I follow the French Way or The Way of St. James which this ancient pilgrim path is also known as, just like the last time, but this time starting in the region of Castilla y León that borders to Galicia at O Cebreiro. It will be fun to discover a new part of the Camino. 

It’s a beautiful start and feels wonderfully flat! In reality it’s a steady ascent from Santa Catalina to Rabanal, however I stop every 5 km as I had planned, for a coffee, lunch or something to drink, and luckily there are cafes evenly distributed along the trail.  

Passing pretty and very rustic doors on the way.

I knew that there has been a tremendous rise of pilgrims since my last Camino in 2012. The statistics show a staggering 438,589 thousand people finished the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 2022, as opposed to 192,488 in 2012, and indeed, there are a lot of pilgrims on the trail today. However, I enjoy having brief chats with people from many parts of the world, even though I find myself thinking, is this going to be like this the whole way?

Some do their Camino on horseback, others on bicycle, but mostly people walk.

The sad lack of training before the Camino I have made up for in a way by being better equipped in the clothing department. I have my excellent hiking boots that kept me blister free, my pants that can transform into a pair of shorts by zipping of part of the legs, the double act merino wool socks (probably the secret of zero blisters), my Osprey backpack, a rain poncho and a few other items from the last time.

Here I am very happy to be on my way, and rightly so. Look at wonderfully flat and even terrain behind me. Easy as pie so far!

But this time around I have kitted myself out with a neat lightweight wind jacket that folds into a tiny square that fits into the palm of my hand (!), an incredibly comfy lightweight fleece jacket, a head torch (invaluable on the last morning), a lightweight hiking skirt (loved this one!), a couple of thin merino wool t-shirts, one which has long sleeves (layering is the trick here), a lightweight sponge bag and a lightweight fanny pack for my valuables, to mention a few. I think you’ve noticed that the common denominator is lightweight…

Enjoying nature that is still in its early summer prime.

The one thing I was extra grateful for were my new hiking poles with rubber tips (as not to drive everyone nuts with the tapping sound). Without them I wouldn’t have succeeded at all to be honest. They are easily disassembled into three parts, and I packed them in a hard paper tube, like the kind you transport posters in, since you can’t take them on the plane, and they must be checked in. So, I purchased an Osprey Airbag in which I packed my backpack and the tube with the poles, and this combination served me well, as this time I also had my backpack sent along the way. I had no idea of this service the last time and happily carried my own throughout. But this time is a little different because I’m not going home at the end, but I’m going to continue to visit my niece on the Italian riviera and need some extra non-walking related clothing. So, despite all the new state of the art lightweight gear, my backpack ended up weighing over 11 kilos and that’s way over the max weight for me to carry, which would be approximately 6 kilos. The Airbag proved to be a nifty item to keep all my kit together as well.

So enough of the packing tips and let’s get back onto the trail. All went well on this 20,7 km stretch but the last five kilometers began to ascent quite steeply, making the very last leg quite heavy going for an extremely unfit person, and I’m starting to get an inkling of what awaits…

The strangest thing was that after El Ganzo, and the aptly namned Cowboy bar, everyone seemed to have vanished, and I walk alone for quite a bit. I meet the riding gang again at the entrance of Rabanal and they seem astonished that they as riders, hadn’t come further than me hiking.

This place is a dream. Lucky me! Slept like a princess here and I really needed all the rest I could get for the next day...

I leave them there and find my way my next lodging, the Stone Boat, which turned out to be a fabulous place! Kim who owns the place and is from the US greeted me and we sat down to register, and then in no time at all skipped the small talk and went into deep and meaningful conversation for hours on end over a cup of tea! I’m grateful every time I meet a kindred soul. She even washes my clothes in her machine and hang them to dry on a clothes line close by the lighted wood stove in the corner, without us missing a beat. Thanks Kim!

The view from my bedroom window.

I popped into 12th century Templar church across the courtyard from the monastery, to listen to a short service with Gregorian chants, before I continued to a restaurant close by for my first dinner with the traditional three-course pilgrim menu. After that it was time to head straight back to my lodgings, to be firmly tucked up in bed by 10 o’clock.

Tomorrow is a seriously tough 25,6 km day, from Rabanal to Molinasecca, ascending the mountain to the famous Cruz de Ferro and then Alto Altar at 1,515 meters and after that a steep decent to El Acebo. Lights out!

Check out my earlier posts to get the full context of this pilgrimage or my latest Camino, and sign up to be notified when the next post is released.
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All photos copyright Anita Martinez Beijer © All rights reserved

The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage rooted in medieval origins. It leads to the tomb believed to be that of the Apostle Saint James the Greater, in the crypt of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. The Camino was, and still is, Europe’s oldest, busiest, and most well-known route.

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