Rabanal ....and further on......The Way now 2/3 completed

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We walked about 16km and were having a rest and something to eat in Rabanal...... My back was starting to feel.... under strain.... - I think it began after the sleep in the schoolhouse/albergue where it was so cold ( though we weren't cold in the beds) and it was a bit of a poor and saggy mattress.... Originally we had planned to walk further on, but as we were looking around the village the SONIC snoring man walked into town...... cannily we watched where he went and he continued to walk on through and OUT of the town..... So we stayed! Well that was 1 reason - another was that we'd heard that an order of monks resident in the village have a vespers service 7pm each night with Gregorian chants...so we checked in to the Albergue - had the usual shower/washing clothing/walk around the village afternoon.....

As we were a little earlier than usual settling for the day we had a bit more time to relax/look around..... the Albergue was v cold except in 1 room where there was an open fire - we headed there with our journals in hand to keep us busy in the warmth..... While we were there Diane had a phone call from her son, telling of his wife's admission to hospital at a very late stage in her pregnancy......it was worrying for all , suddenly there was a focus that wasnt just the simple concerns of daily needs on the Camino.....it was as if the protective aura , or the insular bubble of self focus that you walk along in was suddenly gone, and there was a very real cause for concern and worry about what might result, whether Diane would be able to finish....Diane said little.... but I knew she was deeply affected and I was worried for her, for the baby and for her family ...

James and Angie were also in the village, as was Bruce ( Campervan driver we had met at the 'Cowboy's Place' ) and his wife and cousin - they all turned up for Vespers and Gregorian chant..... it was in the loveliest plainest little church that we saw along the whole Way....and was a really nice, gentle service with pilgrims and those from the local community - it wasnt a large number of monks chanting.......but still lovely ...



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discovered later when we went for dinner at a small hotel that Clare and Tony were also staying there- they had MEANT to go to vespers.... but missed it as they'd fallen asleep. lol I can relate ! We had a lovely shared meal and they warned us away from the horrible chicken noodle soup that Tony had experienced earlier in the day ...... I am in AWE of them as they told us about the day when the winds blew the planes off course - and they did 41km that day! Astonishing because I know how difficult 25km was ! It was lovely again to listen to familiar accents and to laugh with them and and compare the days together.

Diane and I headed back to our albergue..... we both had top bunks and there was a snorer reverberating underneath me so I didnt sleep too well - but at least it wasnt SONIC snoring.... We set off the next morning after bringing in the washing that was dry - someone had brought it in the prev day from the cold damp outside and put it near the fire - wasnt that sweet of them?... . We managed to have WARM - actual WARM toast for breakfast before we set off! Again it was a freezing cold misty morning.... We knew we'd walk past Cruz de Ferro which is A/ the highest height of the Camino on this route 1505 m above sea level..... there are many Camino Routes - this that we are walking is known as the Camino Frances and is the most popular and B /The Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross) is a humble looking place which holds the memories, the symbols, the released burdens or the harnessed hopes, dreams and prayers of thousands and thousands of Pilgrims over the years who travel there. Many bring a stone or rock from home which they have held either for themselves or someone else in their life and THIS is the place where this is to be released... from the size of some of the rocks it is clearly not only an emotional or spiritual release but also a physical one of an actual heavy weight to carry! It is one of the Camino traditions which is either meaningful or not depending on the individual....but is certainly a ritual that many follow....I had brought a rock from home that I'd become quite fond of , it was a stone I'd found along the local beach when Diane and I had been on one of our training walks and I really liked it because it was shaped EXACTLY like a footprint.... I thought about what meaning it had for me, kissed it and sent it to land anonymously among all the other rocks from all over the world....

It was really cold ... really really cold.... I know I keep mentioning it but we WERE .. SO cold whenever we slowed or stopped to rest - surrounded by snow capped mountains again and at the highest point - so we set off to try to walk briskly to keep warm.... Diane had lost her gloves at the last Albergue and luckily we came across Tony and Clare again - Clare lent Diane a toasty warm pair of gloves which were VERY appreciated....

As we conntinued on we stopped briefly at a ver BASIC albergue called Manjarin... which is where we WOULD have had to stop if we'd continued the prev day instead of staying to hear Gregorian chant...... it was a very colourful place with flags and signs denoting many places all over the world..... but we were so glad we'd gone with the gregorian flow instead of 'clock up max kms for the day ' flow ... it was grubby looking, 2 cats were having conjugals on the table -yes really - there was another table with coffee offered donative but the coffee pot itself looked so grubby we politely declined!



We managed to have a break and something to eat, meeting Clare and Tony again in a Bar in a village on the descent down.... they gave us a Kit-Kat each which was such a sweet and lovely gesture - chocolate tastes like manna from heaven along the Camino sometimes - it has magic pick-me-up qualities I think..

Continuing on - we continued a LOT that day - we ended up walking 35 km by the time we reached the Albergue at 6pm! It included a really steep descent down from Cruz de Ferro to 500 m above sea level - which took a LOT of focus and concentration as the guidebook warns of the downhills being the place of most injuries... it was wet and rocky and not so much slippery - our boots have held up very well with great grip - but in placing your feet you have to be so wary to not twist the ankle etc ... walking poles are fabulous in instances like this... I no longer feel any apology or 'dag factor' associated with my use of walking poles - I LOVE them.... love the feeling of extra stability and confidence and feel a connection to and through them... I still accidentally call them walking sticks sometimes and I dont like THAT though - and the mental picture that brings ! lol

We became a ittle lost on the final leg of the walk into Ponferrada..... heading off -as the book suggested into 'wasteland' - walking through laneways and vegetable plots which was really quite interesting but it would have been far more interesting at the beginning of the day ! We were knackered and eventually managed to find 3 women who understood our pigeon Spanish ' Donde est Albergue por favor ?? and sign language etc - They kindly led us up a few steep hills and streets ( up - always up at the end of each day!) and deposited us at the gateway of a VERY big church run Albergue -San Nicholas de Flue. 200 beds in small rooms of 4 said our bible/guide-book - Unfortunately we were unusually late in the day- 6pm.... all those beds had been allocated and we were taken to the 'overflow room' a stale smelling basement with about 80 bunk beds.... peeling walls, metal bunks with not enough space to sit up if you were in the bottom, and you know that coiled wire/spring as the mattress base - I cant TELL you how many times I had my hair caught in it! .... and so began our time there........We had a really lovely pilgrim menu meal across the road.... and the ONLY other good point about this Albergue was that when we arrived and I unpacked my sleeping bag THERE were Diane's gloves! it was a nice surprise lol Despite these two points THIS place was HELL for me.......we had been that day- 2nd of May - to the HIGHEST point of the Camino and THIS place marked my absolute LOWEST - emotionally and physically ...To be discussed next entry .......

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Photos

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WET!

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Misty!

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Wet & Misty

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Cruz De Ferro