STAGE 24 - Villafranca del Bierzo – O Cebreiro

O Cebreiro

O Cebreiro

In today’s stage we left behind Castile and El Bierzo area to get into Galicia. The change of scenery is spectacular: great oak forests and chestnut trees, Celtic forts and Roman mines. All this probably tangled by morning mists that give way to an incredible deep green landscape in spring, and reddish and yellowish in the autumn months. Whenever you come, you will be seduced by the vast vegetation of the area. Leaving Villafranca you will find a few kilometers where you walk on the road (unless you want to extend the stage and go through the Villafranca weavers) until you reach Herrerias Valcarcel, which is a land of cattle and pastures where, if you are tired, it is a good place to stop and spend the night. Like that, you will divide the stage into two to face, the following day, the particular rise of 8 kilometers to Cebreiro with strenght and vitality.

O Cebreiro greets us to Galicia. We are in Ancares area, surrounded by large hills and narrow valleys. It is said that in O Cebreiro is where the miracle of the holy grail occurred and it is in his church, Santa Maria, where you can be convinced by this theory. It is mandatory the visit to this Romanesque church, the oldest monument of all the Jacobean route (dating back to the eleventh century). The legend tells that from here, in foggy days, the monks rung the church bells to guide pilgrims. From this place was Elías Valiña, the ideologue of this route with yellow arrows. Of course, whatever it may be, they say it is one of the most important points of telluric energy of all the way . You will feel there is something magical, unexplainable, in O Cebreiro.

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