Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca

When you share communal bathrooms with your fellow pilgrims, many of which are 50-70 year old men, you really get treated to the complete symphony of the human bowel movement.

I was reminded of this fact this morning, when, as I was innocently and sweetly tending to my morning ablutions, I became the unwilling auditory audience to a passionate performance. It even included an interlude! A sophisticated affair, it took a multi sensorial approach, communicating not only via sound, but also smell!! An electrifying way to start the day, for him and I both, I assume.

While an auspicious start, the day that followed was near perfect. A pearler. The sun rose, the path was woody, it gently rose, bringing vistas and birdsong, and, eventually, sun. Exactly the kind of hike I love, we slowly gained 1200m of elevation, but gradually enough that it never felt strenuous. The path was shady with dappled light, occasionally breaking into warm pools of sun. A slight breeze. Views for days.

Today's stage brings you to the Camino checkpoint of the Important Rock Pile (not it's official name, must note), where pilgrims deposit the Special Rock they have brought with them from home. Meant to symbolise the journey, the 'weight' we bear, and the opportunity to physically and spiritually put it down. In a hilarious twist, I did not have my rock on my person, as I had opted to get my bag ferried ahead for me today in hopes of lessening the load downhill on my shin. Instead, I quickly surveyed the ground immediately in front of the mound and scooped one up that looked like mine.

Planning on just stepping up and plonking it down, I found myself first doing a slow circle of the pile, taking in the rocks, notes, photos, ornaments, talismans, and other various items that pilgrim after pilgrim, year after year, have deposited there. What came next was as surprising to me as it may be to you, but I quickly found myself having a good sob. Suddenly gasping for breath, chin trembling, lips bravely attempting to stay firmly pressed together. The place was dripping with a thick and visceral sense of humanity. The thousands of people that have passed through; the endless hopes, fears, losses, heartbreaks, and challenges they've faced.

I knew what my rock held, I knew I had been carrying it a long long time, and I knew I would carry it further still. But today, here, I would add a small piece of it to the pyre.

Getting my breathing under control and wiping my beady eyes, I continued. Across the top, I was rewarded with a litany of treats. A dog! A stamp! A plate of avocado toast! A donkey!! I'd wandered into Narnia. No ice queen though, just a strange lady from Brazil.

I caught up with, and smoothly passed, my Italian friends from the night before. They had started 2 hours before me. I took great satisfaction in telling them to eat my dust.

The descent was steep, relentless, and difficult terrain. Either large chunks of gravel that liked to roll beneath your feet, or extremely uneven ridges of shale poking up through the earth. As such, it was slow going, but I had scratched a donkey's nose, nothing was taking the shine off today.

Eventually, Molinaseca appeared. A beautiful tiny town with a beautiful tiny river. After getting situated at my albergue (another dog !!!) I took myself to walk a way upstream, and sat myself in the river bed for an hour or so, in my Naiad era, letting the cold water ease my very hardworking shins.Read more