Leadchanges Spain!

El Camino (Levante) just outside Sobreira to Oseira (16.4 km) - Sunday 29th September, 2019.

It started bright and with the tea facility in Casa Mañoso it was very civilised. M had brought me milk just in case and also yoghurt for my breakfast. This was accompanied by blue berries which he rather ingeniously put in a plastic bottle to prevent squashing.

I set off from my start point at 08.30 in warm, mild weather and headed to bar "O Camino" at the bottom of Cea. It was the most lovely and peaceful walk over an old Medieval bridge built in the 1300's and restored in the 1800's. It still had the old paving on it. I haded up into Cea and arrived much sooner than I had thought I would. My toes were doing OK and the walking shoes helped. There were just a little tender when going downhill on tar but all off road walking was fine.

Interesting array of knives, scythes and
saws!!

A light rain from low cloud set in but nothing required a coat. I had a lovely cafe con leche again with M and then walked on past the Forno (the local word - also Portugese - for oven) where the pan de Cea would have been baked and on to the Campo De Fútbal, which is the way we had been directed on the previous day when chatting to a local. He desperately wanted to practice his English and had been a medical chap after the war, spending some time in England and working at Papworth Hospital. He said that there are two ways to the monastery, one by road and one past the football club.

I was so glad we found the old
road to the monastery

Most end up going by road (where we had seen most of the markings during our search for food and when discovering Bar Lua) and there is a much prettier route, and more direct, going up past the Campo. We assumed that most of the road route was a cycle route, and we wondered if we too really had to go that way because we hadn't seen a single marker, yet we wanted to investigate what we had been told by the helpful local gentleman. We saw the same chap actually a number of times over a couple of days in the area when we were back at bars or out for food - he seemed to be a regular fixture of one of the bars and the Plaza Mayor.

Old staddle stones from an area of
Hórreos

At this point in our exploration, we were passed by two peregrinos (later we learnt their names were Raphael and Ana) who asked which way to go... so I said to go down the road and turn right, the road route and where we had seen the markers. They had come from the FC and looked lost - and with no arrows to be seen, we wondered if we were right in assuming the way was all by road and if the scenic route described to us might not be correct after all. Having said that, it is the route in my Levante guide, but the gentleman had been clear that most people do not take it and it is often missed by pilgrims. We decided to look around.

These "peto de animas" are wayside shrines that used to
contain figures for remembering souls - peculiar to the
Galician region.

Peto de Animas passed on the way to the
Medieval bridge

The Peto de Animas are small sanctuaries located on roads, crossroads and churches in the autonomous community of Galicia, which are material representations of the cult of the dead and of devotion to souls. The deep feeling of religiosity of many inhabitants Galicia has been inherited from its ancestors and embodied in multiple traditions spread throughout the Galicia.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peto_de_ánimas

The route I would have
missed

I always dread having to walk on the road. It is utterly soul destroying and I knew that if I had to take that route it would be tiring and long as the road routes inevitably are never as direct as walking on the Camino itself across country. The gentleman in the village said that the route we should take is the old route to the monastery, so the original one that pilgrims would have taken, following a Medieval road.

We wandered around for some time, up and down and back and forth and finally I noticed a marker, quite a distance out from the town and past the Campo do Fútbal. M had gone in a different direction and I now felt terrible when I realised I had sent the other two pilgrims off on the road route. M and I were due to walk together but I asked him if he could drive to the others and maybe use Google Translate to explain. Also, to offer them a lift back to this much prettier route. Amazingly and wonderfully he did and although they had already gone quite far, he managed to have quite a good chat and they were very grateful (and touched) but also gracious and said it was totally fine, they did not mind the road.

Panorama of the ancient way to the monastery - through the woods, peaceful and simply amazing with only birdsong
to be heard... notice the arrow (centre)

Medieval road to the monastery - with walled roadside

The way was now very uneven in places and had many old medieval slabs still marking the road. As with other medieval sections I had passed along, there were also tall roadside curb stones/roadside vertical stones that marked out the course of the road. I don't think we realise in our modern countryside the amount of work that went into the medieval road and how much they were "built". We have visions of mostly muddy tracks only, but there were often great slabs paving the way - I'm guessing on their version of super highways!

What I found equally fascinating part way along were the ruts worn into the slabs and still there for all to see! Wow, the number of carts and wheeled vehicles that must have passed this way over the centuries in order to carve their mark on these solid slabs. I recognised them as I had seen them before - in the museum in Toledo and in photographs of the old wagon trains in the West on their journey along the Oregon Trail. Thousands of people making the journey each year left their mark on the landscape, including wheel ruts in solid rock. For a fascinating account of that journey and a re-enactment of it, read "Wagon Wheels - A Contemporary Journey on the Oregon Trail" by Candy Moulton & Ben Kern (1996)

The wagon ruts on left and right of
the slab

The Medieval road where I found many wheel ruts

As usual when I am walking a Medieval road I feel an excitement as though touching history, there is a different energy. As with many of these roads, it was probably abandoned at the the time of the Black Death. After that time, the Camino suffered and fewer people walked it - until recent times. Writing this at the time of Covid19, it is possible to understand how this happened, because even though we are not facing a Black Death, roads are quieter and villages feel eerily quiet. Things are strange and people are suspicious of each other. Imagine how this would have been in the 14th Century when people had even less understanding of how these things occurred or spread. Of course, the Camino is again being effected and I can't imagine what it must have felt like to have been part way to Santiago and to find accommodations closing and the need to try and get home - maybe even to another country, on often little or no great budget!

