Celtic lives

The high point of our last few days on the Camino de Santiago was an unexpected detour off the pilgrim trail, up to an ancient hill town that's been partially excavated by archaeologists. Native Celtic people lived here from 500 BC through 100 AD, and they constructed three rings of earth works around their hilltop, both for defense against Romans and other invading barbarians, and to mirror the Sun that they honored. We spent an hour wandering alone through their homes and stone hearths, and looking out on the hillsides below where they grazed sheep and farmed.
We slept in an inn nearby that night, and our Galego host said she'd been up there in the moonlight, and that it is full of spirit. We felt it too.
Many of the people who lived there 2500 years ago would have made the pilgrimage, sometime in their lives to Finisterre, the end of the known earth, where the Sun sinks into the sea. That's where we're headed next!

Rambling across Galicia

Galicia is round, green, and full of the sound of running water and birdsong. Round hills, round clouds, curving stone walls and country lanes winding over it all.

Appetizers with the cows

Expecting days of rain, we find the sun next morning, cafe and tostas on a slate table with calves gamboling. Galicia is cows, tractors, TV proud of Galician (not Spanish) accomplishments, and long quiet stone roads winding over round mountains, chestnut forests, brilliant streams and meadows, and  . . . cows. Late in the day we descend to Casa do Campo, where Raquel y Jesus have retired to his family farm, and serve us their sausage and olives, wine and cheese in company with . . . their lovely cows.

O Cebreiro

Early morning sun spills into Las Herrerias, where we find an open shop for cafe con leche, and then cross the rushing stream and begin our climb. All glorious day we wind up old stone paths, through chestnut and oak forests, meadows, and a few tiny villages, rising through folds of the mountains into the clouds. At last, perched on the pass, is O Cebreiro -- our first celtic village, where the church was built in 806 and the round houses have thatch and slate roofs tied down against the storm. A warm bowl of caldo galego, wine, and to bed!
We wake to rain, wind, and blowing fog, and scurry to the stone cafe for coffee and Torta Santiago (almonds & butter). Then we don all our layers and rain gear. Onwards into mist and birdsong blowing through Galician forests. Magic awaits. It is time to go!

El Valcarce: the climb from Bierzo to Galicia

We were lucky that Monday is market in Villafranca. Local cheese, bread, chocolat, and fruit (and lots of water) filled our packs as we crossed the bridge, ignored the signs, and started up the steep Pradela route, leaving the road and all the other pilgrms behind. A last hand- lettered sign warned, "Ruta muy dura: solo por caminates buenosos - no encuentra ayudos." ("Very hard trail: only for strong hikers - no emergency help available.") As we climbed 1,000 feet in the first mile, then kept climbing, we were grateful for the shade of olives, then peach, then quince, chestnut, pine and oak. We crossed a forest fire from last year, now brilliant with wildflowers, and shared lunch with the only other peregrinos crazy enough to choose this high route: a young German woman, and an Austrailian woman our age from Brisbane who laughed at the heat, but gladly drank our cold juice after hours of winding sunny slopes.  A long high ridge clothed in carefully-tended chestnut trees, a long steep descent to Trabadela, and we find ourselves grateful for the only food available, empanada and local wine, by the rushing river, while the neighbors set out lettuce and onions in black soil. Tomorrow the big climb into the celtic lands of  Galicia!

Walking into summer: the Bierzo valley

From just-budding trees in the mountains we descend down steep ravines into the Bierzo valley, where grape vines are already leafed out and apricot and fig trees already forming fruit. Our room in Ponferrada looks out on the castle of the Knights Templar, who protected pilgrims during the 11th and 12th centuries -- now brilliant poppies grow from its walls. The basilica holds the Virgin de la Encina that was hidden in a druid's hollow oak tree for a hundred years while the moors held the city. Another long day rolling through vinyards and friendly villages (fresh-squeezed orange juice!) brings us to the quaint town of Villafranca del Bierzo, where we have our first open air dinner on the square and wander the gardens down to the bridge. The rushing mountain river reminds us that tomorrow we leave summer behind and begin our climb into Galicia.