Day 7 of the Camino

Stage 7 Rabanal del Camino to O Cebreiro

We began the day with breakfast at the hotel. Klaus came down just as we had ordered so we invited him to eat with us. Since we were part way up a mountain, we didn’t want to leave too early since it was rather cool. It was once again a beautiful day as we headed off. The profile indicated that we would begin and end the day with a pretty good climb.

The first climb was about 8 kms. Thanks to everyone’s help yesterday I had my legs back so it wasn’t too bad. We had our green jerseys on again so an older Irish man noticed us. Terri Lynn rode next to him and chatted with him for quite a while. At one point he said he would have to walk a bit. The next stretch had some tough percentages but we all made it. At the top there was a cross with lots of rocks around it. The idea is that the pilgrims carry a rock the size of their sins to that point and leave it there by the cross. We decided that we could never find a rock the size of our sins and even if we could, we could never carry it – especially on the back of our bikes. In reality there were lots of t-shirts, hats, water bottles and numerous other articles that are carried in backpacks.

During our photo op stop, Michael caught up with us and introduced us to two Irish women who were walking part of the Camino. One of them was fascinated by Sheri’s rearview mirror attached to her helmet. She wanted to know where she could get one for her cycle-loving brother. Sheri is thinking of carrying some with her on the next trip and selling them for a profit to all those who ask about it.

After our 8 km climb we enjoyed an 18 km descent. We didn’t go very far before we stopped for another photo op. I enjoy climbing for two reasons. One is the incredible views.

The other is the fun of climbing is having the road just disappear over the ridge.

The first part of the descent was quite technical and I had to be on my brakes the whole time. Terri Lynn, the fastest on the descents, stopped after a sharp hairpin turn at the edge of a little village. The street through the middle of town was rough so it was good to have stopped so we could go slowly through the village.

On the other side of the village, the descent wasn’t as steep and the turns weren’t quite as tight. The road was in excellent condition so I could enjoy the great view with little need for my brakes.

Once we came down to the bottom we had a good bit of flat. It seemed that most of it was through town. On the other side we started a gradual climb that was quite long. At times it looked like it was down hill but I knew my eyes were playing a trick on me because I was still on my small chain ring.

A Spanish wind farm

Eventually we started some serious climbing that must have lasted about 17 kms. The last 5 or 6 were rough. Taken alone they probably weren’t that bad but with 70 kms in my legs, they were hard. I was assured that we had a 3 km climb once we turned off the main road. I stopped there to rest while the others continued on. Even without an odometer I knew how far I had gone thanks to the km markers on the side of the road. After 2 kms I caught sight of the others and saw a down hill section on the other side of the ridge. That helped keep me going. The 3 km climb turned out to be more like 4 but with a little descent thrown in it was OK and we all made it to O Cebrerio having conquered the hardest climb of the Camino.

Later during supper, Terri Lynn asked what I had been thinking during the last part of the climb. I was singing in my head. For you are great, you do miracles so great, there is no one else like you, there is no one else like you… One interesting thing is that even though I was singing in my head, I still had to take long pauses between phrases of the song to catch my mental breath.

Cebrerio is a small village with stone houses, thatched roofs and cobbled stone streets. Bikes and cobbled stones don’t go together very well so we walked our bikes in to find our hotel. Our impression was that everyone in the town was grumpy. They must have had about enough of all the tourists coming through even if it was their livelihood.

The highlight of the evening was the massage. We noticed a table set up and a woman giving massages in the church courtyard. Since our hotel overlooked the courtyard, Karin leaned out the window and (being a loud American) asked how much it cost. Finding out that it was a donation, she told the lady she would be down as soon as she had finished her shower. In the end, Terri Lynn was the first one down. She got the full body massage.

After she had finished, the woman and her husband took a short break before Karin and I got our shoulders worked on as well as our legs. Karin, who enjoys talking, found out more about them. The woman has a massage parlor in Barcelona. Having walked the Camino before, they knew that massages were always well appreciated so they offered them for a donation. They also had some massage oils for sell. This time they were driving a van/camper and had been in Cebrerio for a couple of days. Wherever they stopped they set up shop and offered their services and made a little money on the side. They probably could pay for most of their vacation that way. A massage was just what my legs needed and her thumbs caused some grimaces as they dug into the outside of my quads. The other thing that really hurt was the inside of my feet. My shoulder hurt like crazy when she was done but the next morning it was fine.

We found a nice place to eat with a view out over the valley. Karin jumped up to take a picture of the sunset partway through the meal. We had the local soup which tasted like ham and bean soup but there were some other things in it as well. I had trout for the 2^nd course.

Vital stats for the day:
89.1 kms
6:06 riding time
14.6 average speed
1044 meters climbed (? We weren’t sure that the altimeter was working correctly)