Stage Twenty Nine – O’Cebreiro to Tricastela

20.7  km

November 6, 2011

You Can’t Always Get What You Want..but you get what you need!

Ok..this was now looking to be the second worse night in an albergue. It was sooo hot in the room and moisture was forming inside the windows. It was like a sauna. I woke up at 2 am and the fellow sleeping next to me started sneezing in my general direction. I had put my towel up between us so I couldn’t see him, but he was almost rolling on to my bed.

In my paranoia about getting sick, I got my Thieves (essential oil) spray out, in the dark and started spraying it around my bed, to ward off the germs. Many people were coughing and hacking. I didn’t get back to sleep till after 4 am. The alarms rang and it was still dark outside and it was raining. An optimistic pilgrim looked out the window and said, “Yes, it’s going to be 20 degrees today and we will walk out of the rain by 10 am” I liked her optimism but people were very grumpy and groggy this morning.  A young German pilgrim on the bunk across the aisle was having a tough time getting up. He put some old rock and roll on his mp3 player and I could hear it. I can’t remember the song but it helped to get me going.

Pam and I left the albergue in the dark, fog and rain with no breakfast. I got a cafe con leche from a machine. The machine coffee was surprisingly good but you never got very much for your money.   It was not going to be a great morning; the temperature was just above the freezing mark by a degree or two. At least it wasn't snowing, but I hoped we would walk out of the rain. We would not be seeing any beautiful sunrises or grand vistas today.  The walk was a lot of ups and one long way down. I climbed to Alto de Poyo, 1330m., passed the big pilgrim statue, and then it dropped to 660m to Tricastela (the town of three castles, none of which survive). It was a really remote walk through old small villages. Would have been greater if the weather had cooperated.

Pam and I were so albergued out that we decided to get a hotel room at Casa David. We bought some wine and snacks and took turns having a hot bath, and we watched Thelma and Louise dubbed in Spanish on the TV. There were no English stations at all. We washed our clothes and had them strung all over the radiators and bathroom. It was so nice to just hang out and relax in the room and  to warm up under big heavy blankets. I got what I needed and was grateful to have the means to get it.