Chapter 27: Foncebadone to Ponferrada; the Iron Cross; Ponferrada to Villafrancea Del Bierzo

Morning family! So much has happened since the last time I posted!

We started our walk our of Villafranca with the luxury of avocado toast. This was a serious treat, as “western” breakfasts like this one have been hard to come by.

This morning we had a 2 hour hike to the Iron Cross, one of the must-see parts of the Camino. The cross was erected at the highest elevation along the French Camino, and dates back to the 14th century. Pilgrims were asked to bring a rock from their home and leave it at the base of the cross to symbolize their leaving of a burden or grief. Now it’s used as a memorial site for those walking the Camino – lots of people leave rocks with names on them, or pictures of loved ones. Some write things like stressors or addictions on their rocks and leave them behind, symbolizing leaving behind things they’ve healed from in life. And some people just write a nice message with intent, and leave there. All in all, it’s a really beautiful gesture, and Blake and I brought rocks from Canada to leave at the cross.

It was really something to watch the pilgrims come up, leave their rock, have a heartfelt moment and walk on. At the top of the cross there’s an assortment of objects that were obviously meaningful to those who left them behind… Blake and I absolutely teared up leaving behind the rocks we brought. We snapped a couple pictures and walked in.

Because we were at the highest elevation along the Camino the views were outstanding. Absolutely incredible…. My photos don’t do it justice, but check out those views. The walk itself was gruelling and almost entirely downhill after km 8. I actually had to call a cab to get down the steepest part of the hill …. Blake is a mountain goat and just kept walking. Either way, we ended by in a Albergue by 6, and went for dinner and ice cream with….GARY! Who we’ve managed to catch up with a third time!!! That cat just keeps coming back!

The next morning we were off bright eyed and bushy tailed. Ponferrada was a larger sized town, so there was loads to look at as we walked out of the mini city.

It was a reasonably easy walking day (‘only’ 25 km), and we strolled along at pace that was almost too fast… and ended up checking into our Albergue as soon as they opened at 3PM. I’ll post of few noteworthy pictures from the walk.

Our Albergue was beautiful – one of the nicer ones we’ve stayed in. It hard a large courtyard with lots of seating, an Adorable doggie and drink service! Gary, Blake and myself spent some time and a few bottles of wine with another group of about 8 pilgrims travelling together, and ended up going out for a he communal meal together… so much fun. We needed to having such a great time that we barley made it back to our Albergue before curfew … whoops!

And that’s a wrap! More updates to come, but wish us well on the last week of our journey! Love you and and miss you! Xoxox Blake and Becky.