Ignacio Saenz de Camara
Sahagún, province of León
In the Leonese town of Sahagún, the mayor gave the Pilgrim Letter to each of the participants. It was the gift for having made the halfway point to Santiago de Compostela.
The day continued to León. There they parked in the Plaza Mayor and had dinner, after a hot day in which they traveled 210 km.
Next, it was time to complete the assembly of the two Biscuters damaged the day before, already in order of march and that they could join the caravan.
The next day, they left the Leonese capital behind. The destination was Astorga, the town where they visited the Cathedral and the Episcopal Palace, the latter created by the architect Antonio Gaudí.
The next stop 8 km away, in La Val de San Lorenzo. There they were entertained with some maragatas dances, they visited the Museum of the Batán and ate the famous maragato stew.
That same afternoon they had to ascend the steep slopes of Cruz del Ferro, which forced them to engage first gear on its steepest sections.
With this test already passed, they soon arrived at Ponferrada, favored by the remaining downhill journey. In the capital of El Bierzo they visited the Castle of the Templars, from the XNUMXth century, before having dinner and going to bed.
Close to Galicia
On Thursday they were going to enter the lands of Galicia, but for this they had to climb steep ramps of the Piedrafita port, which culminated at 1.099 meters of altitude without setbacks.
After a short rest in Piedrafita do Cebreiro, it was necessary to face the ascent of Alto de San Roque, 1.290 meters above sea level.
From then until Santiago, the road was downhill, with the Lugo town of Samos as the place of the next stop. There they recovered their strength at Mesón Pontenova.
They then visited the majestic Monastery of Samos, which took them a good part of the afternoon, and traveled the remaining 12 km to Sarria. There was little left and what seemed impossible was about to come true.
On Friday morning they left for Palas de Rei, still in Lugo, and visited a cattle farm equipped with the latest advances.
The next stop was in Arzúa, already in Coruña and only 40 km from the destination. There they finalized the permits to arrive the next day at the Plaza del Obradoiro, as well as review the mechanics of the Biscuters before the final stage.
Arrival in Santiago!
As they wanted to enter the Plaza del Obradoiro at 9 in the morning, on Saturday they had to get up early. In return, it was exciting to photograph the participants and their Biscuters in an esplanade reserved for them.
As in any demanding and successful experience, the satisfaction of what has been achieved remains among the participants. And not only that, but also the joy of having met and shared a week of pure biscuit fans.
