Day 24 (6/4) Barbadelo to Portomarin

(written on 6/5)

So, so close to catching up.

The walk from Barbadelo to Portomarin is pretty chill, although there's a significant downhill as you descend toward the river. Portomarin is a cool town. 

From Caminoways:

In the 1960s, an event unfolded that would forever change the face of Portomarín. The construction of the Belesar Reservoir led to the damming of the Miño River, threatening the original village with submersion. This village, established in the Middle Ages beside a Roman bridge, faced an existential crisis. The response? A bold and unprecedented move to relocate the entire village to higher ground.

The relocation of Portomarín wasn’t just a matter of moving a community; it was about preserving its historical soul. Key historical structures, like the 12th-century Romanesque church of San Xoán de Portomarín and the Capela de San Pedro, were carefully dismantled, stone by stone, and reconstructed in the new village location. This monumental effort not only saved these historical gems from the rising waters but also symbolically resurrected the town’s history and identity.

Photos from Cory I

Day 23 (6/3) Fonfria to Barbadelo

After eating breakfast at the albergue, we all boarded taxis to skip a ghastly downhill 7km walk and were dropped off in Triacastela. This was the day in 2024 where Jeff, Kimmy and I inadvertently zigged when we should have zagged and added an additional 5-6 miles to our walk, We avoided that mistake this year.

Neither Cory nor I took particularly good photos today. I'll have to hit the students up for better images. I'll say that between the two routes (Samos route from 2024 or the route through Montán 2026), I think I preferred the 2026 option. Good views, good cafe stops, and 2 hours shorter. I mentioned in an earlier post that we've had a few mid-trail breaks at places where our auras definitely get fluffed, and today was like, the most epic aura fluffing. It was a very cool commune with sustainable practices and I loved its message of sharing peace and love and joy, but also lots of aura fluffing.

I also broke my own rule of never going off-route to chase a cafe or a sightseeing destination (I'm very lazy) but we did find good tapas at a riverside cafe in Sarria that was like...2 minutes off route. 

Worth noting is that Sarria is just over 100km to Santiago de Compostella, and in order to get your pilgrim credential, you have to walk at least 100k, so many pilgrims start their walk from Sarria. We moved through Sarria to Barbadelo (it's the one albergue that has an open pool!), but as a peregrino (pilgrim), you can see the massive influx of folks walking the Camino from Sarria to Compostela. More cafes, more souvenirs, and more trail traffic.

Day 22 (6/2) Herrerias to Fonfria

(written 6/5) 

Happy Birthday, Mama G! I love you and appreciate you.

This day might be my favorite day on the Camino based on the beauty of the walk and the novelty of the towns we visit. We left las Herrerías fairly early because the walk is pretty burly in terms of elevation gain.

Kellie: "Cory, help me write this blog post."
Cory: "It was like...moist that morning. From the rain."

I think we have the beginnings of the next great American novel.

One of these days I'll actually post the elevation profiles and maps of the various stages of the Camino, but today is not that day.

We climbed up and up and up and up until we reached O Cebreiro. Like 2024, there was someone playing the bagpipes to usher us into town, which is a very fun way to reach O Cebreiro. From CaminoWays:

Perched at 1,300 metres above sea level, this charming spot marks the gateway from the region of El Bierzo into Galicia. O Cebreiro is a small yet remarkable village, full of character and history.

Nestled between the O Courel and Os Ancares mountain ranges, O Cebreiro is home to traditional mountain dwellings called ‘pallozas’. These unique pre-Roman homes can only be found in this part of Galicia

‘Pallozas’ are circular or oval, with granite or slate walls up to 1.70 meters high and thatched roofs. These houses are examples of Celtic design and offer a glimpse into ancient life in the region.

By the early 20th century, O Cebreiro’s church and inn were in ruins, while locals still lived in ‘pallozas’. The priest of O Cebreiro, Don Elías Valiña Sampedro, secured funding to restore the church and village. They built new houses, rehabilitated the ‘pallozas,’ and transformed one into a folk museum.

Today, nine ‘pallozas’ are preserved there. Four are managed by Galicia’s Cultural Council and function as an ethnological museum.

It's definitely got some tourist kitsch to it, but kind of the perfect amount of kitsch. Our group easily spent 90 minutes to 2 hours enjoying the town. One of the highlights is a traditional soup from the area: Caldo de Gallego.

