Days 24, 25 and 26 Rabanal del Camino a La Faba

Day 24 Rabanal del Camino a Ponferrada

Well we left the English place in the dark the next morning after a breakfast with tea and coffee. We have started back into hilly country and made our way up the side of the first mountain and caught an amazing sunrise. 

As you might know, there are quite a few abandoned villages in Spain and in this one a couple renovated a place and served coffee. They appeared to be Hindu which gave their spot a different and very relaxing feel. 

This cross is atop of the highest point we will hike on the Camino. People bring a rock from their homeland and deposit it here with a prayer. We brought a pine cone from about a mile  down the trail. 

We hiked up over ridges and down into villages. These little settlements in the mountains are amazing. The really take you back in time. 

We pushed through the scheduled stop and went to the big town of Ponferrada. We missed the last bunks in the normal rooms of 4 beds to a room and were placed in the overflow in the basement. There were about 50 beds in one room. This isn't too abnormal but isn't the sought after arrangent. There was a Templar castle in town and we went to check it out. 

We tried to go inside but it was 6 euros and they were closing in about an hour so we just loitered on the draw bridge and some of our Danish friends came walking by directly. 

After that we set out to do our normal city thing and tried to find a doner kebab shop. The Danish boys were thrilled to join us. Today it was I who spotted the kebab sign in the main square. 

Day 25 Ponferrada a Villafranca del Bierzo

Today was a Sunday and we walked in a group of two Danes and an Irish. It was a pretty dull walk at first but the time was passed well by talking to the others. The best part about today that is that it is harvest weekend out here in this part of Spain so all of the families were out picking their grapes. 

There was a buzz about. Everyone was excited and happy. If you stopped to say hello they would offer you grapes to taste. It was the perfect timing to walk through the vineyards. 

Day 26 Villafranca a La Faba

Today Arwyn and I were exhausted. We also picked the hardest route to take. There were three options to take, one being easy and following the road, the next being the main Camino trail on and off the road, the the off road route that added 10 km to the route and had several steep climbs and descents.

 All and all, today we hiked 30.1 km, ascended 5000 feet and descended 3500 feet. The descents were deadly on our knees.

We made it to our target town situated in a lush green valley. We were shutting down and when we got to the hostal, he told us they were full and we would have to continue another 4 km or one hour down the trail. It was hard to suck it up and walk another hour uphill, but it worked out. We came upon La Faba where the German fraternity has restored an old monastery. This place is beautiful and peaceful. Arwyn showered and went right to sleep- skipping dinner. I made some pasta that had been left behind and put in some pesto sauce that I had been carrying around for about 100 km.  I can hardly keep my eyes open as I finish this but I will leave you with a picture of Arwyn with her new pet.