A Horseback Ride Through Magical Place

 I woke up to my alarm this morning, and that was almost alarming. It was 6 am and no one had flashed any lights in my face, made a ruckus with plastic bags, or let their alarm ring at high volume while going back to sleep. I thought I had been transported home. 

And it turns out there was a third person in our room, a guy. I found out later, when he came into the dining room, that he came at 10:45 last night. The guides say the place closes at 11, and normally there is a hospitalero there who locks up, so no one can come in during the night and rob us all or commit mass pilgrim mayhem. You can usually open the doors from the inside, but no one can get in from the outside. But, the fellow who works in this place apparently wandered off, leaving the place wide open. He seemed barely there anyway, just collecting a paycheck kind of attitude. 

Anyway the guy who arrived called all the numbers for the Albergue and no one answered. By a stroke of luck, the woman I was sharing a room with answered the phone and said there was an empty bed in our room. The guy came in, had a shower and went to bed. I slept through the whole thing. I was dead tired and dead asleep. I found all that out when I was getting ready to leave at 7:15 am. 

I really wanted to ride a horse the last 10 km of today's Camino between Villafranca and O Cebreiro. The horses are in Herrias, about 20 km from Villafranca. So I figured I would walk to Herrias today, spend the night and go on the morning ride. When I called on Thursday evening to try to reserve, the guy said he was all booked for Saturday. He asked where I was and I told him Villafranca. He said I should be in Herrias anout noon, and if another person or more people wanted to ride we could go in the afternoon. He said to call him at noon and let him know where I was. 

So after I got up and got ready I ate a little breakfast of yogurt, cheese, bread and cashews. And then I left for Herrias. 

Leaving Villafranca there are shells lining the bridge and a pilgrim statue at the end of the bridge. 

On my walk I saw sheep, dogs, cows, and a bunch of little kittens in the different pueblos. It must be kitten season. 

There was a river running on my left side and a highway on my right. You can't see the river most of the time because it is down below the road, but you can hear the roar of it's crashing over the rocks. And the road wasn't very busy. There were some nice moments. 

Then we walked in and out of several little pueblos and I had some selfie fun. This one with the two characters that remind me of John and me. lol

I've always said that I know when I'm in Spain, because there are cars parked on the sidewalk. A few examples from today.:

It cracks me up. 

At noon, I was close to Herrias and I called about the horseback ride. He said he hadn't had any calls from people who wanted to ride. But he told me to get something to eat and call him when I got to Herrias. 

He doesn't go out without two or three people. It's just not good business. So when I got to Herrias it was almost 1 pm and I knew I had to fish or cut bait. O Cebreiro is only 10 km from Herrias, but it is all steeply uphill. It is a real tough walk. And I didn't want to get to O Cebreiro too late to get a bed. 

So I called and asked if he would do it if I paid for the second person that didn't go. He said yes and to meet him by the horses. When I met him he apologized about not wanting to do it for just one person. I said, not to worry, I totally understood. 

His two kids, both very nice, self assured, speaking English and Spanish, and very good looking work with him. The daughter works with the horses in summer and goes to college in Madrid the rest of the year. She is studying Economics. It seems a lot of the young folks are studying economics. Hmmm?!

While they are getting the horses ready, a family of four walk up and think riding a horse the next bit is a very good idea. So the mom and two teens want to ride, but dad is wants to walk. The owner said apologetically to me that it will be 15 more minutes. I'm like not caring. I'm just thrilled that I'm going to get to ride a horse. Then he tells me that now  I only have to pay for one.  It just keeps getting better. 

While all this is happening, Daniel and Matt walk up. We chat for a bit, I take their picture and they walk on. 

After the horses are saddled up, we hop on, and off we go. The other three have never been on a horse before and they spend most of the time laughing and uttering startled shouts. I could have done without the noise, but I was so happy I just tuned it out. 

It was just a trail ride, all the horses following the lead horse at a walking pace. But it was through some pretty magical scenery. The part of the Camino from the road to La Faba has always been one of my favorite parts of the Camino. It's like being in Hobbitt Land. 

And here is a selfie, taken while riding a horse!

Of course you can't see the horse because my arms aren't that long. You will just have to take my word for it. 

Here is a picture of the owner's daughter in front of me. 

We get to O Cebreiro, say good bye to the Herrias Horse Family, and I go get my bed at th Municipal Albergue. There was a young woman there who said she lost her ID, but wanted a bed. That is bad news. You can't really get a bed anywhere in Spain without a passport or identiy card, except at a friends house. And there is no place in O Cebreiro to try to replace it. It is a pueblo of about ten buildings and a church. 

Instead of my my usual routine, I went to eat before I took a shower and did my laundry. Doing laundry has become easier, but more complicated. I discovered last night, that I had lost/left my second pair of pants in Ponferrada. I had one pair of stretch pants for sleeping and to keep my legs warm when it is cold. You may recall that the zipper on the legs of my hiking pants broke some time ago. So I was left with two pairs of shorts and the stretch pants, which look a little weird underneath shorts. I would wear my clean shorts, when I washed the dirty ones at the end of the day. Now I only have one pair. It makes life interesting. And there are no clothing stores around, never mind stores that carry hiking pants. Oh well. My Fitbit also died. I'm just falling apart over here. I hope I don't have to fly home wrapped in my sarong. 

Look at these big bridges they build for the roads so it is avstright line from ridge to ridge.