Walking Day 24

Well last night we didn't get to hear the Gregorian chant cause the priests all left town on Monday and won't be back till Oct 10th.

Today was 26.5km to Molinaseca but more importantly was that it was back in the mountains and up to the highest point of the Camino on the French route. There is a tradition that when you reach Cruz de Ferro that you leave a stone at the iron cross. I had brought with me a little stone from Cabrillo Beach that was in the shape of a whale. Of course a little prayer for loved ones, something real sappy.

Al and I were so blessed to have great weather today and no rain. The book talked about what a rough mountain track it was going to be and how trecherous it can be. They were correct. It was beautiful, field of heather with oak trees then small pines, then the rocks started chaining getting darker and sharper towards the top till all we were walking on all the way down from the mountain were slate. Rows and rows of vertical slabs of slate, plus lots of loose sharp pieces. I had putt hiking shoes on in the morning although I haven't worn them in 2 weeks cause it seemed like Tevas just might not be practical for those conditions. I think that was the best chives but boy now am I paying for it. Both ankles wrapped tonight and red as can be must like before when I ended up buying the Tevas. So I'm back to Tevas from now on.

So the first town coming down this west side was like coming into a different country. All the houses are dark gray stone with black slate steep roofs and some have really cool slate siding cut in different shapes. The stairs to the houses are just slabs of slate or stones but not cut in rectangles.

I'm getting tired writing but a few other cool things today, were herds of sheep we got to walk though right on our path and the amazing sound of hundreds of bells all with wooden clangers. Better than any wind chime.

We did come across a Pilgrim in need today. It's a long story but he was 72 from Norway and he had fallen and hit his head on the slate rocks, had been bleeding and was a lite dizzy. It ended up with several of us helping him down the mountain, Al carried the mans15kilo pack down plus his own for maybe 1.5Km and another person with a phone who spoke spanish called an ambulance. We got the guy to a road that crossed the Camino. The whole thing took about an hour but we all felt good about being around at the right time to help him.
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