Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca, 26km

Such a strange experience this morning to have my ‘real world’ here as part of the Camino. 

Ian and Brian arrived slightly later than planned last night after a slight map-related detour (to be fair, Rabanal is smaller than the smallest speck on any decent map) so as I was pretty much ready to eat my own arms off by that stage, they wee ushered straight through to the restaurant and the joy that is the pilgrims menu.  

Was a little shaken by the changes to my routine this morning (oh the challenges of the apace afforded by a nice hotel room!) but still managed to set off at around 7.30 and head for the hills while the two Camino-ettes sorted logistics with both their car and their alarm clocks (!) 

After a glorious hour of climbing through mist-drenched hills, I met up with the support crew for breakfast (oddly enough, a bacon buttie while sitting under an SAS flag signed ‘your friends from Colchester) Brian and I then walked the next hour up to the highest point on the Camino, the Cruz de Ferro.  This is the point where pilgrims from all around the world place a pebble or stone from their home to mark the challenges of their journey and absolve them of their burdens. I was expecting it to be quite a moving place, which I guess it was, but I hadn’t expected it to be about two metres from a relatively busy road and frequented by the dreaded ‘car tourists’ as  much as it was by weary pilgrims. Still, I did enjoy taking a moment to place my stones, as well as the shells of the Bedford family, in prime position so expecting they are all waking up this morning feeling a lot more at peace with the world now that their sins have all been absolved (well, most of them- their is only so much a shell can do!) 

 Not long after the Cruz we met up with Ian, and am pleased to say the Camino turned on a spectacular afternoon for my two guests – we were very high up so had stunning views down spectacular valleys, with great patches of gorse, heather and bracken colouring the mountains every shade of green, yellow and purple. After a misty morning, the sun came out to play (as evidenced by the pink foreheads of the Short family) and we spent the afternoon carefully picking our way down steep, rocky paths through picture perfect villages (where Ian found a good half-dozen fixer-upper projects) to the stunning riverside town of Molinaseca.

Have to say, it was great fun to have some familiar faces on board for the day. Ian’s ridiculous gaggery reached new heights and Brian had many a good story and observation to help while away the hours. Disappointed to report that my first opportunity for a public display of walking stick baton twirling fell very short of expectations, but hoping I now have the performance anxiety under control. There were probably a few more pit stops than I am used to having and *gasp* beer at lunchtime … but what the hell, it is Sunday and I now have just over 200km to go, so timely reminder to lighten up a little!

So all in all, thumbs up to the world’s best Camino support crew – feeling very honoured to have shared your company today and looking forward to another bit of support for the first hour or so tomorrow.