The Dreaded Day!

So today was finally here! It was the day of "the" mountain. Not just any mountain. This was one of the biggest on the Camino. We were glad that we road almost to the base of it the day before but today was the day of reckoning. We had a day of uphill biking not just up a hill but up a mountain. We started with breakfast around 8. I had already heard the familiar sounds of Pilgrims and their walking sticks walking by our bedroom window. We had a self serve breakfast with a few of the other guests. They were all walkers. They left about 45 minutes ahead of us. We packed our bikes and locked up the entire hotel since the proprietor was not their yet. We dropped the key in the mailbox and we were off! The road was kind of rolling. Maybe this was not going to be too bad after all. We rode awhile and came across a fork in the road and decided to take a break especially since there was a bench there. While we were there people offered to take our picture and one of our new friends wanted his picture taken with Dad. Finally a couple of bikers rode up and told us not to take the path on a bike. They said we would be better off taking the road. We followed their advice and soon we were off. The road started to climb and then climb some more. We were doing good but it was slow going and we decided to take breaks whenever we felt like t. We always felt like it ha ha. So our ride consisted of riding, pushing/walking, and breaking. Not too bad but we were not making very good time however we were getting there one kilometer at a time. Because we were on the road and not the trail we saw almost no one. There would be the occasional biker coming by but for the most part it was me and Dad. Anyway we road and we road and then we road some more always thinking that we were getting closer. Sometimes I would ride ahead to look around a corner to see what was ahead. It was always one more hill. Yikes! What had we gotten ourselves into. We were both tired and the end did not look anywhere in site. Finally we came to a town that was supposed to be only 5k away from our final destination O'Cebrerio. Unfortunately this was word of mouth. So we really were not sure and of course the road signs only named the cities farther away. So we road for about an hour and I finally saw a town. It was at the top of a big hill. We road and road and finally we saw the sign. Welcome to O'Cebrerio! We found a table and just decided to sit down and just take it all in. Dad was exhausted and said that was the toughest thing he had done in recent memory! We decided to stay the night for sure. We were ready to get a room and relax. All along the way are these rooms called Abergue's. They can range anywhere from a hostel with bunk beds and mats to quaint little bed and breakfast places. This night we ended up staying in a hostel type. It was $6 a night per person. This included throw away sheets a hot shower and of course bathrooms. We all were assigned bunk beds and I took the top bunk over Dad.We left our bikes outside and locked them up just to be safe. So far on The Camino we have felt such a positive vibe that really there was probably no need. While we were getting settled in one pilgim had already fallen asleep and was snoring loudly. The guy in the bunk next to me kept laughing at the snoring. Finally he grabbed my arm as if to say watch this I am going to stop my friend from snoring. He spoke only spanish so I was a little unsure. Once we were standing over his friend he took out a big thin piece of salami and laid it over his friends mouth right as he was breathing in. Ha Ha. Some things are funny in any language. Once we got settled in we decided to walk around the town and Check it out. O'Cebreiro has some of the oldest surviving buildings on the Camino. Some of them date back to the 9th century. To be honest we were so happy to be there it could have been a mobile home dating back to 1972 and we still would have been happy to see it. We found a really cool little grocery store hanging off the side of a cliff and went in to check it out. We decide to split a treat since we had come so far. We ended up getting Ritz crackers with nutella on them. I cannot even begin to describe how good they were. Next we went to the church and I lit a candle for Lyn's parents and wrote a short prayer in a prayer book there. Dad also lit some candles for special friends. After that we went to dinner and we ordered some food . We ordered a glass of wine each but she brought us an entire bottle. We ended up splitting the entire bottle. This is normal for me but not my Dad. For the meal you picked three things. A starter, main course and a dessert. Even after all of our riding it was too much food for us. A guy came in that we had met a few cities back. He told us he was very impressed on how far we had come. Which really meant he was impressed with Dad. Dad is becoming a bit of a celebrity here and it just keeps growing. The restaurant had wifi so I called Lyn as it was our 5th wedding anniversary. Lucky I was able to catch her since my signal was weak. We walked back to the hostel and then around town some more and finally called it a night. My Dad noticed that he did not have his cane. So we headed back to find it. At that very moment my friend that pulled the Salami trick showed up with it. We finally realized that Dad did not have it the entire time we walked around town. It seems like if he drinks a half a bottle of wine he may just not need his cane. We will have to put that theory to test. Tomorrow we are hoping to do some downhill riding. Hoping for an easy day. We are tired but excited to see what tomorrow brings. Buen Camino!

Quote of the day from Dad "I wanted you to know that today I rode my bike, I pushed my bike and a few times I even gave Ben the honor of pushing both bikes while I waked with my cane. At the top of the mountain I had exhausted any and all strength that I might have had. I had no reserves left."