Rabanal to Ponferrada

Right now, as of 9am, It is dumping buckets of sideways blowing rain. Lightning, thunder, howling winds, all the things that make up a beautiful storm in the mountains. I woke up several times last night to rain hitting the roof and pouring off into the courtyard. With outdoor window blinds smacking against the building, I prayed. I asked God to end this torrential storm or at least lighten it up if he intended me to hike up and down a slippery mountain trail in the morning. After my prayer, I thought I heard it stop, so I peacefully drifted back to sleep in anticipation to walk to the iron cross when the alarm went off at 6:30. No such luck and it was even worse when I awoke. Feeling defeated and upset, Holly and I both decided we weren’t hiking up and down a mountain in blowing rain and lightning. Damn. We have 10 days left. Do we chance getting hurt just to lay our stones at the symbolic iron cross and to say we weathered a torrential storm while pounding our chests in victory, um no. Who cares? We may be competitive Americans, but not dumb Americans 😂 We never set out on this journey to prove anything to anyone. I can safely and simply leave my stones (burdens) at the church in Ponferrada today when the taxi drops us off. I want to finish this in Santiago, not in Rabanal or in a hospital. It’s more important for me to walk the last 10 days than screw up the next 10 by making a bad decision today. There is no one I know (except maybe Nathalie!) who would do this 31km day in an unrelenting storm. I want to be a bad ass, really I do, but I know better, I know my abilities, and I know this section of the trail. This 31km is difficult on a good day. I can only imagine the river forming on the trail right now and those who decided to chance it, slipping and falling in it. The taxis are busy today, ours won’t come until 12:30, so I know we are 2 of many opting to skip it. I need to forgive myself for this choice. While I feel it was a smart choice, I also feel like I failed a test. But, I also need to remember God gave me a brain. In addition, I’m not sure how good my health insurance is here in Spain and I don’t want to find out 😂. I just heard a helicopter fly over, my only guess for a chopper to be flying in this remote area is to do a rescue mission. Praying for whoever it is needing help and whoever felt they HAD to do this for their ego and the iron cross. We are strong women, but we aren’t ego-based women. We need to function when we get home.
Tomorrow will be better, and according to the weather app, it’ll be way better in the 10 days to come. I’ll add photos of Ponferrada when we get there, but for now all I have is a video from the covered deck of our albergue with the rain pouring off the roof…and this was taken when it was “lighter”. God bless those on the trail that they arrive safely and unharmed.🙏🏻

Ultreia.🩷Lue lisää