Overnight - The Way Hostel
A memorable day on the Camino today. Probably my best day, in fact, but also a sad one.
It all started at dawn with a wonderfully simple breakfast offering at the Refugio alongside other bleary-eyed pilgrims about to tackle the climb to the famed cross (the Cruz de Ferro) and the highest point of the Camino. There was a reasonable sized map of the world pinned to the breakfast room wall, and - apart from prompting a pang of homesickness when I saw the great southern land - I commented to my occasional walking partners that the fact you could actually see our journey on a map of that size was a good indication of the magnitude (in one sense, at least) of what we were doing.
It was then out the door and up the hill. Door-to-Cross was just over seven kilometres and given my penchant for hills and the cool morning, I thought I'd push it a little. I arrived at the landmark, in a lather of sweat, just on 80 minutes later.
I suppose it was going to be an inevitability, but for me, the cross site was a disappointment. It's effectively a large cross attached to a very tall pole. The base of the pole sits atop a large pile of small stones, mostly left by pilgrims with quite personal notes attached to, or poignant words inscribed on, them. Of course, the weather had taken its toll and while a few black pen-marked comments were legible, there were only fragments of papers and other materials which had been lovingly or painfully bequeathed by pilgrims past.
I'd heard several accounts of it being quite a meaningful shrine for many people and had high expectations of it. Alas, it's not in an especially inviting location, virtually abutting a well-used roadway with carparks and facilities nearby. The pile of stones also serves as a magnet for people to climb the short distance to the base of the pole to get the obligatory selfies. In the process, they trample disrespectfully on the stones and bric a brac left by others.
I sat on a park bench some distance away and watched as 10 or 15 lycra-clad cyclists took it in turn to get their photos, some even posing up there with their bikes held above their heads. As I looked around, I didn't recognize anyone in quiet contemplation, although I'm sure people used it for that purpose too. For some reason, I'd also thought the cross was located in an open space with panoramic views to the valleys and towns below. Wrong again. The many surrounding trees block any views.
So all that was a bit of a downer. But, then again, maybe I wouldn’t have been so judgemental if I actually had something to contribute to the pile rather than being a simple spectator?
Moving on across the mountain, I came to the reasonably primitive albergue/monastery at Manjarin, where I had the most awful cup of coffee I've had for many a long year. That said, you couldn't help but admire the simple, funky, atmosphere of the place.
Just as I was about to start the long and difficult descent off the mountain and into Molinaseca, I met up again with Kim and Martina and also Ned, a Brazilian, who I'd walked with at various times over the past couple of weeks. Kim, who started at Burgos, had managed to damage her knee in the interim and was hobbling bravely along. I gave her one of my walking poles (to add to the one she’d recently bought) and decided to walk with her down the long descent while the others went ahead. It was a distressing couple of hours as the afternoon wore on, the sun beat down, and the mountain path never seemed to end.
But she managed to battle through it courageously and when we finally landed in Molinaseca (where, of all things, a sports car rally was taking place), we all enjoyed a long lunch in a refreshingly cool restaurant by the river.
Later that night, for dinner, we did the same thing - only for longer - at a nearby outside restaurant. The dinner doubled as a sad farewell for Kim who is taking a couple of days away from the Camino before resuming, hopefully, with a fully functioning knee. In case we'd gotten hopelessly separated along the way, three of us had earlier agreed to meet for a final Camino dinner in Santiago before my flight home. By some quirk, we seemed to keep meeting up anyway. But this was different. Kim hoped she could still make it to Santiago in time, but there was a pervading sense that this little Camino-buddies meal could well be the last.
We finally bid our farewells close to midnight and wended our way home.
Of course, tomorrow is another day and there's a small matter of another 200+ kilometres to knock over on this thing before moving on. I’m sure there's plenty more great experiences to look forward to in that time, but it's doubtful I’ll experience a similar camaraderie.
Weather - Another cool start for the climb up to the famous cross, warming up considerably in the last few kilometres when we were navigating the steep descent. Despite last night’s prediction, there was not the remotest sign of any rain.
Health - Felt very strong on both the climb and the descent.
Food - Refugio breakfast (coffee x2, vegemite and berry on bread slices); Coffee + biscuits x2 at Manjarin; Can Fanta + small pastries x2; Banana; Pilgrims lunch menu at Molinaseca (artichoke salad, sausage and mash, cream rice pudding, bread basket, pot of tea); Restaurant dinner at Molinaseca (salad, bread basket etc)
Expenses – Accommodation - 42.00; Food/Drink - 33.90 Total - 75.90
Walking time - 7 hours, 30 minutes (start 6:50am, arrive at accommodation 2:20pm)
Brierley distance - 25.6km (total 559.6km)
Daily Steps - 43,150
Total Camino steps - 894,211
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