Molinaseca

Rabanal Del Camino – Molinaseca 25km

I’m writing today’s update with a full bottle of vino tinto in me. It was a hard day and my feet are still aching, despite massaging them with massage cream and a massage ball. Hopefully they will be alright by the morning for another 30km walk to Villafranca Del Bierzo.

The first 12km today was mostly uphill climbing to a height of 1515m. On the way I passed the Cruz de Ferro. I got a lovely french lady to video me walking up to place the stone on the existing pile. Jamie Lei had swapped me this stone for one I had found at the top of my local mountain Bessy Bell. Jamie Lei had painted this stone when she was younger and and wrote a message on it. “Whoever finds this stone, Well done!” I had carried this stone all the way from home to place at this special cross. By placing the stone at this cross, you are getting rid of all your life’s burdens and moving onto a new life.

On the way down through the mountain paths (an almost 900m descent over 10km) I stopped in a town called El Acebo for a cold beer. Nice wee town and the bar man told me he had been in Sligo for the last year and wanted to return.

As I got further down the hill I noticed a tree with a pair of boots hanging off it. Wonder if the person who left it there went down barefoot? Bloody sasquatch!

This trail although generally descending, also had some surprising ascents too. A bit like a rollercoaster. You have to go up higher to get a speedier, or steeper in this case, descent.

When I eventually got to Molinaseca it was all worth the fight. The town was beautiful with kids playing in the crystal clear river and a spectacular little town to walk through to my albergue at tbe end of town.

I hung about in my room for a while doing my washing and sipping on some red wine I had bought in the shop. I got a lovely warm goats cheese salad for dinner and then went back to my room for some sleep.

Tomorrow will be a long day with 30km in store. I have booked myself into a luxury parador in Villafranca Del Bierzo. So lets see what that place is like, if I ever make it!! Nighty!