La Faba

La Faba is a small hamlet in the province of León, Castilla y León, situated at approximately 917 metres on the steep ascent to O Cebreiro on the Camino Frances. The name derives from faba, the Galician and Leonese word for bean, suggesting the cultivation of this legume on the mountain terraces.

The hamlet consists of a few traditional stone houses in the steep forested terrain of the upper Valcarce, with chestnut and oak woodland enclosing the path on both sides. A small hermitage chapel serves the community and provides a brief pause for pilgrims mid-climb.

The Galician border lies just above La Faba on the ridge, and the character of the landscape already begins to show the humid, enclosed quality of Galicia in the dense vegetation and the damp atmosphere of the forested slope.