VILLAFRANCA DEL BIERZO to PORTOMARIN   <MAP>

There are two ways to proceed from Villafranca del Bierzo on a bicycle. I took the tunnel. You should, too. It's shorter, and there's very little traffic first thing in the morning.

Once you pass Vega del Valcarce, you're at the foot of O Cebreiro.

It's all uphill. Very uphill. You go up a series of switchbacks, and each turn leads to a section that seems to be steeper than the section that preceded it. I had to tack up the steepest sections, and pushing as hard as I could, I could only manage 3-4.8 miles an hour. I remember two things in particular. One, there were lot of flies. I actually sucked one into my mouth (I was panting a lot) and spat it out. Two, it was so steep that with the weight of my luggage over the rear wheel, my bike would do little wheelies every time I pushed on the pedal. The worst part of the climb comes at a corner where someone has painted 6km on the road. (As in 6km to go.) It was so steep that I had a momentary "I give up" episode, got off the bike, and started to push it up the hill on foot. After about 50 feet, I realized that getting to the top would take forever. So I got back on, and kept tacking up the road. I could see a couple of buildings across the valley, and was inspired by the thought that the climb was nearly over. It turned out that the buildings were about 2 km short of the summit. This was pretty disheartening. There were some walkers taking a rest, and they all urged me on. Finally I made it to the top. Oscar, Luisa, (who had started earlier than I), and Nuria and Ivan (who hadn't) were already there.

Don't let this discourage you from doing the pilgrimage. Everyone I met made it to Santiago. So you can probably do it, too.

But as I learned on my trip, every climb eventually goes down. (And, conversely, no downhill comes without a climb at some point in the future.) Once you leave the top of O Cebreiro, you get to enjoy a brief descent. I passed the Refugio whose webcam (www.crtvg.es) I had checked out many times. I waved at the cam as I coasted by. Shortly thereafter, there's another climb to the summit of El Poyo (1557 meters), but it's nothing compared to Cebreiro. We stopped for lunch at the top.

Past El Poyo, there's a glorious 11km descent to Samos. I hit nearly 50 mph on the way down.

At Samos, the road heads uphill again. It's not steep, just a long slog. We stopped for Sellos.

At O Cebreiro, you pass into the province of Galicia. It's very lush and green. From what I understand, the moisture-laden air from the Atlantic stays west of the mountains I had just crossed.

From Samos to Sarria is constantly uphill. Galicia's hills aren't rolling. They're more abrupt up and down, and you can always tell when a hill is coming, as you'll see a road sign announcing an additional lane for passing, so cars can get around slower-moving trucks. You learn to dread seeing one of those signs.

We stopped for Sellos in Sarria. At some point, collecting Sellos becomes like the license plate game my son plays when we're on a road trip. You want to get them all. The climb to the Refugio in Sarria is very steep. I jokingly accused the Refugio keepers of trying to kill off pilgrims.

At Paradela, there was a climb into town, then a flat bit, then a downhill run into Portomarin, except for the last bit, a climb into the city proper.

Portomarin is a city that used to be somewhere else. A dam was contructed that would submerge the old town, so they started over again on a nearby hill. However, before the flood, they moved their 12th Century church, San Nicolas. They numbered every stone, disassembled it, and re-assembled it in the new location. You can still see the numbers on the stones.

My hotel (the Pousada de Portomarin) was nice, and they let me keep my bike locked up in a garage.

It was a long, memorable day on the bike.

9:45 total time. 6:17 on bike. 101.5 km.