs that were not happy to see me. I continued pushing, trying to make it to Triacastela before dark. Walking through the hamlet Fonfria, an old woman gave me some type of tortilla. I did not want any food, but she kept insisting I take it. Then, once it was in my hands, she asked for a donation. I gave her a Euro and walked off fast. No way I was going to eat the tortilla, since her hands were dirty from touching a dog and it was leftover from who knows when. I am getting sick of Spanish people trying to scam pilgrims. In the literature I've read, people went out of their way to help pilgrims in the Middle Ages.

I finally made it to Triacastela just before 18:30 while there was a faint bit of daylight left. I went for the alburgue tonight. The Xunta in Triacastela was only €6. Not only was there no WiFi, but I got assigned a top bunk. I went to the only open bar in town, Bar O Escondite. I ordered a pork loin sandwich, but got processed ham slices in a sandwich. It did not sit well in my stomach. I felt like it was going to come out one of the two ends of my digestive system. When I got back to the albergue, the Korean woman on the bunk bed below me was already snoring. In the next room down the hall, there was some old Spanish guy that snored as loud as a chainsaw.

A hunter and two hounds.

Crossing into Galicia. Notice the elaborate Nativity scene.

O Cebreiro.

A sign advertising octopus.

When I got to the Alto do Poio, these two large dogs were not happy to see me.

A stone wall collapsed on the path heading down towards Triacastela.

I had to step aside to let a tractor with a manure sprayer pass by on the narrow farm road.

An 800 year old chestnut tree.