O Cebreiro → A Balsa
Distance: 14.3 miles / 23km
Elevation: +1140ft, -3402ft
I woke up at around 6:45am and it took me a while to get out of bed. It surprised me that I was one of the first people up, because at the beginning of the Camino, everyone was getting up at 6am to start walking for the day, and now people are really sleeping in because it’s colder and the sun is rising later. I spent some time doing research on the albergue I had booked for that night, and saw a review that they had bedbugs. I messaged a different albergue in another town that I knew some friends were staying at tonight, and I asked if they still had room.
After packing all my things and getting ready to go, I ran into Santiago and Gil in the kitchen! We chatted for a bit, and then I got going for the day. I had thought about staying at Obrero until sunrise to see the view from up there, but I decided against it.
It was a nice walk through a forest for a bit, and then eventually we began a pretty steep descent down the mountain. After about 8km of walking, I got to a café that Santiago had heard about from a local, that this place had the best tortillas along the entire Camino. I stopped there and got a tortilla and a café, and then I ran into Maureen and Esther! I hadn’t seen them in awhile, since Tovin and I were in the Meseta together before he left.
I caught up with her, and she said she had gotten tendinitis and had been doing a lot of busing ahead to places which was how she caught up. She said she actually stayed at an albergue a little bit farther down the mountain, but she caught a school bus somehow to get up here, because she still wanted to walk a bit. I sat with her, Esther, and Esther‘s friend. They were very nice and her and her friend had two big glasses of sangria for breakfast, which I thought was funny.
After that, I kept walking for a while and it was getting really tough on my knees from how steep it was. Eventually, I stopped at a café that Liz had texted me and recommended. I ran into her there, along with someone I met earlier today that Maureen is friends with. We all sat and chatted for a bit, and also chatted a bit with a guy we met who was switching from Camino to Camino! He had done part of the Francés, went to the Primitivo, got to nearly Santiago, and was now doing part of the Francés backward. He was very interesting, and I talked with him for a bit after Liz left.
Eventually, I got back on my way too and before long, I made it to Triacastela, which is the big town before the town I’m staying in. I walked through there briefly, but since it was siesta time by then not much was open. It was a bit more of a hill and a climb before I finally made it to A Balsa, but it was a beautiful walk out of Triacastela. I got to the albergue and didn’t see anyone so I walked in and went into the backyard, where I found a guy named James, and he said they don’t do check in until 5pm, so to just find a bed and get set up.
The place is super nice, it’s a vegan albergue run by a couple that met on the Camino about 15 years ago! They provided their own homemade ecological soap, and also had hammocks in a forest in their backyard. I explored a bit, and then took a long shower and did my laundry in the shower as well. Their ecological soap was super fancy and smelled good! After I showered, I hung up my clothes, and then called Tovin on the phone and we chatted for a while. While I was on the phone with him, Liz, Santiago, and Mark also showed up to the albergue.
After I got off the phone with Tovin, I hung out with them for a bit and then got my things settled while they showered and did laundry. Afterwards, we all went up to the hammocks since they had a ton of them! We each got in a hammock and just relaxed for a few hours. It was so nice to have the time to be alone and relax and it was just a beautiful beautiful spot. It was in the forest and quiet and we all knew each other were there but were all doing our own things.
At 7pm, we went down for dinner, which was a starter of a beetroot pumpkin soup with homemade sourdough bread. It was very good! The main course was rice with grated sesame, chickpeas with tomatoes, some stir fried/boiled type veggies, and then ground sunflower. I’m normally not at all a vegan or eat a vegan diet, but it was truly a delicious dinner. Dessert was a piece of carob cake and a piece of orange cake with vanilla cream on top.
After dinner, I got ready for bed and then sat at the dinner table with everyone else for a while. They had guitars there, and Santiago plays the guitar, so he was playing some songs that people were singing along to. Me, Liz, Mark, and Santiago were also doing some planning, figuring out where we each were going to stay the next day. Someone else had stepped on a thorn, so someone was doing straight up foot surgery at the dinner table while Mark was holding his phone flashlight up for visibility. It was the most pilgrim looking thing ever. Foot surgery, guitar playing, people journaling, planning their days, it was just a beautiful evening.
Eventually, everyone got going to bed and I was in bed by around 10pm. I texted Tovin for a bit, and then it didn’t take me too long to fall asleep. Today was a really beautiful, really nice day on the Camino. I really enjoyed getting to stay at a place with Mark and Liz and Santiago, and it was a beautiful albergue. Overall, it was a really good day.
