Sunday, June 1, 2014

Foncebadon

We are blessed with beautiful weather again and today's walk was a delight. It was only 7:15 AM when we passed the cathedral and Gaudi's fairytale bishop's palace before leaving the small city of Astorga. 
The Camino took us along delightful paths lined with purple lavender and yellow broom. We passed through several villages so we had lots of opportunity to have a cafe con leche. The trail climbed imperceptibly and the snow covered mountains came closer and closer.
Finally, we entered Rabanal and, after buying bread, cheese, yogurt, chips, bananas and oranges and a chocolate bar, we had a delightful picnic outside near a broken down house.
After our lunch the camino did some serious climbing. But we are all Billy goats now, having walked everyday since May 5. It was not a big deal. The flora changed to alpine plants like heather and gorse. Both varieties presented in white as well as pink. Everything is in bloom. Quite spectacular.
A few more kilometers and we finally arrived in Foncebadon. This is one of the "abandoned" mountain towns around here. Lots of stone houses in complete disrepair. But because of the popularity of the Camino (230,000 estimated this year alone) business has revived. We are in a rather nice place and they serve dinner from 5 PM on, which is unheard of elsewhere. Pilgrims love this. They are tired and hungry. We had to choose from the menu at 2:30 when we arrived. Spaghetti soup, chicken stew, icecream. And bread and wine. All for 9 Euros.  
We are elated that the scenery is breathtaking again, with mountains and hills covered with flowering bushes. We are almost at 1,500 meters and it seems that you can just about touch the clouds!
Tomorrow, La Cruz de Ferro, highest point on the Camino at 1,505 meters. And the place to leave our stones from home!
No weefee ( the Spanish pronunciation of WiFi) here so I will post this tomorrow in Ponferrada, a big town, 28.2 K away. Our next stop.
236.7 K to go to Santiago. Our plan is to arrive June 13 in Santiago.

That's our hotel for the night. Very nice!  Most of the houses are abandoned. This morning, at breakfast, Gregorian chant was piped over the speakers!
We are starting to see a lot more crosses as we are getting closer to Santiago.
Amazing heather all over the place!

1 comment:

  1. beautiful
    the images, the stories
    i love it all!

    love and light

    ReplyDelete