Day 12 of the camino

Day 12: o'cebreiro to Tricastella.

20 km day. Wound up being harder than I thought it would be.  Was more up hill than expected, many valleys which I went up then down and the weather today was horrendous.  It was all the locals were talking about.  Hardcore hail, insane wind.  Snow! Lightning which legitimately frightened me.  Despite all that though it was a good day.  Made amazing progress towards Santiago.  My feet are a bit blistered, but I have a rest day quickly approaching.  Between the rain and snow and hail I caught some amazing views of the valley below.  Some great pictures once I get the time to run them through my computer.  I love the camino, and these kind of days exemplify that. 

I've made far better progress than expected.  Already I am easily a full day ahead of schedule.  Plus I had built into my itenerary significant catch up days for if I fell behind.  So I have thought long and hard about my options and have decided to try and push for the Finesterra Camino, instead of finishing in Santiago.  Finesterra is an additional 4 days, 90 km away from Santiago. It is the original finishing point of this pilgrimage before the Christians, what the pagans believed was the end of the Earth.  It was always my goal to try for it, but now I am confident I will have the time.  So now I plan on reaching Santiago on the 20th, exploring the city on the 21st and then moving on to finisterra, ending up there on the 25th. 

Dinner today was fabulous by the way.  Most of the town restaurants have a pilgrims menu of the day for 10 Euros with a whole bottle of local wine, bread and dessert.  Today for example I had a cold plate of local curred meats and cheese, a trout caught in the river behind the restaurant and a lovely chocolate flan.  Add in a Spanish dessert wine (we don't serve that porteguesse Port crap here!) and you have a fabulous cheap and hearty meal. 

For the history buffs among us Tricastella is a fascinating little town.  Once home to three castles, as the name would suggest, it was a crucial location in determining trade across Spain.  Most importantly for pilgrims, the limestone mined here in the local quarries was used in the creation of the Santiago cathedral.  Indeed medevil pilgrims would be given as much limestone as they could carry with them on their pilgrimages to Santiago to help build the cathedral. I am thankful to avoid carrying any limestone with me.  Frankly that sounds horrible. 

On to Sarria tomorrow, another 19km. Then a rest day to sooth my weary feet. 
Flickr should be up to date, though only with a portion of my total pictures.  so should yesterday's post.