The best day yet.

I left at 5:50am and was the first pilgrim to leave the village and head up into the mountains in the dark. I was a little nervous with my over-active imagination thinking about wild boars, wolves and wild dogs that could be living in the mountains! The full moon only made the setting more dramatic! I arrived at the iron cross and there were some great photo opportunities with the moon in the background and the silhouette created from the rising sun. I was alone for a few minutes before some fellow pilgrims caught up.

Me at the Cruz de Ferro, early morning

An Inuksuk made by Chantal from Canada

The moon setting

Today I climbed to 1515m then the rest of the day was through the mountains then descending the other side. The track was sprinkled with bright pink heather flowers as well as pretty purple, yellow, white and pink wildflowers (I wish I knew my flowers!) I had a lovely view of snowy mountains and lush green valleys. The alpine towns I walked through looked like ghost towns with old stone bricks, windows boarded up and trees growing inside, reminiscent of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but this just added to the charm of it all. I walked alone and then with camino friends and was overcome with the beauty of the day. Ponferrada was quite a big town with a 12th century Knights Templar castle, it looked spectacular from the outside but I didn’t make it inside because I bumped into Andreas and Olek who I hadn’t seen for a few weeks and we exchanged camino stories over vino tinto. It was a brilliant day.

Sunrise behind the Cruz de Ferro

Castillo de los Templarios, Ponferrada