One of the best days walking where we go through the highest part of the Camino at nearly 5000 feet above sea level. I had sent my rucksack on by the collection service which operate along the whole route. We had been warned that the uphill and downhill were very strenuous and the weather is 30degrees. However it was all very manageable. And Roger scoffed at my little day pack. He's determined to carry his rucksackall the way. It's a man thing. The high point of the walk is an Iron Cross where pilgrims leave a stone - often brought from home - to leave their burdens and think again about their reasons for doing the Camino. However it's become a busy place with not much space for reflection and the local tour buses now come up and hoards descend. We are about the get to the busy part of the walk where people join to do the last 100 kms or so which is enough to earn your Compostella.
So as you will see from the photo we are wearing hats and factor 30 and being out from 8 in the morning until mid afternoon is making us look a bit weather beaten. Tonight we are in Molinaseca which is a village more than a town with a lovely old Roman bridge which Roger has drawn and I will use some of his sketches soon. We had a meal outside tonight by the rive and tried to plan out the last part of the walk when we move into Galicia which is supposed to have a more Celtic feel . The guidebooks say Galicia has rejected a lot of consumer culture but it hasn't been evident anywhere.....even in the big cities you don't see a Starbucks, Calvin Klein or a MAcDonalds. Spain is trying hard to preserve its individuality. Bueno. However the music is another thing...I'm writing this listening to total eclipse of the heart but mercifully not on pan pipes. And Martin that is NOT a disco track.