Friday, 9/29: Since we began our journey 19 days ago, dawn has started later and later. On this day, we walked to the roadside of O Cebreiro to look out at the eastern horizon and the view over the valley was breathtaking.

And as the sun rose and the mist hung over the mountain ridges we began our next day on El Camino.

As we depart O Cebreiro we are bid farewell by a the apostle himself, St. James.

Today we head to Sarria. We will go down and up a couple of hundred meters to pass Alto de San Roque and Alto do Poio peaking at roughly 1330 meters. I begin my day with the Lord’s prayer for our continued safety and as we pick up speed down the asphalted road, I find myself repeating the mantra my mother used to say when she was anxious, “Blessed heart of Jesus, in you I trust”. My hands relax as I intuitively pump the breaks gently to manage the speed, especially around the curves. My eyes water as the cold wind failed to pierce around my face covered by my scarf but cut into my pupils.

There’s a certain irony that for all the effort to make it up the hills, the different effort needed to go downhill safely is faster and so we arrive in Sarria in what appears to be a blink-of-an-eye. A small town dedicated to pilgrims throughout their long history, the Monastery of Magdalena was founded in the 12th century as a hospital and refuge for pilgrims by two Italian friars.


