Rabanal Del Camino to Molinaseca

We woke up an hour earlier than normal this morning and the owner of the place that we stayed at cooked us a real breakfast with eggs, toast, coffee and juice. Sure beats a piece of bread and coffee. I like bread just fine but it takes some protein to keep this old engine firing on all cylinders.

As we left town we saw this tiny shrine made from stones. 

After hiking 5.6 kilometers we walked through the tiny village of Foncebadon. Quite a few of these little villages had turned into ghost towns because the young people moved to the cities for work and fun. The few remaining residents die and you end up with a bunch of empty buildings. The renewed interest in walking the Camino has brought new people into the villages to open up hostels and cafes to serve the pilgrims that come through. 

Our walking was steadily uphill into the mountains. As we got higher we could look back and see the villages that we had walked through below us.

We often pass markers where pilgrims that have passed before us leave poetry and words of wisdom.

The reason that we wanted to get an early start this morning was to make it to the Cruz de Ferro or Iron Cross before the charter buses full of tourists showed up at 11 AM. The Cruz de Ferro is a pole with an iron cross on top and is surrounded by stones and tokens that many pilgrims leave there as a sign of love, leaving something behind, or of contrition. It is believed that the pile of stones pre-dates Christianity.

Many pilgrims bring a stone from home to leave with the many thousands of stones already there. Leaving a stone is a sign of leaving behind a burden, or letting go of something in your life. Savanna brought a pebble from in front of her house in Iraan, Texas and added it to the thousands that had been left by previous pilgrims.

I also brought three stones to leave at the Cruz de Ferro. A tiny heart shaped pebble from my wife Joyce that she gave me before I left. It is very appropriate because she is the love of my life and has my heart and fortunately I have hers. On the right is a stone that Joyce brought from Canada to represent her dad John who has passed away. He was a great guy and I wish I had gotten to know him better. In the center is an agate I found on a beach in Alaska near where I buried my son Samuel almost 18 years ago. Sam loved to travel, meet people and see new things. I know he would have loved the Camino and Spain. I have had it with me for a long time and I decided that this was the time and place to leave it. 

That huge mound of stones represents a lot of prayers, thoughts and burdens placed there by many pilgrims that came before us. 

Another pilgrim from Austria offered to take a picture of Savanna and I together. I did the same for him after he read a prayer he had written and then placed it under his stone at the base of the cross. We rested a few minutes on a nearby bench then started following the Camino down the other side of the mountain. It was time to move on and move forward.

The descent down the other side of the mountains was very steep and rocky but the views were amazing. 

After walking a total of 25 kilometers today and spending the last half scrambling down a steep and rocky mountain trail, we finally sighted the village where we would spend the night. Of course the top of a church was the first thing we saw over the top of the trees.

On the way into town we also passed the church in the picture below. As we were walking past a lady came out of the church and invited us to come inside for a bit.

The inside of the church was beautiful. It was not as large as the church we saw from the top of the mountain but for some reason the smaller ones seem to have a sweeter feel to them.

We followed the path into the pretty village of Molinaseca which sits on both sides of a river. As we crossed the bridge we could see people swimming below and laying on towels catching the last rays of the sun for the day. A swimming hole right outside your front door. I could get used to this Spanish lifestyle very quickly!

We checked into the Pension that we are staying in for the night and the owner offered to do our washing for 5 euros. Sounded like a deal to us so we dug out everything we could and handed it over to him. Then we grabbed a shower and went out to find some grub. We stopped at a little place next to the bridge we had walked in on and ordered a hamburgueso. What a treat! It was not Whataburger but it was the best burger we have had in Spain!

We went for a short walk before heading back to our lodgings for the night. Savanna carries a sarong in her pack as a multi-purpose piece of gear and it comes in very handy during laundry time. Thought I would end this post with a picture of her on the bridge that brought us into this little village.

I can't pull off the sarong look very well and I think a picture of me in one would violate some international laws anyway so I will just wrap up this post for now by saying Buen Camino!