October 12th, 2015

     It's not ucommon on  the Camino to see messages of encouragement to pilgrims written on stones, walls and posts along the way.  But yesterday I saw this one:

       
     Yesterday we walked 16 kilometers from Trabadelo to Laguna de Castilla.   We walked along the  valley though villages and meadows,

....until we reached the town of Hererías, 

....which is at the foot the steep, rocky mountain that rises up 4265 feet and leads to the region of Galicia.
     Hererías is also where pilgrims who would like to ride the Camino on horseback can rent a horse.  Theoretically a pilgrim can do the whole Camino on horseback - on foot, bike, or horseback are the three permissible ways to do the Camino - but, thankfully, nobody does the whole thing on a horse.  Those pilgrims who would like to experience the Camino on horseback can, for 20€, rent a horse and ride in a group with a guide the two-hour trip from Hererías up to the mountain-top town of O'Cebreiro,  while the rest of us foot-pilgrims have to slog up the steep path that's been transformed by the horses' hooves into a muddy, rutted, horse poopy, fly-possessed mess

     Real pilgrims don't ride horses on the Camino.
     Except that sometimes they do.
     But anyway, we made it over the rocks and the horse mess to the tiny village of Laguna de Castilla where we stayed in the town's only albergue, La Escuela
      

     .....a lovely albergue where the dorm rooms have been completely rebuilt and modernized since we were there two years ago..
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​      Our nice, spacious room. and the modern new bathroom.

    But the very best improvement to the Albergue La Escuela was that the steep, steep concrete hill we had to climb last time to get to the dorm,

....has been replaced with: 

:8) !!!
     And our best moment in La Escuela came during dinner when we looked out the window and saw

....the cattle being herded up the street.