2012-09-28 Friday

2012-09-28 Friday

Rabanal / Molinaseca

Camino day 21: 26.5Km to Molinaseca. We met for breakfast at 0700 and took to the Camino by 0745, the Gang of Four plus Gunther, Toni sent an SMS saying that he woke up at 0530 with all the noise the pilgrims were making in the albergue, and hit the road.

Today we are clearing the highest point of the Camino, 1505m high, we are starting from 1150 meters, so the ascent is much easier than the Pyrennees, but the descent is longer and steeper, all the way down to 610m.

Nancy and I sent our packs forward, and Paulo and Terry put their heaviest items in our packs. 

The forecast is for a light drizzle this morning, with temperature 4-5C. Luckily, the rain did not came, but it was very cold. I wore almost everything I had: short sleeved T-shirt, long sleeve T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, down vest, windbreaker, and wool socks as mittens. But I still felt cold. When we started going uphill, Terry and Nancy (surprisingly, considering her knee) went ahead with a fast pace. I tried to keep up, but soon I started sweating while still feeling cold on the face and legs, I gave up the pursuit and slowed my pace to avoid sweating.

When we got to the first village, well, it was actually an abandoned village, with stone houses falling apart, with just one house inhabited, the private albergue, Gunther and I were complaining that we were sweaty and cold at the same time, it was difficult to regulate the temperature: if I zipped the windbreaker down, I would start freezing, if I took the buff off, my head would feel cold, if I put the buff back on, I would start sweating, If I took the wool socks/mitts off my hand to help dissipate the heat, the fingers would freeze... Sweating at this low temperature is not a good thing, and the temperature was dropping further as we went up the mountain. 

Abandoned stone house

We stopped a few minutes at the albergue to rest and have a coffee to regain some warmth. Nancy took off ahead of us as we were paying the bills and dressing up to face the elements again. We continued the uphill walk and battle with the cold until, 1.5 Km later, we reached the top and encountered the Iron Cross, an iconic point of the Camino, were the tradition calls for the pilgrims leave the stone they bring from home.  The rock or stone symbolizes the weight of your sins or issues that you are carrying, leaving it at the iron cross means redemption, that you have overcome. 

Nancy was there to wait for us and to take pictures, but soon she darted off ahead of everybody else. I dropped the stone I brought all the way from home in the pile, and we all took turns taking pictures at the Iron Cross. A few minutes later Terry took off at a faster pace to catch up with Nancy, Paulo, Gunther and I lingered a bit and then started the long descent. 

Erico at the Iron Cross. Note the pile of pebbles

Chappel at the Iron Cross

The descend is steep, with rocky terrain, very tough on the knees. Three Km later we came to a cafe, in the middle of nowhere, called Manjarin. This is a folkloric place, run by a Brazilian that did the Camino many many years ago and decided to stay. He was not there, he was on another town for a Templar's conference. 

Gunther and Erico at Manjarin

Loose rocks on the trail

the scenary

Erico on the Camino

GUnther, going down hill

Erico and Paulo

Layer we caught up with Nancy, she had to slowdown in the steepest parts because of her knee. I asked where Terry was and she said he must be ahead. At that moment, her choice of words did not trigger any red flags and Paulo, Gunther, and I forged ahead. There were many people in the Camino today, so there was no problems in leaving her behind. 

It was still cold, but the wind diminished because we were on the wind shadow of the mountain, sweating was no longer a problem because going downhill you do not exert yourself as much, but the legs and the knees take a heavy pounding. I am glad I do not have the additional weight of the backpack.

One hour and a half later, I came to the first village on the other side of the mountain, Acebo, having left Paulo and Gunther a bit behind. Terry was there waiting for us, seated at an outdoor table of the first bar, enjoying a coffee with Pamela. First thing he asked me was "Where's Nancy?" I said with a straight face, "I last saw at the Iron Cross, when she took off ahead of us." His eyes almost popped out of the sockets, "Are you kidding me?"  "No," I answered. I asked what was going on, why he had not seen Nancy, considering that he had departed the Iron Cross to catch up with her.  He said he had taken off walking fast to catch up with Nancy, but he never saw her, and when he came to the village he stopped to wait for us. He wanted to go back up the mountain to look for her, or continue walking, maybe she had not stopped at the village, but I told him to wait a few more minutes, Paulo and Gunther were behind and they may have seen her, that I doubted she would continue beyond the village without waiting for us, and went inside to get a cup of coffee. I was just pulling his leg, but wanted to prolong the joke a bit longer. Gunther arrived before I could alert him, he told Terry that Nancy was slowly walking down the hill, and Terry calmed down. When Nancy arrived, the mystery was solved. What happened was that she went off the trail for a nature call, and Terry must have gone by just as she was doing her business, that was why he did not see her. I came clean and told Terry that I yes, I had seen Nancy, I was just pulling his leg. 

Erico in Acebo

Again, Nancy took off before the rest of us did, this time Terry went with her, he stayed with Nancy for the reminder of the day. At the next steep downhill stretch I passed them, Nancy increased her pace to keep up with me but soon felt behind and later Paulo and Gunther passed them. 

Sheep dog

Abandoned farm house

Erico, taking a break from the stone, hilly descent

When we got to Molinaseca, the three of us stopped at the first bar at the entrance of town, just across the stone bridge built by the Romans, to wait for them while drinking beer. We sat at an outdoor table watching the pilgrims all came across the stone bridge with wobbly legs, or walking like as if they were stepping bare feet on glass shards because of the blisters or sore fit. 

We can see Molinaseca!

Erico at the entrance to Molinaseca

Molinaseca's Roman bridge

Molinaseca street

Erico at the Roman bridge

Terry and Nancy dragged themselves in just as we were ordering our second round of draft beers. We did not arrive in any better shape, today was brutal. My legs are the sorest they have been on this Camino, but luckily my knees or ankles did not give me troubles. 

After Terry and Nancy had their beers, we walked the remaining couple of blocks to our hostal: Pousada de Muriel. At 1900, Paulo and I wend down to the hostel bar to have a drink, Gunther was there on one of the outdoors table, smoking and writing on his diary. We decided to go out for dinner, I went back up to the second floor to call Terry and Nancy for dinner, but their room doorknob had the Do Not Disturb sign, and I did not knock on the door.

Paulo called Toni and he came from his albergue to meet us, and we went out looking for a place to eat dinner, there were not many options and we ended having dinner at a restaurant near the roman bridge. We were almost finished when in came Terry and Nancy, I told them that I had gone up to their bedrooms, but saw the "DND" sign. It was not their room, the innkeeper mistakenly had given me the wrong room number. 

Dinner's first course

Roman bridge at night