Camino Day Twenty Two

Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Foncebadon to Ponferrada
~28.2 km (17.5 miles)

Morning photo, all bundled up! I'm wearing my fleece jacket, plus rain jacket, and I was ready to put my hood on (over the hat, yep) as soon as we went out in the rain.

From my journal: It was hard to get out of the albergue this morning. Especially knowing the weather outside was probably awful (it was). It was chilly and foggy, but I don't think it every really rained on us, just sprinkled. Windy too. For the first time I wore my jacket & raincoat. And pants and hat. And all that was fine for most of the day.

Adam walking towards the Cruz de Ferro in the fog

The photo on the left is Adam, and I am in the one on the right.

From our guidebook: "This majestic spot stands 1,504 meters (4,934 feet) above sea level and a simple iron cross stands atop its weathered pole that has become one of the abiding symbols of the pilgrim way of St. James."

The pile of rocks and rubble are all from pilgrims who have left items there at the cross. Adam brought his stone from the Quillen College of Medicine campus. I forgot to get a rock before we left the United States, so my rock was from St. Jean Pied de Port or Roncesvalles. That evening, one of our pilgrim-friends from the U.S. told us he thought he missed the Cruz de Ferro, and was prepared to turn back. A woman from his church had given him a stone to carry, and though it was not physically large or heavy, it represented some very heavy stuff going on in her life. Our friend felt obligated to relieve her of those metaphorical burdens and was relieved when he came upon the cross and could deposit them there.

From an email I sent to close family members and friends: 

I love signs like this, to see where we have been (Jerusalem, in 2007) and to see where and how far we have to go (Santiago and Finisterre) on this trip.

This and the photo above were taken in Manjarin, which hosts a private albergue and a population of one (1). There is a small shop there where one can purchase various icons and religious paraphernalia, postcards, some snacks and water, etc. Gregorian chants are played on a tape player, and there is a trace of incense in the air. 

The clouds started to lift...

We can see more of the city (Ponferrada) below us...

Our view of the mountains to our left. There is a road between the ridge where we were hiking and the ones you see there.

The fog has lifted!

See the choices of bocadillos (basically, sandwiches on a baguette)? Not too promising for a vegetarian, even less so for a vegan!

I theorized that there was a recent festival or holiday in this village, as a bunch of yellow flowers was affixed to every doorway.

Tons of lavender!

We walked through this herd to follow the camino.

Camino signage

Beautiful old sweet chestnut trees (according to our guidebook)

17th c. Church of San Nicolas

Molinaseca

Puente de Peregrinos (Pilgrim's bridge), with a foosball table underneath. The church of San Nicolas is to the right in this picture, and we are looking back from where we just walked.

Patatas (potatoes) bravas 

This picture was taken around or before noon. I remember posting on facebook about eating potatoes and bread and drinking beer for lunch, and how this meal indicates that you are either hiking, in Europe, or both! 

I am updating the blog in January, and I couldn't believe that all of the above pictures were taken at the beginning of our day!

This is what a lot of little towns in the valleys look like. There are stone buildings and at least one square with a statue of St. James.

The above three pictures are the view behind our albergue in Ponferrada.

The guy on the left is one of the caretakers at the albergue where we spent the night. The other people are (left to right) Amber, Mitch, Steve, and Adam, all from the U.S.

From my journal: It took awhile to get our room, but I think we ended okay--we got in a room with only 2 bunk beds, "because we started in St. Jean." The Spaniard with us started in Roncesvalles. And Bridget caught up to us. So she's also in our room.

We had not seen Bridget (the Irish prison-librarian) since our stay near the church of the rocks. We also saw Regina, a German woman who we met in our first parochial albergue (above the cathedral, with the huge community dinner and laundry room with pigeons).

I remember that we got some good groceries in Ponferrada, despite not being sure of the directions to get to the mercado. The albergue had a kitchen, so we were able to make our own meal. The grocery store was pretty well-stocked, so we were also able to get fresh produce, good pasta and sauce, ice cream, and wine, as well as some toiletries there. This is also where we got to know Steve better, where he told us about his wife and kids, and the preparation he was doing to become a lay...something (deacon?) in the Catholic church.