Today, Bro. William travels from Villafranca to O'Cebreiro, a distance of nearly 31 kms or 19 miles. A strenuous day's walking bringing us up into wild Galicia. We have 3 options on leaving Villafranca and the choice will be determined by the prevailing weather conditions and the personal level of fitness and the kind of experience we want to create.

All routes are likely to prove taxing. This stage represents the steepest of the whole pilgrimage but the climb is rewarded with stunning views along the Valcarce valley that keep our spirits high. The most tiring part is the N-V1 stretch and while the completion of the A-6 motorway has greatly reduced traffic using it, there are several dangerous bends, so we stay alert.

The valley is steep sided and heavily wooded with mostly pine and chestnut, so we will have much shade. There are shops, bars and hotels along the valley floor in the villages we pass through, but we make sure we have water and some snacks for the Pradela route before leaving Villafranca and full provisions for the Dragonte route.

Trabadelo - a beautiful but much more strenuous walk takes us over the hill to the right of the road: it's a stunning, heather-lined route with spectacular views.

For this option, we bear right up Calle Pradela, climbing steeply The track, lined with heather and intense clusters of white broom, reaches the top of the ridge in a few kilometres. From here, the incredible views make it feel as though we're walking along the roof of the world.

Vega de Valcarce's - brief moment in the spotlight came when Carlos V stayed the night in 1520 on his way to Santiago.The church here is dedicated to Maria Magdalena, and the town makes a good stop before tackling the climb up to O'Cebreiro.

On the hills above the village are the remains of two ruined castles. It takes about an hour to climb up to Sarracin, on the left hilltop, which was once controlled by the Marques de Villafranca.

0 Cebreiro - there are stunning pastoral views from 0 Cebreiro on the rare occasions that the mist clears enough to see more than three steps ahead. The weather can be truly awful here; summer snowstorms are not unheard of and dense fog is the norm year-round. Although it's pretty in the sunshine, murky mist seems to suit 0 Cebreiro's architecture perfectly.

The focal point of the village is the modern Iglesia de Santa Maria, rebuilt in the 1960s on top of the ruins of a Romanesque church. It's believed that the Holy Grail from which Christ drank at the Last Supper was hidden here for safe-keeping in the Middle Ages.

The church's statue of the Virgin is said to have tilted her head to get a better look at the miracle, and she's now known as La Virgen del Milagro. Although the grail is no longer here, the remains of the flesh and blood are held in a silver reliquary donated by Queen Isabel.

Outside the church, a bust of Elias Valina has pride of place.Valina was a local parish priest who wrote important books on the camino and was a driving force behind its revival during the 1960s and 1970s. He also did much to preserve 0 Cebreiro's pallozo architecture, and he's buried in the church graveyard.