O Cebreiro to Triacastela to Samos 32 k

Friday, October 9

Very damp in O Cebreiro -- none of our laundry -- socks and microfiber t-shirts did not dry. We got up and used our headlamps to walk over for breakfast across the cobblestones from our little inn.

Lots of activity and headlamps about -- pan tostada with jam, and coffee -- then off to Triacastela at 8:40 am. We ran into Sole and Leos again -- Sole works at a kind of marine park in Barcelona- the poor dolphins have only a small pool and so do seals. The whole thing is terribly depressing, but she works with the tourists-visitors -- and it is a job. Not an easy thing to get int Barcelona these days -- all the Spaniards we hve talked to say how unreal the movie, Vicky, Christine, Barcelona was -- even though they love Woody Allen. Leos has worked in management in business, but is unemployed due to the economic crisis. They are walking the Camino for spiritual reasons and doing it as inexpensively as possible.

We made the ascent to Alto Roc -- the highest point -- where there is statue of a pilgrim holding onto his hat in the wind. It´s still misty out about 11 am -- and stop for a bocadillo -- a sandwich on great artisan bread with an omelete.

Now we are going through villages again. As we enter one village, a tiny old woman stops us with a dish full of crepes for 2 euro each. We each take one and she neatly folds it over and sprinkles surgar on it. Delicious! Then we stop further on at Casa Lucas for coffee and to get a sello on our passport.

We come to San Juan Hospital and stop at the church. There are tons of churches named after St. John the Baptist -- San Juan. His feast day on June 24 is quite a big deal.

En route to Triacastela we pass a man selling palos -- pilgrim staffs -- I nearly buy one but realize I have only one large euro bill. He was very sweet and gave me and John both apples and wishes us Buen Camino. The chestnut tree groves continue.

Around lunch we dropped down into Triacastela and stopped for lunch -- a tortilla española with potatoes and eggs. We picked the same cafe we had eaten at last year -- only this time there were fewer pilgrims than in May, the awning was not down because it was not hot.

Instead of spending the night in Triscastela, we decided to head onto Samos -- a longer day, but Samos was where we had spent 3 delightful days at a wonderful little hotel last year.

The walk to Samos seemed much longer than last year -- it was 11 - 15 k depending on which guidebook you read. we arrived late -- 6:30 p.m. and to our disappointment, our favorite hotel was `complete` -- full. Many hotels were full and we ended up at a rather shabby Hostal -- hot hostel. A hostal is like a hotel, but some rooms share a bath. The highlight of the evening was going to Cafe Resco where we had eaten every night last year. The owner remembered us, welcomed us back to her ´casa´´ and fixed us our ´usual´ -- omelet with mushrooms, grilled vegetables, mixed salad, flan for me, and wine.

There are special pilgrims` meals that cost 8 - 10 euros. There are 3 courses and many choices. The cost is so reasonable.

Next day we were off to Sarria -- a big city, but before then we had to visit again the monastery at Samos and see Padre Augustin.