Since our last post, we’ve climbed and descended another mountain, crossed into Galicia and visited a monastery.

More mountains

Here are some views from the top of a mountain.

View from the mountain path showing fields in the valley

View from the mountain path showing hills and mountain ranges in the distance

We walked along the top for a while with valleys on either side. We were so high we were above the clouds (again).

Roz with clouds in the valley behind

Clouds stretching across the fields the the valley below

Here’s the marker that told us we were in Galicia.

Stone marker showing you're entering Galicia with lots of graffiti

And here’s a funny round house we saw in O’Cebreiro.

Round, thatched, house in O'Cebreiro

The monastery of San Xulián de Samos

Next stop was a town called Samos, home to the monastery of San Xulián de Samos.

Its been around since the 6th century and it’s a big draw for tourists as well as pilgrims.

Samos monastery by the river

View of the monastery from inside its courtyard

Apparently it has the biggest cloister in Spain.

The monastery cloister and gardens

It also has a mural which Tom quite liked.

Tom looking at the monastery murals

Sarria

The officials at Santiago will only agree you’ve completed the Camino if you can prove you’ve done the last 100 kilometres. They’re not too fussed if you’ve done the other 680 kilometres so lots of people only walk the last bit.

There’s a town called Sarria about 100 kilometres away from Santiago so it’s a popular starting point for anyone who doesn’t want to walk the full distance.

For anyone walking the whole thing, Sarria’s a reminder of how far they’ve come and that they’re on the last stretch.

Here’s one of the town’s many churches.

A church in Sarria

Terrible tan lines

It’s still really warm and sunny, which means we’ve had plenty of time to cultivate some terrible tan lines while we’re walking.

Here are Roz’s.

Roz's tan lines, caused by too much wearing boots in the sun

Ridiculous.