1. After possibly my two best days on Camino, today, well this morning, was the pits. Because we only had to walk 8kms to catch up with D1 in Ponferrada, D2 and I slept in and emerged into the town at 8:30 to find that nothing was open for breakfast! My legs were sore, my back was sore and I had a small blister. And I had to walk 8km for food and coffee. Not happy Joyce!

The walk, or should I say, trudge into Ponferrada was slow and painful. Not only for me but for D2 who tried to cheer me up and urge me on, but to no avail, I was determined to be miserable.

The track went through some interesting villages, none of which had cafes,

and after what seemed an eternity  we found a bar open on the outskirts of town – for drinks only, no food. We had a coffee and watched Vikings, in Spanish, on TV. Vinnie from Home Away and some other dudes were caught on top of a really high cliff, with the sea crashing against rocks way, way below and hundreds of guys with arrows advancing on them rapidly. One of the dudes jumped over the edge of the cliff and instead of being smashed against the rocks and drowned, somehow managed to not only survive, but find a wooden boat! How amazing was that! So all his mates jumped over the cliff as well and the last scene was them in the boat.

That and the coffee cheered me immensely, and we set off on the final leg to the train station where we were meeting D1.

We came across a large gathering of people of all ages who were going to do some sort of run or walk

I don’t think Mum and Dad were doing it though

D2 was cheered to see the Golden Arches and once we had met up with D1 we headed off to McDonalds where we bought enough to justify staying there for 4 hours! I saw the Templar Castle on the way through town and thought about visiting that, but my feet were too sore and I was much too comfortable

 

So, D1’s foot is improved but not great, and D2 and I have done the section we wanted to do, so we decided to catch the train to Santiago, rest a couple of days, then all head off to Finisterre on the coast, which is often referred to as the spiritual end of the pilgrimage.

The 4 hour train trip was quite pleasant, I slept, took photos of the countryside and contemplated my high tech socks!

A pilgrim is grateful. We were grateful that we had McDonalds with food and free wifi to while away the time!

This morning D2 got to have a sleep -in so she could drop my bag off at the albergue bar which didn’t open until 7:00am.

I was on the road by 6:00am because it is a long day ahead, but exciting, finally the Iron Cross. It was very dark and bitterly, bitterly cold, the coldest day so far.  Hence the rather blurry photo, my fingers were numb, even in the €6 gloves I got in León!

Progress is as slow to begin with until the magic hour when the approaching sunrise showed the path ahead and my body slowly accepted that  it was going to walk today.

It was only an hour until a warming breakfast and even though the path was uphill, once again I didn’t find it too difficult. The wildflowers and scenery was beautiful, but walking into a biting wind, particularly along the ridges, wasn’t conducive to taking your glove off to take a photo.

And finally, three years after taking the bus which bypassed this section, I was at the Iron Cross. And just as I climbed to the base to lay the three shells I had brought from my beach, one for each of these three pilgrims, it started to snow!

I had intended to wait for D2 to catch up, but there was no shelter so I kept going with the weather becoming colder and bleaker and we had further falls of snow.

We finally caught up with each other at a little pilgrim refuge which offered coffee from a flask and biscuits. The guy there suggested we take the road into the next couple of towns because it was very steep and stony. I think he looked at me and thought that old mama is never going to make it!

We took his advice into the next town, and I found the going much easier on the road. My sandals by the way are holding up well, just a bit cold, and annoying when tiny stones make their way in between foot and sole! But very comfortable!

By the time we reached the next town the sun had appeared so we had a beer, then D2 decided to tackle the stony and steeper, but shorter path into our final town because we didn’t have any accommodation, while I took the easier but longer road. It was 6kms, but it was a quiet road through beautiful woodlands, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and all was well with the world!

Before long I reached the outskirts of town, D2  called to say she had found a room by which time my feet were beginning to ache and I could feel a blister forming on my heel

I could see our hostel behind a bar overlooking a stream, a beer there would be just the thing!

The albergue my backpack had been sent to turned out to be about a kilometre away, D2 went off to collect it but the guy wouldn’t let her take it so I had to hobble off to claim it, limping heavily into the albergue. He berated me soundly at some length in Spanish before he let me have the bag and I hobbled back to our room. Thank goodness I had D2 to carry the backpack!

The beer was good, and we unexpectedly caught up with our Aussie mates again. P was extremely annoyed when I told him about my journey on the road because he had been going to take it, but was persuaded by another pilgrim that the track wasn’t so bad! D2 said it was the worst track so far and I would have cried!

I was pretty proud of my Fitbit stats for the day!

A pilgrim is grateful. We are both grateful for two good days that saw us finish our missing stretch of Camino, almost! We just have to do 8kms into Ponferrada tomorrow.

 

“Well mama, we’re heading off into the unknown”

Today we are starting the section D2 and I missed out on last time – 3 days from Astorga to Ponferrada, including the climb up to the Iron Cross, the highest point of the Camino, and then a steep decline. I must admit I am facing this with some trepidation, hoping the sandals will be ok and that I make it without too much trouble. I decided to go Camino lite and send my pack on. 

The first 5 kms, though bitterly cold, were flat, we were thankful for every km not going up a hill! D2 filled her water bottle but we resisted the tantalising smell of coffee coming from a bar in a he first town.  While we were fresh and the walking was easy we decided to push on.

9 kms, and still flat and easy, but we were happy to see the Bar sign behind the church and have breakfast

 

We began to notice an incline but it was very gradual, the sun came out, the walking was good. My sandals were great, apart from the odd pebble making its way in between foot and sole.

A touch of Game of Thrones (if you look hard)

We had a rest at the Pilgrims rest area

And before we knew it there was only 2.2 kms to go!

We found our accommodation that had been organised for us by the Astur Plaza, a lovely house with kitchen, comfy lounge  and washing machine, all to ourselves.

There was a slight dummy spit when someone discovere the credit had run out on their phone

And we watched Jamie in Spanish before setting off to find my backpack from the Municipal Albergue

The Municipal Albergue had actually closed down but we found my pack in a nearby Albergue which was very pleasant and had wifi, so we had a hot chocolate and watched the pilgrims carry out the ‘checking my blisters’ ritual

The local shop was amazing, small packs of everything you could imagine, including emu oil for your feet

We met up with a couple of Australian guys we’d crossed paths with along the way and had a very pleasant evening over red wine and dinner. It was quite sad when we said goodnight as we probably won’t see them again. We are bussing it once we reach Jess in Ponferrada and they are walking on . But that’s the way of the Camino, pilgrims come in and out of your life!

A pilgrim is grateful. We are grateful that the Camino gave us such a lovely day!

 

 

Originally D2 and I had planned to be walking again today while D1 continued to rest her foot

But then we found out the previous night that showers and thunderstorms were forecast along our route, and although my blisters were healing, I decided another day of rest would benefit. We did plan to do some touristy things but it was rainy and miserable outside so we didn’t do much of anything.

For my Australian friends, we were sure we saw Don Burke wandering around the plaza but on closer inspection he was just some dude on a bar crawl. He sat and read the Camino bible every so often, but we reckon he was just doing that as a cover for his beer habit!

I took advantage of the wet weather to take reflection photographs.

A pilgrim is grateful. D1 is grateful she has been able to rest her foot in comfort!