Have I mentioned before that all these posts are written under time restrictions? Internet is, of course, so many minutes for a euro--so all of this stuff is really very much stream of consciousness, full of misspellings, and not edited at all. I still am not managing to get everything that happens in the day down. I do as much as I can, but thought you should know you´re getting this pretty much as I think it.
Just before bedtime on July 18, in Rabanal, I met the hosteleros of the other albergue in town. They speak English (British), and they invited me to walk over to see their albergue. They are volunteer hosteleros, giving their time to serve pilgrims because they have walked the Camino. The albergue we stayed at was very nice, but it was one of those being run by the owner, for profit. She was quite gracious and helpful--but there is indeed a difference in the atmosphere when you hit those places being staffed by people who truly are doing this service as a--well--service. It´s not unusual to see hosteleros in these albergues bandaging and bathing very ugly, very messy, very funky pilgrim feet.
I walked over with them while we chatted, and they were such delightful, gracious people I felt like I´d already known them forever. Their albergue was much smaller, but also very nice. While I was there I ran into Jorge. He showed me a little of the albergue, and his one-erson tent which he´s using on the Camino, and we chatted a short while, but it was getting late and I had to get back to my albergue before the doors closed at 11:00. Since I have a bad tendency to get hopelessly lost in these towns, Jorge walked me back, saying he needed to visit someone anyway.
We knew our day from Rabanal to Molinaseca was going to be hard--the guide book estimated walking time of 7 1/2 hours--so we planned to get up and out really early, stopping about 5 1/2 k out for breakfast. We got up at 5:00, and I went into the courtyard to pack up. The sun wasn´t rising yet, and this was the first time I had been outside at full dark when I wasn´t in a city. The stars were simply beautiful, and that seemed like a very, very good start.
We headed out of town in the dark, pretty much relying on the light packed gravel of the Camino to guide us, since there were very few lights. We got out into the country quickly, and walking was wonderful for a while.
Before long, though, we hit high open plains--and flies. Lots of flies. Lots and lots and lots of swarming flies. At the same time, we noticed that while the air was fairly cool, we could feel heat still radiating up from the ground (the day before had been pretty hot). As the sun came up (beautiful), the flies increased (not beautiful). I eventually had to get a bandana out to cover my ears to keep them from being bitten, and I spent the walk constantly batting away around my face and neck. It was pretty miserable. I could hear Niles muttering behind me; the flies were pretty much driving him crazy as well.
When we stopped for breakfast, getting inside was a blessing. We were already pouring with sweat by 7:00--not a good sign--but the biggest thing was getting away from the majority of the flies. The cafe we stopped at was also an albergue, and had a combination of Christian and Buddhist art and images, along with a really large singing bowl on a shelf that I really wanted to take down and listen to, but I didn´t.
By the time we stopped for breakfast, we had climbed almost 1000 feet in less than 3 miles. Tough, steep, and fly-ridden--and that accounted for the first 1/5th of the day. We were no longer in the best of moods.
I was, however, looking forward to the next piece, which was a much easier stretch that would take us to the Iron Cross, or Pilgrim´s Cross. This is the place I had been looking forward to going to from the very beginning. There is a tall pole with an iron cross on the top (a later addition), but for me the impressive part was the huge mound that has been formed by 10 centuries of pilgrims bringing rocks and pebbles from their homes and laying them, together, in this place. The top was filled with scribbled messages, prayers, rocks with names and dates and prayers painted on them. The pole, too, was covered with ribbons and notes that had been tied around it. Most people I´ve talked to have indeed brought pebbles from home; those who didn´t picked up a pebble somewhere here to add to the mound. It was an odd combination of power and tourism--I, along with just about everyone else, wanted my picture taken while laying the pebbles I had brought from home. (I brought more than one, carrying prayers for some dear friends along with mine. Feeling that sense of actually carrying prayers has meant a lot to me on this trip.) This actually has been more impressive to me than all of the magnificent cathedrals along the way.