The walled medieval road - in amazing condition

Beautiful - and flowering among the rocks
along the way. I think I was the only pilgrim
to take this route, I met no others

In some parts, the full width of the road remained and the walled curbs and guiding stones lining the roadway were in remarkable condition. There were also the most amazing purple flowers coming up among the rocks and a large cairn built near where the old road emerged onto the modern one which then went downhill to the monastery.

The downhill stretch seemed to go on forever. I could hear the monastery bells at times and knew it lay below me. However, I was not prepared for how impressive it actually was. As I came around the last bend the walls towered imposingly above me! I could just imagine how daunting this would have been to the Medieval pilgrim. It is not surprising that the uneducated where in awe of God and those that could read and who held religious power and it was not hard to see how those that had the power could wield it.

The imposing walls of the monastery as you come around
the last bend... the photo does not really do it justice

On the road into Oseira

Love this - I have been so lucky to find Fly Agarics - sent
this to Uz... (private joke)

The photographs do not really do it justice and none of my pictures of the imposing outer walls looked as
magnificent or awe inspiring as it felt to stand beneath them.

The two pilgrims I had unintentionally diverted had come this way by road and were now sitting in the cafe bar outside the gates. We found them as although we had sat outside for a very welcome cañon (small beer) it started to rain and we took shelter in the bar. Sadly it was only doing simple food, so we were going to be out of luck having dinner that evening - and the vending machine inside the dormitory wasn't offering anything very inspiring! Apparently the lady who usually runs the bar was away, we think in hospital, and so we decided to go back to Bar Lua again. We chatted to our two new friends, in bits of English and Spanish, and offered them a lift to the bar that evening. It is always harder to understand another language when there is so much noise, but we managed - the bar was ringing with joviality and "bon homie"!

One such group filled with camaraderie was made up of 3 friends, one in particular wearing the typical pilgrim's garb - hat, cape and carrying the gourd on a stick. All had had heart operations and since recovering do the Camino each year. The main chap walks it and the others drive along as his support crew - a bit like M does with me. They also carry his stuff so he walks unencumbered and they carried with them their diary of all the times they had walked it and recording every detail. We found out more about this because Raphael was a heart surgeon and he was particularly proud of them and congratulated them. As they went on their way they shook everyone's hand and kissed everyone all around wishing Buen Camino!

"In existence since 1137, it became a monastery of the Cistercian order in 1141, an order of French monks sent by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. The monks left in 1835 forced to leave by the government policies, abandoning it. They returned in 1929, this time being a community of Cistercians of the Strict Reform - commonly called Trappists. The monastery is popular stopping point on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella." - Wikipedia

Apparently the monastery was a favourite stopping point for Graham Green and his Galician priest companion!

https://www.myguidegalicia.com/things-to-do/oseira-monastery

My mother said she didn't realise
that we had to actually become
monks in order to stay at the
monastery

My bed for the night

The couple we met were going on a tour at 15.30 and asked us if we'd like to go. I would have loved to but was so tired, I didn't think my brain would be up to the tour in Spanish! They later told us the it was amazing and the monastery beautiful inside. Maybe another time... we can drive out just to be tourists! The accommodation was a dormitory of 30 beds and two showers and a couple of loos. It was mixed and each bed had power points, mini table and light next to it. It was FREEZING! My sleeping bag came out and I piled up blankets but still needed to sleep in my thermals, socks and snood AND with the sleeping bag hood up. Of course, I needed my flip flops and had left them in the car rucksack! Most days I didn't need them so had decided not to carry them in my main back pack each day. I managed, hopping out of the shower and onto my towel. In the end there were around 6 or 7 of us staying, including two gentlemen who had met on the walk and seemed to be now traveling together - one I think from Brazil. Everyone was friendly and at 17.00 the pilgrim office at the entrance of the dorm opened to stamp passports and take money.

The guidebooks and websites all say that in the last 100km pilgrims should have their passports stamped both on arrival and departure - however, this is almost impossible for two reasons. Firstly, many do not open in the morning before most pilgrims are up, out and on their way! Secondly, not all are manned twice a day. In some places, when we were due to leave early the volunteers actually stamped the passports twice when we arrived and just timed and dated them appropriately - hmmm, not quite sure that's the point, but very good of them. Anyway, I did fret about this somewhat and what it might mean on arrival in Santiago at the Pilgrim's office but I told myself that surely they realised that many would leave before first light and that I had both my diary, photos and passport to prove that I had actually walked from Valencia and not just the last 100km.

We had a fabulous evening discussing our relative health care systems and current state of European affairs and Brexit with our two friends. It was so pleasant and just what the Camino is all about. They have walked it many times and so they also explained why it wasn't a problem for them to do the road route. They were going to be staying at the same albergue as me on the next part of the route too. They too commented on how delicious the home grown tomatoes were and tonight I had the Merluza and sopa y fideos to go with it. Simply superb and such a lovely host.