After O Cebreiro, we continued to walk toward Fonfria, where we stayed at the same great albergue that we did in 2024. I believe the owner of this albergue (Miguel?) is the president or holds some sort of leadership position within the association or private albergues. He runs a great establishment. We got to have some Gallecian cheese, and Cory played a song/guitar duet with one of the employees (from the Philippines) who requested Wild Mountain Thyme to practice his singing and his English.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a witch ceremony this year, but we DID get a dinner concert from the bagpiper. It was rowdy and fun and there was much rejoicing.

Day 21 (6/1) Molinaseca to Herrerias

As much as I want to make this a quality post, it's after 11PM and we had a long 13-miler on concrete and limited shade, so first draft will be brief and then I'll gussy it up once I can ask Jeff/Cory/students to add more details. <goes to sleep>

<revisited on 6/4>

Okay, let's try this again from the top. From Molinaseca, we met the students at their albergue and boarded a bus to Ponferrada, where we walked around the Castillo de los Templarios. 

From CaminoWays.Com

The Castillo de los Templarios (Castle of the Knights Templar) in Ponferrada, Spain, is one of the largest and most complex medieval fortresses in northwestern Spain. Originally built over a Celtic hill-fort and a Roman citadel, the fortification was gifted to the Knights Templar in 1178 by King Ferdinand II of León. Its primary military objective was to protect pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago.

Also from the internet:

The Spanish Templar Knights were an elite order of warrior-monks who played a pivotal role in the Reconquista (the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula) and protected Christian pilgrims traveling the Camino de Santiago. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Spanish Templars were not a separate, independent organization but rather the Iberian branch of the global Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. They were deeply integrated into Spanish medieval society: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

We were only in Ponferrada for about 40 minutes before we re-boarded the bus and shuttled to Villafranca del Bierzo, where we started our walk to Herrerias. We had a nice trail stop (and I finally picked up some pocket Tabasco for underseasoned (it happens) tortilla emergencies).

This is the section of the trip where "creepy babies of the Camino" also become more prevalent. 

I walked with Cory, Jeff, and Aaron--we've started calling Jeff and Aaron the Giraffe Brothers because they are quite tall, take long strides, and come in handy when one wants to eat local cherries that are high in the trees.

We had one major devastation on the walk. Despite a positive experience at Rock and Roll Pizza in 2024 (Berkeley will remember this site vividly based on the clipping), we rolled in 10 minutes after they closed (2:10), so we weren't able to order food, but still ordered drinks (Aquarius--duh). Since they were closed AND we ordered drinks, we thought it would be okay if we used their picnic tables to drink our drinks--bought from their establishment--and a few trail snacks. It was not.

We made a charcuterie board out of leftover nuts, muffins, anchovies, and granola bars (we were pretty low on snacks, so had to get creative), and the cafe attendant came out and said, "This is a little much. So-and-so can use our tables because he bought food from us." LADY, WE TRIED. AND WE BOUGHT DRINKS FROM YOU. 

We ended up across the street, sitting next to the dumpster, on palettes, trying to manage our charcuterie board and replaying the interaction over and over again to figure out where we went wrong. There was also an incident involving orange peels, but if you have to ask, you're not ready to know.

Store stop karma does exist, though. Not too long after the R&R Pizza disaster, we found a unique little cafe/albergue called "Casa Cantadora: The House of The Elven King's Heart. House of the Sun, the Light." It's absolutely as new age as it sounds. Our aura got fluffed big time. But that wasn't even the most aura-fluffing cafe stop we've had on the trip--more on that in a future post.

The best part about this stop was that it had river access, so we were able to soak our feet in the water for a few minutes before proceeding onto Herrerias. I remembered Herrerias from 2024, although we actually stayed in Ruitelan. Herrerarias--specifically, the Paraiso hotel--is nestled above a sheep field and is a perfect place to enjoy a nice dinner and a game of bocce ball--both of which we did.

Due to space limitations, Cory and I and a few students were lodged in another albergue about 10 minutes up the road (Casa do Ferreiro), which was also very nice and quaint.

Day 20 (5/31) El Acebo to Molinaseca

Despite not going to bed until well after 4AM (courtesy of the Western Conference Finals), we rallied and were out the door by about 8AM en route to Molinaseca. Deya made a special effort to get us lodged in Molinaseca because we loved it so much in 2024 but weren't able to stay the night. 

The walk itself was pretty chill, with the caveat that I stayed on the road most of the time because my knees are absolutely toast on downhill walks--Cory brought me a second knee brace when he arrived. The views were spectacular the entire walk, and crossing the bridge over the river into Molinaseca is pretty magical. 