After we left the Pilgrim´s Cross, we had another 17.5 K to go--downhill. Now, downhill sounds really great--until it´s the kind of downhill that takes you down almost 1000 feet over very little distance. This was absolutely grueling. The surface was very uneven rock, and both my tendonitis and my neuroma began complaining almost immediately. I ended up going slower and slower, and Marty, Emlyn and Niles ended up out of sight. I had to stop at just about every step and figure out where I was going to put my feet where it would cause the least pressure. Even then, I began having muscle spasms in my thigh from the stress of trying to protect the already-sore bits. On top of this, it was almost unbearably hot. I was very glad that I didn´t know until much later that the temps were well over 100 degrees; that would have made it even worse.
I walked this part alone. There was a grandson and grandfather behind me, but they were having as much difficulty as I was, so they didn´t catch up. This was not my favorite part of the Camino, needless to say. Even my attempts to pray just got absorbed by pain and anxiety; I had received a message from Tycho, a Camino friend who had gone ahead, that there were two people in his albergue who had broken legs on this portion of the route. That kept running through my head every time I felt my leg spasm while I was trying to negotiate another step down a jumble of rocks.
Obviously, I made it. As I walked into town, the fam was waiting in the shade just at the outskirts. I was on the other side of the street, and when they called to me I didn´t even hear them. (I was, however, wearing earbuds and listening to music which helps me walk through the most challenging bits--but I was still pretty zoned out.)
We got to the albergue, showered, did laundry, and went to a cafe for cold drinks before dinner, which we ended up eating at the same cafe. When we were returning to the alberge, I heard someone hailing us--it was John, who I had talked with in the morning the day I was stuck in Castrojeritz while Emlyn and Niles walked ahead. It was so very cool to reconnect, and we´re hoping we meet in a day or two. He was going farther than we on the 20th, but in a few days we should end up in the same place. One more lesson of receiving, and letting go, and receiving....
As soon as wel left John, we passed Jorge--again, who we had hoped to connect with but missed during the day. He was staying at the other albergue, and invited me down to chat with him while he made his dinner. (I had had a long conversation with his girlfriend Rapheala, but really haven´t had a chance to talk with him much.) Jorge had spent 13 hours walking that day, because he has made so many friends along the Camino and stops to visit all of them when he walks through.
When I walked down to his albergue, I discovered that it has about 20-30 of its beds outside--under a roof, but very much out on a porch. Jorge was actually sleeping in his 1-person tent, but I met up with Sara and Raphaela, who introduced me to Inga. Inga gave me some ointment for my shinsplints which she didn´t need anymore, which she said was much better than what I had. (It seems to be doing wonders, by the way. I do love Camino culture!!)
As I talked with Sara and Raphaela, I confessed that I had blogged about our conversations the day before, and apologized for the fact that I am writing what I can remember, but might not be getting everything right, or may be inferring things they didn´t actually mean. They both said that was quite all right, and asked for the info on the blog so they can read it--so please know they have permission to post corrections at any point!
Meeting these folks has been such a joy. They are all so gracious, so much fun to be with. Very spontaneous, very welcoming. Jorge talked with me some about my struggles with having to take 5 days off, and reminded me that you don´t walk the Camino. The Camino lets you travel it--or not. Anyone who comes in here thinking they´re going to take control of the agenda is going to be learning differently.
We talked about meeting up the next day for breakfast, and possibly walking together. (That´s going to have to be another whole entry--I´m a day behind at this point.) Then I headed in for bed. Again, our albergue was very nice--quite new, actually, with wood floors and lovely rooms. Our room had 8 peregrinos in it, including the young man and his grandfather who had arrived after I did.
We didn´t realize that we ordered the room with snorer. We´ve had snorers before--I have heavy-duty gun-range level earplugs--but this guy topped them all. Not only did we get the turbo-charged snorer, we got the luxery edition with the special snort feature. My earplugs were pretty much useless. I feel bad about even writing this, because the snorer was the grandfather who had been having such a hard time. (I´ll have to be careful not to be too friendly, or he´ll friend me on FB and end up reading this!) But we did strategize on how we would make sure we were not in the same room the next night--because we needed sleep.
We decided that we would walk only 5.5 K the next day, as far as a pretty large city called Ponferrada, which has a castle originally built by the Templars to guard pilgrims from bandits. After the day we had, we decided a rest day was in order--and walking only 5.5 K in the cool of the morning now qualifies. More on the next day in the next blog.
Blessings and peace!
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