Day 32 - Rabanal to El Acebo - 18km

Today was a very difficult day, both emotionally and physically. I was expecting the emotional as today was the day I passed the Cruz de Ferro, but wasn’t anticipating the physical.

I decided to head off later this morning. It was only supposed to be around 16km and I had a reservation for a private room so I could take all the time I need. I left about 8am, the sun was still rising so I got to see the nice glow on the horizon.

We climbed the highest peak of the camino today and then came down from it. I decided to book in a town on the mountain so I wouldn’t have to go all the way to the bottom today, the down was only about 3.5kms for this day.

The first stop was Foncebadon which was about 5.5kms. It was a steady climb up and I was ready for some breakfast by then. After the break, the Cruz de Ferro was only 2.5kms away.

I had it all planned, I would sit in the same spot that Joerg and I sat, I would hang for about an hour and get someone to take my picture there. When I arrived, the church where we sat was under renovations with scaffolding and a fence blocking the passage. I just leaned up against the fence and looked at the spot. That was the start of the emotions. I was disappointed, but then I started thinking about my rocks. I brought 2 rocks, one from Utah from when Jörg and I first met, and the other was from Jörg’s windsurfing beach at Gordon’s Beach in Shirley.

I was holding onto the rocks and didn’t want to let go. I am not ready to let go. I felt like leaving the rocks was leaving Jörg behind instead of just sharing him. I know I have so many things of Jörgs, so logically, I am not leaving him behind, but it was how I was feeling. I finally went up to the iron cross and placed the rocks. As I was there, I could see that I could in fact go sit at the church as it wasn’t blocked from the Cruz de Ferro hill. So I went down and sat at the church in the exact same spot we sat. I thought, “Why not, if someone comes and tells me to move, then I will”. When sitting there, I was practically alone as everyone else was at a distance behind the fence, so it was a good time to just let go and have a good cry.

It was time to continue. I started off again and the next stop was in about another 2.5km at Manjarin. It is a village at the top with officially only one resident. There was a food truck there, so I stopped and had a pop and chocolate cake. It came just in time because the blisters on my toes were starting to hurt.

I took off the boots and socks while resting. It was noon and I was ready to go on, just 6.5km left, about 3km still up and the rest down. This is where it started to get difficult. Today was a real hiking day (not just walking). Mostly scrambling over rocks. This is usually the stuff I love, and was enjoying it for awhile, but my two toes really started to ache. They ached so much that I was limping. I stopped at the top of the mountain, took off the boots for a rest. The funny thing about my blisters, is that they don’t really hurt to touch when I take my boots off. I keep feeling them and they are ok, but after about 2kms, they were aching so much. There were a couple opportunities to take the road, instead of the path, so I did that to give my feet a break.

The way down was obviously more painful as the toes would hit the boot a bit. When I was about 1.5km away, I was in so much pain that I just had to sit down on the trail and take off the boot. I have been wearing 2 socks. Injinji liner and a thin hiking sock. On top of that, I had wrapped the toes this morning with “sleeves” and bandages. I really think that the pain comes from the heat, not the touch. Whenever I let them breathe and cool down, they don’t hurt anymore. I decided to keep the injinji sock off this time, and the last 1.5km was back to normal with only minimal pain. I really have to figure out a way to keep the feet cool. I have one more mountain after this (O Cebreiro), then I would feel comfortable trying different shoes, instead of the boots. I really wonder if I should just cut open some holes in the boots and see if that helps. I will think on that.

I am now relaxing at the bar. I had my shower, but no energy left to wash clothes. I have a wonderful small private room. Dinner is at 7pm, after that, I am off to bed. I need to make some decisions for tomorrow as I still have about 6kms of downhill. I will google some solutions to my blisters/toes/shoes problem.

TTYL

Throwback to 2009 from Julie’s Journal

Well, we did it. It was hard today but we arrived. The uphill was easy. We made it to the top and Cruz de Ferro in under 2 hours (it was 8km).

We spent about an hour there, both sitting quietly with our rocks. Joerg then went with the camera to place his rock and then I did. Afterwards we sat together quietly just watching the people.

It was a big moment. I had a few tears in my eyes. I thought about how far we have come (almost 600km). I thought about all my loved ones back home and I couldn’t help but think how blessed I am. I am so blessed to have Joerg in my life. He is such a wonderful man. I couldn’t help but think I don’t deserve him. I try not to think negative, but I can’t help it sometimes. Funny thing is that I know he sometimes feels the same and that could be further from the truth. In reality, I think we are perfect for each other. I sometimes think that all my life was to lead me to him. When we are in the cities, he would sometimes tell me when to cross the road and I would tease him that I managed to cross the road all my life. He would laugh and say “I don’t want to lose you”. That is how I feel. I don’t want to lose him. I want to spend my life with him. When we were in Astorga sitting with the group of people, the lady from Denmark asked me if after the camino I was going to move to Germany. I hesitated and then the subject changed so I didn’t have to answer. Later in the grocery store I was thinking about it and smiling. Joerg asked me about it and I said I was remembering the question and that of course the answer is “yes”. He then said “Canada is better.”Read more