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MM - Thank you so much once again. Your experience on the Camino is a great help. Quite a few of the places are all booked up already. I'm still wondering about Venta Celta. It would be a shame if it closed, since many seem to have fond memories of it, but I can't seem to reach them at all. Perhaps I can find something in the area, if not right in town.
This part is not for you at all, MM:
I don't feel that I should have to explain why I want to go to O Cebreiro, but I will, for the benefit of those who look at what others do and assume they know what the other's life experiences and motivation are because they know their own. I want to start in O Cebreiro (or someplace close to it) because it is the entrance to Galicia on the
Camino Frances. My deceased husband was a Gallego from near La Coruna. We walked our first Camino together - The Portuguese from Valenca do Minho. Not tough enough for you? How about my husband having done it just one year after having gone through chemotherapy, radiation and a major life-and-death cancer operation removing most of his stomach and much of his esophagus. Later that night, he lost almost all the blood in his body. It was only the skill and speed of the surgeon (and perhaps my fervent prayers to Santiago) that saved his life a second time in one 24-hour period. Yet my husband lead the way all the way to Santiago. The look on his face when he got his Compostela and when he saw the botafumeiro flying through the Cathedral, knowing that he had earned the right to be there at the Pilgrim mass - something someone from his humble beginnings normally could never have dreamed of being able to do, not to mention doing it with the death sentence he was looking at - was amazing. I was so happy we were able to give that to him. He was one tough Gallego, fighting so hard to live, but it wasn't to be. Now that he is gone, I am walking the Caminos within Galicia - from the South, the North and now from the East. I love my husband's homeland, and I'd like to see all of it close up, by walking it. I'm not just looking for a Spanish-Gallego-Celtic theme park! I just don't want to miss any part of Galicia.