Today we left Rabanal del Camino and headed to Molinaseca
Today’s highest altitude would be just over 1,500 metres which was not too challenging as we started the day already at 1,122 metres. The sun was out and, as usual, is was pretty cold as we set off, climbing straight out of Rabanal del Camino. The town appears twice in Book V of the Codex Calixtinus (an anthology of background detail and advice for pilgrims following the Camino – written in 1138-45) as “Raphanellus”. In the first reference, in chapter II, it is referred to it as the end of the stage: “The ninth goes from León to Rabanal. The tenth, from Rabanal to Villafranca , at the mouth of the Valcarce [river] valley”. The second reference mentions it as the first of the places where the Viatores who worked on the Route and their services worked in the time of Alfonso VII: “They prepared, for the pious love of God and the Apostle, the Camino de Santiago from Rabanal to Portomarin , prior to the year of the Lord of 1120”.
The views were nothing short of stunning as we made our way slowly up the mountain until we came to the small village of Foncebadón. The gradient of the path didn’t lessen as we went through the village but it was good to walk on a paved area instead of the stoney path.
Still climbing we eventually reached the top of Alto del Mojón (1507m) and stopped briefly at the Cruz de Ferro (a wooden post with an iron cross on top). A replica of the original cross is kept in the Museo de Los Caminos in Astroga. At its base, a mound of pebbles and dirt has been forming over the years due to the tradition of pilgrims bringing stones here from their homes, or placing local stones here as memory of loved ones.
Not quite at the top of our climb today, we continued onwards on paths flanked by multi colours of heather with views of the rolling countryside (and a couple of very young calves) before peaking in view of a military transmission base at the top of Pēna Llaba (1531m). We also got our first view of Ponferrada ( a city we will walk through tomorrow) down at the bottom of the mountain.
Having reached the top in two days of climbing we now had to descend all the way down in one go on paths that were pretty Stoney and very steep in places (thank goodness it wasn’t raining or it would have been a nightmare descent). The views continued to amaze, it was a balance between looking at the scenery and looking a the ground to not trip over anything. There were even large areas of wild lavender growing right on the path edge. We could see small towns nestled within the mountains with improbable looking roads being their only access as well as a couple of small towns (seeming to subsist purely from El Camino).
Up until now the path had been pretty open but now, for a period, it was quite closed in with vegetation as we continued down the mountain. At this stage we met a man from the UK who had finished the walk in Santiago and was on his way back to St Jean – from where he was about to walk to Jerusalem and then Ethiopia, a very impressive effort!
At the end of a pretty bruising descent (approx 900m over 10km) we finally arrived in Molinaseca where we checked into our hotel before heading out for some lunch (overlooking the river) and a deserved sit down.
Tomorrow Mike will be joining us at some stage during the day as we walk to Villafranca del Bierzo.