Astorga to Foncebadón

Well, we´ve been talking about doing it for weeks, and today we finally did it. Sent the packs ahead. Most albergues advertise a service that will transport your rucksack to a destination you plan to reach at the end of the day...usually about 6-8€. Ours today was 9€ apiece to where we wanted to go, and we all had to do it as there was a minimum of 3 bags for the guy to make the run. It was SOOOOO WORTH IT.

We had an incredibly late morning. Skip couldn´t do his post office business till they opened at 8:30, and during his time there, Christa and I were supposed to have a nice long breakfast. But we didn´t know he´d gone, so we stood around, loaded up, and got underfoot of some very testy hospitaleros while we waited around for him. He finally showed up and we made the decision to send the packs. We were still hurting from yesterday´s abysmal trek into Astorga and were facing a 28k day with a good deal of uphill at the end. And it was going to be HOT. So we did it. THANK GOD. I don´t even want to think about what today would have been like otherwise.

As it were, we had a leisurely breakfast and didn´t stroll out of Astorga till nearly 11am. (We were to pay for it later in sweat.) And it was a stroll...no weight on our backs except for our light daypack/hippacks slung over our shoulders. It started out fine, but I have a joint issue in my left leg...don´t even know how to describe it...that had me in agony on a day that should have been easy. I finally asked Christa for a painkiller and was better in a little while.

The walk was pleasant otherwise. It was a bit like Oregon today...scrubby trees and brush beside the road...the tracks alternated between rocky sandy roads and red dirt. The orange-red contrasted beautifully with the blue skies and green trees. And the mountains steadily increased in focus...no longer pale blue backdrops but sharper blue with shades of green as we neared them.

Stops were blessedly short today...they´re wonderful until you have to start going again, and then it gets harder every time. The ice cream stop came before the lunch stop today, ha ha. Nothing really especially noteworthy. Lunch was...managed to get bacon instead of that thick ham stuff...and when it came out, the bacon was hot and the cheese was like Kraft singles and there were even tomatoes on it...wonderful. We found some folks we´ve managed to become friends with in the past few days...big difference in the feel of the Camino now that most faces are unfamiliar.

I felt like an imposter today without my pack. Like a fake pilgrim...like I wasn´t suffering enough. At the beginning, when I first heard about the pack transport, I thought that sounded more like cheating than the bus. Today I had NO moral issues with it.

We left Rabanal del Camino at 4pm...usually way too late to walk because of the heat, and a fine stopping place, but since our bags were all the way at Foncebadón, we didn´t have much choice. On we went. Up. The climb began late in the day.

But it was okay...obviously, since we were all about 20-30 pounds lighter...but it was beautiful shades of green with vibrant purple flowers along the way, some of which looked like little bells hung along stalks. We also had some breathtaking views of the valley behind us and the meseta beyond...we could see for miles and miles. Wind farms up on the crests above us...HUGE white propeller bladed windmills.

We finally reached Foncebadón...population FIVE. Just a little collection of buildings on the top of a windswept mountain. It´s gorgeous and quiet and peaceful and the albergue looks like a newly built mountain lodge. There´s a place to sit where we get the view of the whole valley below us, and Astorga looks a billion miles away. To look at it, it seems we walked 50 miles today instead of just under 20. It´s wonderful and very soothing.

Tomorrow, we´ll get to see the Cruz de Ferro...Iron Cross...important landmark on the Camino. It´s a tall stone pillar with a small iron cross at the top...the cross is only about a foot high. If I´d known about its tradition, I would have brought a stone from home to put at its base. But I didn´t...so I´ll have to come up with something else. We´re 45 minutes from it, and it´s the real crest of this mountain. Then it´s a TON of downhill till we get to the bottom...which can be much harder than uphill, as I´m sure I´ve said before. If we can, we´ll send the packs ahead and try to give our knees and feet a break for another day. If we go all the way to Ponferrada, it´ll be 29k, but Christa and I are thinking of staging a mutiny and stopping in Molinaseca...only 22k and puts us into Ponferrada the next morning, when we can take some time to see the Templar Castle...?

Forgot to put this part in for yesterday...the pasta sauce Skip made in Mazarife will heretofore be referred to as Skip´s Revenge. I don´t know WHAT I did to that boy, but he got me back for it. All. Day. LONG. Sheesh.

All for now. Gotta eat dinner, since the lady is closing down and is getting VERY testy with us for ordering a pilgrim´s menu (three of them) twenty minutes past the closing of dinnertime.

Love you all...talk to you tomorrow.