Easy uphill - now at Rabanal del Camino

We left Astorga at about 8 as usual, but in very cool air - I don’t know what temperature but it made my hands ache for a while, otherwise lovely. (I have checked the temperature for leaving here tomorrow morning and at 8 it will be 4° - definitely a day for layers)...anyway, today was a day that looked pretty uphill, but my memory was that it wasn’t too bad, and fortunately that was correct - we did gain altitude, but so gradually that you barely noticed you were going up...we gained almost 300 metres, but it wasn’t painful, and we walked through just lovely countryside. We are suddenly amongst the mountains, and the views are so different...trees are mostly pines and oak, but not tall forests. And little villages every now and then. It did feel hot after walking a few hours, and you are always very happy to arrive at the destination..the distance today was about 20.5 kms, which was amazingly less than the 22 they told us!

So we are here, washed and fresh and cooling off - though, now that we are no longer walking I realise it is not very hot at all, and am about to go and get my fleece to put on...as it feels cool even at 3 pm! Tomorrow is the day many people worry about as we ascend again to 1500 metres, the highest point on the Camino, including the Pyrenees!! But again, I think it is fairly gradual, maybe not as painless as today, but ok, and the hard part is the descent...continuous downhill on uneven loose stones...this time we are stopping for the night half way down the descent, which will be bliss! So it will be about 15 kms tomorrow, and then another 15 on to Ponferrada the next day. All good...Jessica from Boston has just walked in, so we will prob see her for dinner unless she has other plans (already eaten, or bought food to eat)...others are here but staying in other places, and probably, like us, aren’t too keen on venturing out again to find people...this is a small village, so not a huge need to explore...feels like kindle time!Read more