Camino de Santiago Day Four

This day started with a long 8km climb up into the mountains to O’Cebreiro. This was a surprisingly steep minor road with a constant and persistent gradient requiring one of the lowest gears the whole way. Some of the group opted to walk the actual Camino path instead, so we did get a bit of a rest at the top of the climb. This was definitely the hardest bit of cycling in the trip, but the views at the top were magnificent, and after a bit more up and down (flat according to our guide), we came to another steep decent, this time on a fabulous winding wide road with a great surface, which seemed to go on for miles.


This was Galicia, where the landscape changed into rural farming communities with a lot of subsistence farming. The road went on towards Samos where we lunched, and some people visited the monastery. I enjoyed a simple rest instead after the efforts of the morning, and too much to eat again! We ended the day in Sarria where I was able to settle with a book in a terrace cafe alongside the river for an hour or two before we all met up for another Tapas meal in the town centre. Open air dining really is the thing in this part of Spain, and we seemed to be set up with our table in the middle of the street outside the town council offices and police station, but it was a beautiful setting, and good food and drink to end the day.