visiting the cistercians again

somehow anywhere you go you come across cistercians.
stams, heiligenkreuz, oseira and now in sobrado dos monxes.

as in oseira (ourense province) they run an albergue here, following the rules of the xunta galicia, meaning that you pay a fixed price of 10 euros per pilgrim to spend the night, you agree to be back inside the monastery by 10pm and out again the next morning by 8am. they provide you with a bed, a single use mattress and pillow cover, a blanket (it can be cold inside these massive walls), plus you are able to explore the monastery grounds until 7:30pm, and if you like you can attend a pilgrims’ mess.

today late morning we left lovely elena behind at casa roxica.

14 years she has had her private refuge in the middle of nowhere. she told me it all started as a bit of a joke, since regularly pilgrims would walk past her farm and then beg her for a drink or something to eat, or sometimes even for a place to rest and spend the night. so she ended up converting one of the buildings into an albergue. at present she has camas for up to 12 people, 6 in a dormitory and 2 each in habitaciones.

from there it was an easy stroll towards the highest point on the camino del norte at 710m, then to o meson and on to sobrado dos monxes.

we saw our daughter mainly from behind. it seems she is hooked by the book she has been reading since the start of the camino. she wants to get the walks behind her as quickly as possible to maximise the time chilling and reading somewhere.

today we grabbed an early dinner or late lunch, depending on how you want to look at it. we will have a merienda in the monastery kitchen later, but turn in early.

as mentioned, the rules are strict and we need to be on our way by 8am, about 22km to arzua, where we meet all the pilgrims that are on the camino frances (the most popular route of them all). two more hiking days into santiago after that.