Day 24 – Foncabedòn to Ponferrada- 25 K +

This was one of those days which surprised me on so many different levels.

And then it became my favorite day till date..

When I left the hotel in the morning, I was feeling quite cranky. First my foot was bothering me from a pinch blister I got a couple days back after having to replace my insoles. I also didn’t sleep well, wasn’t able to get up at the time I wanted to either. It was already 7 by the time I was ready to leave the hotel. Then it was going to be a very long day with very steep down hills so all that had made me quite grumpy this morning.

Just as I stepped out, I smelt the dirt from last night’s rainfall. I love that smell and it made me smile. I remembered that last night I had sat on the floor with scissors and did some creative work on the insoles, was feeling pretty sure that it would help today.

I also recalled the awesome vegetarian meal I had last night. While this is a particularly tiny little village, you can walk from the start to end within five minutes, it is arguable the most vegetarian and vegan friendly places. Last night’s meal was incredible.

I am now walking though Galicia, after crossing Maseta, which means we are back in mountain country and will encounter some steep climbs and descents through Galicia’s lush, mountainous terrain.

This morning when I left, I was looking forward to getting to Cruz De Fero, “The Iron cross” that is located on the way of St. James. People believe iron cross allows you to partake in a very old ‘freeing tradition’. As you approach it, you will see a lot of rocks there. People even leave pictures and notes and what not, anything that they think is burdening their mind. They say, bring a piece of your own home with you perhaps a stone from home and you can leave your burdens here behind you.

I walked up to the cross but I had no stone. I just wanted to visit and pay my respects. Just as I walked to the cross to get a picture of it, I started looking at the various stones and the messages that were left there from other people.  One after another I started reading and realized there are a lot of stories that were lying under that cross.

This location creates a lot of emotions in you.

I forgot about freeing up my own worries and I have no idea why but I was in tears reading those messages and looking at the stones and pictures left by people. I spent a good 15-20 minute crying and sobbing like a mess on the trail out of iron cross.

Like my friend Rick said, when you really think deep…. It is true that our race, our background and where we come from does not matter. We all cry and hurt the same way when we lose our loved ones, the same way we have similar needs/wants and we all just want to have a happy and a good life.

My mind was playing games, I kept walking and sobbing until I got to go to the beautiful view of the mountains and a stone with the message that pulled me back.

My first view of the beautiful mountain was in front of me. All of a sudden I was walking and it felt like I was walking in the clouds. I had no idea when the terrain changed. It was absolutely stunning as  clouds were very low. I kept walking it was getting foggy. And I saw a trailer in the middle of nowhere, I could smell coffee in the air. It was a wonderful treat to see that. The trailer/mobile cafe bar owner had amazing music going on . I ordered a cup of coffee and asked for a vegetarian sandwich and she put together a really nice toast with olive oil and tomato for me  because everything else had meat in it. I thoroughly enjoyed my break there with my cafe con leche. I was snapped out of my depressive state and was ready for the rest of the day.

Just as I started walking I got a few water drops on my face and I was like yeah the clouds are not really looking good. I looked back and others were also putting their ponchos and rain jackets on. I could hear the cows in the distance from their cowbells and rain was coming down on this dirt trail with beautiful mountains in the distance. It was beautiful.  However, the trail was just a killer downhill with steep rocky boulders and a lot of stones.

I kept walking in rain and enjoyed the landscape very much.

Once the rain was over and I put my poncho away,  all of a sudden somebody said from behind ‘excuse me’and when I looked back, these were my Seattle fire fighter friend’s gang. I haven’t got a chance to write about the previous days but few days back, I was totally surprised to have met three retired firefighters from Seattle. They’re doing the Camino and we have been running into each other and it is just wonderful to have another extended Camino family that is from your own hood.
From left clockwise This is Chris, John aka “tiny”, and Mike. Absolutely wonderful and delightful  people. We took some selfies and started walking together.

It was fun to run into friends today finally we got to a bar in the next town where I had coffee and friends had lunch.

 I started moving as very soon there was another village coming. I ran into a full vegetarian and vegan  bar from this owner who had just opened it yesterday. It had the best vegetarian/vegan burger made from scratch and on top of that his place was so beautiful.I spent one full hour there, enjoyed my lunch and had a great conversation with the owner

I said bye to them and got going,  the rest of the way it was downhill. Stones, boulders and everything else that you can imagine….it was a tough trail for my feet however the views were stunning. Walking through the forest and then the mountains peeking and the birds chirping it was so mystical and magical, I really enjoyed my walk.

I got to the next town and I really needed a break. I still had almost 7 km to go. I stopped at a café/bar and asked for Lemon Aquarius. This is like Gatorade from back home. I’m so impressed by these coffee or bar owners or the other people who you see helping the pilgrims on donation basis. They really want to offer you something to eat because camino pilgrims are tired. I paid € 1.50 for my drink and he come out with a tapas for me(fish based). I said no thank you as I’m a vegetarian. He said what else can I offer you. I said no, I’m good. He said perhaps you want to eat some olives with your drink and brought me a bowl full of olives. I only paid €1.50 for my drink and this guy really wanted to feed me. This type of kindness, love and generosity I have seen it everywhere. It’s really amazing to experience.

I had my drink and kept going as I had 7 more kilometers to get to Ponferrada. Just as I was walking through a neighborhood, I saw the most beautiful eyes looking straight at me. I looked at her and gave a big smile to the man and I said what a beautiful dog and he knew English and he said , you wanna meet?

I was like offcourse yes ….This was the two year old ‘Nora’ the black lab.

I just ran to her and she ran towards me. Nora and I gave each others some well deserved lovies. I got tons of kisses as I sat there and talked to the owners. We really had a good time talking about Nora for 10 minutes, it was just  as if she really knew me. She was leaning on me, sat in my lap. She was the sweetest pup and I loved meeting her. I really was relaxed by the time, I said bye to this cutie.

I was ready for the last 4 km and it was going to be 5 o’clock soon. I had a long day and was tired. Getting into Ponferrada was a good walk. I was walking through the city but was still able to see the mountains in the distance. It was not too bad, I finally checked into my hotel. The town has a lot of history here.

After resting for an hour or so in my hotel, I decided to go out and found some food. I really wanted something non-bread tonight. Luckily, there was a Thai restaurant about 20 minutes out from where I was staying so I had the yummiest meal ever.

I didn’t have the time to see all the various historical monuments there but just when you enter the city, you see the castle. Absolutely beautiful piece of history. As I was coming back to my hotel , I walked by the castle. There was a demonstration going on with bagpipes and drums and that was an absolute unexpected thing.

I actually liked the small little town with a lot of history and the evening was quite lively with the musicians playing in the plazas. I ended my long unexpected but totally wonderful day on the sweet note of having some ice cream.

I was ready to crash after this perfect day so I can do it all over again tomorrow.

Buen Camino💕