Day 29 2/5/12 Rabanal - Ponferrada 35km (basement room)

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We left at about 8am after collecting our clothes from in front of the fire...everything was dry.....we had breakfast before we left....we had luke warm toast....very nice.....doesnt take much for us to get excited these days......

We climb to the Cruz de Ferro which is highest point of the whole walk today...1505m ......we have been steadily climbing so today it is only a 400m climb.....

The Cruz de Ferro is a humble monument to mark a noble gateway. This simple iron cross stands on a weathered pole which has become one of the symbols of the pilgrim way of St James. At the base of the cross is a steadily growing pile of stones from people that have either picked one up along the way or bought with them from their home to place all there troubles.... thoughts.... reflections.....wishes.... into and throw under the cross

I have bought one from the beaches of Adelaide and thrown and have placed one there for Merri (my friend)


The start of the walk is again very foggy and cold but after we had passed the Cruz the fog started to lift and we were presented with some stunning views.....we were surrounded with snow covered mountains ....no wonder it was cold.....We met with Tony and Clare while we were at the top...I had lost my gloves I use every day so Clare gave me a pair of very warm thick gloves which were great...my fingers were so cold ...


Our walk down was very taxing.The path was quite narrow and a lot of loose stones....walking on stones is very hard on the feet and ankles as they are constantly being turned on the side and its full concentration.....It started to warm up more as we got further down the hill and the fog lifted and the sun came out....It took us a while but we finally got down to the bottom and stopped for lunch.......Tony and Clare were there and had just finished eating....We had one of the crunchy bread rolls that has something like scrambled eggs in them and some times tomatos and seasoning....they are usually quite large.....and really nice with a coffee....we chatted to Tony and Clare for a while about the climb down.....

We decided to walk onto Ponferrada population 62000.....our guide book said to turn left at the aquatic centre and walk through the wastelands untill we found the train track......oh it all sounds so simple.......after a bit of back tracking we found the aquatic centre went across the road and walked through wastelands !!!....down little tracks.... pass little vegie patches.....old people in old houses.....I felt we had gone back 100 yrs and had no idea where we were ....lost in the wastelands.....cold wet and hungry...and no rail way track in sight.....It has been a very long day.....we finally walked out of the vegie patches and found civilization again ...still no train track.....we found 3 old ladies and asked weather there was a albergue near....They didnt understand any english but with many hand signals and the word camino they took us up a road.... round a corner....and across a train track....yahoo at last....and pointed us to the alburgue...San Nicolas de Flue...210 bed in small room of four...all quite new and what made us try to find to stay.....sounded great.....only thing we had got there quite late at about 6pm and all the small rooms of four were taken and all that was left was the basment....the overflow room....Hhhmm....we were shown downstairs to a big cold room with rows of bunks.....out of all the empty beds they allocated us with one by the door......then left us....didn't show us where the shower and toilets were.....we settled in and went up stair and found the shared showers and toilet.....make's me wonder who designed them...a row of about five showers that step straight out onto the men's urinals....and a row of toilets that step out onto the hand basins.....

The only good thing about sleeping in the basement is that I had spotted the snoring man...felt pretty sorry for the other guys in his little four bed room....

We went out to find some tea....came across a resturant where the food was one of the best we had eaten, and the owner was very proud of it...he encouraged to take photo's of his food ...which we did....

After eating we made our way back to our basement to be greated by the room full of people.....It seem's like they were all bike riders.....there was a large group of people that were a support group with a guy that appears to be parapaligic....He had a specially built cart that everyone was helping to pull.

Above my head was a pipe ....every time someone flushed the toilet I got to know about it....Only good thing...it wasn't a clear pipe.


Another one of those places that we will be happy to walk away from......

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Comments

[Cheryl Howard]

Cold n foggy
Wow Dianne that looks just like the weather we have had up in the hills today. Beautiful scenery though.x