O Cebreiro to Santiago?

O Cebreiro from the Trepidatious Traveller

I'm not completely convinced about starting our walk in this little stone village at the Galician/Leon y Castilla border, which I assume is popular because it is the first town in Galicia and more or less at the top of a mountain.  I've been reading blog posts and looking at videos about this last section of the Camino just to get an idea of what we will be up against.  My blog is my thinking pad.

The Trepidatious Traveller (60 year-old English woman living in Spain) did the whole Camino Frances from St. Jean Pied de Port with her daughter in 2013.  She was worried that as soon as she reached Sarria (a bit closer to Santiago than O Cebreiro), the way would get crowded with "day trippers" (like us) just doing the minimum required for the Compostela (certificate).  She did not find that to be the case and she did long days (25-30 km/15-18 miles), stopping later in the afternoon and was always able to find a place to stay.  She did go in May when it is less crowded and she did stay in towns that aren't the standard stopping places.

Even more reassuring are some Youtube videos from a Spanish family (father, mother and teenage daughter) that filmed parts of 9 daily stages from Ponferrada to Santiago.  They went in August, the Spanish vacation month, so it should have been the most crowded, yet in the videos the Camino doesn't look crowded at all.  In fact, the Camino looked more crowded when we were doing the Camino in 2007 from Roncesvalles to Logrono.

Shall we book the flight?  US Airways from Pittsburgh to Madrid is $1083.80/person, leaving May 5th and returning May 19th.   Or we could use our American Advantage miles, except each way, leaving April 29th and returning May 12th is 20K and we only have 70K right now.  We better hurry up and spend more money on the AA credit card!  Usually we have no problem with that...  Stay tuned!!