Foncebadon to Ponferrada - part one

I'm growing increasingly concerned that I'm in the Matrix and this is all AI generated. Which wouldn't be so bad, I like laying down and leather jackets.

The 20km from Foncebadon to Molinaseca, mountains carpeted in wildflowers, might be the prettiest stage yet. Just incredible, not a single photo does it justice. Unfortunately Molinaseca to Ponferrada was the pits, and the currency my body runs on appears to be beauty because it was on fumes those last 7km.

At one point, just because it felt good to say, I squeaked "help" a few times. Nobody did but I got there in the end. 500m away from the albergue I walked past a bar filled with copies of exactly the same fat Spanish man in his 70s and one of them closest to the window called out holaaaa guapaaaa which I've since confirmed is a cat call, and I was almost immediately beeped at by an appreciative van. Thank you sirs! Choke.

But back to Foncebadon. I hung around to watch the sunrise given the town is apparently known for it and the elevation profile bears it out - I won't be able to get meaningfully higher early enough to beat this as the best spot. I slept in, packed up in the dawn, and ordered a coffee to cup in my hands as I climbed up on a hill of ruins to see it come up. I've seen the sunrise almost every day here, but it doesn't get old, and this was worth the wait.

Today is a wonderfully spaced walk, with a highlight of the whole Camino coming a few kilometres in with the Cruce de Ferro (Iron Cross) at which thousands before me have left stones carried from their homelands. Originally, apparently, you carried one of a size correlating to your sins, but now I think JC is ok with travelling light so I brought a pebble. It's more about the symbolisism of carrying a weight you then leave behind on the path. It got a bit gulpy. It came earlier than I was ready for but that's probably one of the lessons isn't it. I arrived at the cross with an American woman I've actually grown fond of, and she said she took some photos of me up there in the early light, when I get them you'll see them.Read more