Day 21 - Villafranca to La Faba

I slept well last night and my leg (and the rest of me) feels fine today.
Lydia, the woman who runs the albergue, told me this morning that this last week has been the hottest so far this year for the region. Early morning was a bit overcast but still very warm and humid. It looked like it might rain but there were just a few spots.
The first 10 kms was walking along side the old main road (NV-1) but this was very quiet as there is a new autopista with tunnels through the mountains which takes all the busy traffic. By mid-morning I started climbing upwards; winding through lovely pueblos with very lush vegetation. You can hear water running almost all of the time here. It is either in the rivers or just running off the mountains. There is constant bird song and the low donging from the bells of invisible cows (as they are invisible they could be sheep or goats) Donging is the correct word as dinging, ringing or clanging is not the right noise - trust me, I am an expert!
I promised myself (and my wife) that I would take it easy today - and I have. I think this is the first day that I did not complete a full stage from the guide book. I have stopped about 5 kms before the top of O'Cebreiro (pronounced oh-thay-bray-air-oh) which is the last of the high mountains (1,310 metres)
I have 99 miles (159 kms) left to walk to get to Santiago. This means I have walked 400 miles in three weeks!

I am staying in a very small place called La Faba, right next to the tiny Iglesia San André (Saint Andrews church) There are only 34 beds here and the doors do not open until 14:00. I arrived about 12:45 and was about the 10th to get here. This is unusual for me as I usually walk further and the albergues are already open on my arrival.  It soon got very busy and when the hospitalero arrived to unlock the doors there was a mad rush to get to the front of the queue. It is funny that the people who arrived last were young and fit, had walked the least or were German or American and were at the front of the queue! I have nothing against any of these people but you have to do an "inward smile" or you will go mad.
The hospitalero seemed to instinctively know what had happened and allocated the worst beds first. The rest of us got a wink as we were registered and shown to our nice bunks - Pilgrim Justice.

Today the prominent tree is the Spanish Chestnut, like our Sweet Chestnut but larger. The wood from these trees is obviously important here as there are cut planks of it stacked everywhere and many carpenter workshops. You can see the golden wood in the buildings, doors and furniture. The doors of the church and albergue where I am staying are both chestnut, the albergue door also has a beautiful knocker (see below) and I should now as I have seen some amazing knockers lately.

Some other random photos below.
I have no wee-fee today so will post this as soon as I find some.

Evening update- I have just shared a table for our evening meal with an elderly Japanese gentleman. He is 75 years old and lost his wife in the recent tsunami. Although he is a Buddhist and not catholic he says this is his way of finding peace with himself. He is a very quiet man and speaks little English and as my Japanese is not that hot it was sometimes difficult to converse. We drew pictures on a serviette to help with translation. However there was no rush and we took the time to share a meal and a bottle of wine; something else that I would not have done on a "normal" day.
As I type this I am sitting on the wall swinging my legs in the evening sunshine outside the church, as one of the pilgrims who is also a priest gives a pilgrim service to those that wish to attend. I hear their repeated murmurings in one ear and the distant donging of an invisible beast in the other.

Perfect.


Some photos of

Spanish chestnut wood.

A partial view of a sign that describes the weather.

The lovely scenery.

One of many lovely knockers.