I left Villafranca del bierzo just after 8am this morning through the little streets with the smell of wood fires and the sound of the fast flowing river that runs through the valley. The daily joke is see you at the next Starbucks for coffee, which is always a small bar in a small village. The sun was up and so was the moon, as it has been for the last two weeks or so, except that now the moon is still up till mid afternoon directly in front of me with the sun on my back as I head westward to Santiago. I had intended to get to O'Cebriero today, which is the highest point on the Camino. It was here that a priest, who when a villager made his way into this village to attend church during a storm, thought to himself why has this man come all this way just to get some bread and wine and at moment the bread and wine turned to flesh and blood. The chalice is still kept in the church.
The history of the Camino never ceases to amaze me on my walk today. I passed a village called Hospital named so, after the English hospital mentioned in documents dating back to the 12 century, which was used by Henry II during his pilgrimage to Santiago. I have stopped for the day at La Faba, just 4 kilometers from O'Cebriero, with still another steep climb ahead and a long and steep descent just like the one that caused my ankle to swell up. Good news tomorrow I cross over into Galicia.
Life is so good
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