Day 26 – 25/05/2024 – Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca (24.5km)

A farewell to a friend…

I said goodbye to a companion today. Dionisio, the green dinosaur, is now with a new owner.

We woke up at 7:15 for morning prayers, followed by breakfast. It was a very quiet morning. Having booked a place for today, we only had to confirm the reservation by 2pm.

With that out of the way, we left after breakfast before mass at around 9. Johnny decided, after many deliberations, to stick with me and to continue in this mad adventure. I still don’t know why!

We made our way past Foncebadon

And continued to the iron Cross, the highest point in the Camino since Leopolder after St Jean

It is tradition to carry a stone or something from home to drop it here, as a symbol of giving up the homely worries and simply allowing yourself to move on with your life, now unburdened by the past, and so on. I had forgotten my homely stone (and I was not going to throw in the other one I carry) so instead I placed a trinket I’ve had for a few years now, a wooden camino shell that I bought at a previous iteration. It was time to go.

I also had decided to give away Dionisio, my dinosaur plushie, that again I had for several years. Either I’d make a note to say “take me on your new adventures”, or I would give it to Johnny. As he was with me, I told him it was his turn to take Dionisio on an adventure.

After the climb, there was the downhill.

We stopped for second breakfast somewhere near the abandoned village of Manjarin, which has a mountain refuge and a coffee shop

We saw Dino from Germany through the day, but he’d stop the day before us in el Acebo

Apart from that, it was a good day.

We discussed photography, composition, and all that, so Johnny was honing the newly obtained skills.

On reflection, we were having too much fun…. And the day was becoming late…

I’m not saying it’s aliens, but the cloud formations looked like aliens….

Most of the second half of the day was going downhill. The shoes were doing their job but the knees were suffering

Ponferrada far away, beyond today’s destination

As we descended from the mountain, the Camino was narrowing

And the springtime colours showing all their glory

The snow capped mountaintops in the distance still make it uncertain whether we’ll have snow in the next few days.

Upon arrival in town a pilgrim was high fiving another one. I complained, and demanded one too, which I got. Hooray!

We got to the Albergue at around 4:15 or so. The last two beds had been reserved for us, so that was something. However I had a bad feeling about the Albergue. It is on two floors (entrance plus main floor) crammed in the middle of the town. There are three communal bedrooms with 8 bedrooms each, totalling space for 24 pilgrims. There is only one men’s loo and one ladies loo for everyone (at best, 12 pilgrims per loo) with only one shower each. No washing facilities, and it feels VERY crammed. Not ideal at 13€, but at least I could pay by card, not depleting my meagre cash reserves before having to find an ATM.

The previous guardian’s supervisor (probably) asleep (certainly)

Being quite late we wouldn’t have much time to relax and nap, so shower, illegal laundry, and we were out for beers, which we struggled to find shock

Jed, a fellow pilgrim and the one who had given me the high five, was going downstairs at the same time as we were so I asked him whether he’d like to join us for a drink. Obvs.

So we had drinks by the river, and good chat, and ended up having dinner the three of us.

Feeling a bit toasty (I think it’s a heat rash)

Entertainment was provided by fellow pilgrims when one nearly lost his flipflop to the river. Another chased it before jumping in the water to retrieve it, meanwhile I broadcast the progress to my drinking companions before we all cheered when the retrieval was successful