Nearly all of the students arrived ahead of us, and it was fun to see a big swarm of them playing hackey sack, reading, or relaxing by the river. Jeff rallied a crew for some bocce ball while I listened to my audiobook and napped briefly because staying up until 4AM to watch basketball is a young person's game. 

Cory got to play guitar in the plaza and our group had a fabulous dinner by the river before calling it a night. 

Personal note for future travel: the group's albergue had limited space and limited private rooms, so Cory and I ended up in the hotel Palacio (right on the river) and it was an *amazing* room with a reading nook that overlooked Molinaseca's cute little streets--10/10 would recommend.

All photo credits: Cory I.

Day 19 (5/30) Rabanal to El Acebo

(Written on 6/1)

Happy Birthday, Eimee!

Today's quest involved leaving Rabanal and hiking a pretty steep uphill for several miles until we reached Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross). I have a post that contextualizes the Cruz de Ferro from 2024. Prior to reaching the Cruz, we ran into a German peregrino who had fallen on the trail and busted her head/face open pretty badly, so we helped her up, got her cleaned off, and back into town. She ended up being okay (we ran into her again on 6/1 and she was healing up), but it looked like a gnarly fall.

Man, I could not for the life of me remember what happened after CdF--I had to look up photos on Cory's phone and the syllabus :) to remember our final destination--el Acebo. Another day of really solid cafe stops with good company, good food, and incredible views.

We did not stay in el Acebo in 2024; we bussed through it and stayed in Ponferrada. El Acebo was super neat--it's a smaaaaallll town but the lodging had incredible views. We stayed in a swanky new private albergue and were able to watch the Champions League final as a large group. PSG ended up winning in PKs after 26/27 of our group was going for Arsenal. 

If that wasn't enough sportsball, we took a poll to see how many of our group would be interested in watching Game 7 of the Western Conference NBA Finals at 2AM. 12 folks voted yes; 5 folks actually showed up. Way to go, Toby, Lauren, Jeff, Cory, and me...kind of. I slept most of the second half, but from the parts I remember, it was a good game!

All photo credits: Cory I

Day 18 (5/29) Murias de Richavaldo to Rabanal

We left Juan's place and were immediately on trail surrounded by vibrant yellow flowers (Spanish/Scotch Brooms). We spent more time today digging deeper into the flora of the Camino.

Today was another good cafe stop day. We ended up in Cafe Susana in Santa Catalina de Somoza, where we struck up a conversation with cafe owner Raquel (from Germany). She hooked us up with a free beverage because Cory played guitar. Raquel eventually took over guitar duties and sang an incredible rendition of "Running up that Hill" by Kate Bush, and we all agreed that Raquel's version was better, and we also all agreed that Stranger Things rocks.

I also finally found the pair of earrings that spoke to me and I've been wearing them on trail ever since.

After Raquel's, we literally stopped to smell the roses at every possible opportunity. Next cafe stop was Messon Cowboy for smoothies, but I have to mention here that I have a weird neurosis that I call the "free sample effect."

When I go into a store offering free samples (Costco, Trader Joe's, etc.), I cannot take a sample unless I am committed to buying the item. I feel bad taking advantage of the service. I recognize how asinine this behavior is. Jeff, Cory, and I stopped to take a picture in one of those big photo cutouts of Big Jim, and when the cafe owner came out, I totally panicked and immediately sat down to order a coffee while my companions looked at me through their eyebrows (whatever that means. . .Cory's words) and carried on to the cafe next door. When I eventually made it next door to join Cory and Jeff, they were also accompanied by students Toby and Lauren, and I have to mention that Lauren ordered ramen and kimchi, the traditional Camino meal, in this cafe. We had a raucous conversation about hats and bandits and jodhpurs and pit helmets. Also, I have to give Jeff kudos--he's an incredible speller. I've asked him to spell at least 7 words for the last two posts (including "asinine," "jodhpurs," "neurosis," etc.)

We left the cafe and did more walking (Jeff: "as one does.").

At the end of this route, we had a beautiful walk through a forest that was lined with a wire fence with stick crosses woven into the route. I got birdmanned at the next cafe stop by Toby and Lauren.

The evening in Rabanal was jam packed. We bought groceries for breakfast the following morning, we had a student presentation on gastronomy of the Camino, we had dinner (in two shifts), and we attended a church service with Gregorian music.

Photo from Ben W.

Photo from Ben W.

Photo from Aaron T.

Photo from Aaron T.

Photo from Aaron T.

Photo from Aaron T.

Photo from Aaron T. 

Photo from Aaron T.

Photo from Aaron T.