ZUTTOZOOM

El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 23: El Acebo de San Miguel to Ponferrada

Michelle wrote:
29 Sept. Friday

This has to be the best breakfast
we enjoyed on the Camino.

We had a breakfast of granola, yogurt, ham, cheese, toast and orange juice at the albergue and left Acebo at about 8:00 am. Our friend Fuco was already walking up the trail from Ponferrada, so we had to hurry up and get going. We passed through another quaint mountain village, Riego de Ambros. The trail was not as difficult as the day before and we were grateful for that. We met up with Fuco and what a happy reunion we had! He is so full of love that he makes you feel like you are his favorite person in the world. Walking with him to Molinaseca was very pleasant and the time passed quickly. We had 2nd breakfast there then began our walk into Ponferrada. We apparently took the longer option by mistake. We should have looked at the map! That brings up a dilemma. Sometimes that camino route seems to be purposely taking the long way. So, is it wrong or cheating if you use the GPS to find a more direct route to your destination???

We decided to walk to Fuco’s car first and drop off the backpacks and change our shoes. What a relief to take off the boots and socks! We moved the car closer to the Castillo de los Templarios, then we visited the castle. It was very big, like I’d imagined a castle should be.

The original Templar castle was built in the 12th century and was much smaller. The Templars were disbanded 200 years later and the abandoned castle was enlarged by a duke. It was fun to walk around and try to imagine what life might have been like in a castle. It was fun to have my wish of seeing a castle finally fulfilled.

We left Ponferrada and drove to the remarkable site of an ancient Roman gold mine in sandstone cliffs that look a lot like Bryce Canyon in Utah. They made an aqueduct that carried water from higher mountains and used the water in the mining process. Those Romans were an ambitious lot and they sure got around Europe developing civilization as they went!

We drove 2 hours to A Coruna and picked Idoia up at her office (she works until 9:00 pm). She is beautiful and loving, too. She and Fuco had a Bienvenidos sign hanging in our room with peregrino pictures of Curtis and me. It was a fun welcome. We had a yummy Basque dinner that Idoia made, potatoes, green peas, eggs and a salad with olives, tomatoes, and queso fresco, and bread. Very simple, but delicious. Then we went to bed because we were all tired.

Curtis writes:
This day: arriving at Ponferrada, meeting up with a great friend, ending our trek for 2017... all of these were greatly yearned for during the painful, tiresome, hours of the previous 22 days. These feelings were strongest around 2:00pm, before arriving at our albergue for the day and after walking 10 miles or more.
But in the mornings, with a fresh breeze blowing, with singing birds and the sun just coming over the horizon, and before the feet problems became painful... thoughts of this day were cheerless, saddening and bleak.
No matter what our feelings were, despite our eager anticipation or melancholy dread, day 23 arrived right on schedule. And we arrived in Ponferrada.
While eating breakfast, we got a message from Fuco that he had started walking up the trail from Ponferrada. We calculated that he would meet us somewhere between the communities of Riego de Ambrós and Molinaseca. The breakfast at the alberque was THE BEST we had enjoyed on the Camino. But the anticipation of meeting up with my buddy quickly overrode any desires to linger over breakfast and we hit the trail, moving at a good pace (OK, it was practically all down hill). As before, we soon found ourselves hiking and conversing with other pilgrims from some other part of the world. On this morning we hiked with pilgrims whose native language was Portuguese.

Fork in the road in Riego de Ambrós, looking over the shoulder of another pilgrim.
While the flowers on the balcony on the street to the left look interesting, our path is DOWN HILL to the right.

Click on this text to see Riego de Ambros in Google Maps.

El Camino de Santiago crosses the road LE-142 about 1/3 of the way between Riego de Ambrós and Molinaseca. As we were approaching the road I saw Fuco coming up the trail towards us. I yelled his name and ran to a great abrazo.

Los Tres Amigos
Here is where we met Fuco.

Fuco took Michelle's pack for this last section.

Molinaseca with Ponferrada beyond

About Molinaseca: I found it to be a charming town. But maybe that's because of the phenomena that most of the towns we saw in the morning were interesting and the towns we went through in the afternoon - well, not so much. In retrospect, it could be that the nicer homes in Molinaseca were inhabited by people who commuted to Ponferrada for work, prefering the small town ambiance over the city.

Community gardens in Molinaseca

The river front in Molinaseca was well developed, with trees and lawns.

Main pilgrim thoroughfare of Molinaseca

Approaching Ponferrada

About 20 minutes before this picture was taken, I made the decision to follow the yellow arrow indicating the path of the Camino rather than retrace Fuco's path to his parked car. Sometimes the yellow arrows don't take you in the most direct path. The purist in me wants to stick to the path; tired feet suggest otherwise. Now I regret that we did not follow my friends suggestion to walk straight to his car.

Crossing into Ponferrada

After walking through the industrial outskirts of Ponferrada, we crossed Rio Bierzo over this pedestrian bridge that originated in the XVI century. We stopped for a refresco in a bar in the first building you can see on the other side of the bridge. Then, a little refreshed, we continued a 1/2 km up the hill and to the right of where the paved bridge ends (in the picture above) to where Fuco had parked his car.

Without change there can be no butterflies

This mural was what we saw as we arrived at Fuco's car. It's an appropriate statement for the end of our trek. In fact, it belongs at the beginning of the trek.

Does the catepillar know that it's destiny is to leave it's slow body and fly freely from flower to flower? Consider this from a website about butterflies:

"The final stage of a butterfly is most wondrous! Scientists still struggle to understand all the details of this metamorphosis. The word metamorphosis comes for the Greek, to transform. And that’s exactly what happens inside the chrysalis. The caterpillar liquefies its structure and tissues changing into that of a butterfly. This transformation takes up to two weeks to complete, and then, out of the chrysalis emerges a beautiful butterfly!" https://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk

I wonder about the transformation asked of us as we leave the values of the world behind to focus on what we want to become eternally. Historically the consequence of a pilgrimage to Santiago has been a changed life. For me too. In particular, the terrain covered this year was appropriate for long periods of introspection. I've learned about myself and I've learned about Michelle. The first thing that comes to mind about me is that I'm not as tough as I tend to think I am. The first thing that comes to mind about Michelle is that she can lock in to an unpleasant task and focus on getting it done, and it's best not to interrupt or attempt to disuade her from her goal when she is in that mode. She's tougher than you think. As a child I went to an international school. Many of my friends were from outside of the USA. I knew then, and I've had it reconfirmed as an adult, that there are people all over the world that think like me in many ways.

These are reflections on superficial characteristics. Twenty three days of hiking has likely changed us in ways we don't recognize yet. Twenty three days from today, we start hiking in Ponferrada again (June 5th). (What a coincidence that today is the day I finish writing the story of last years' hike.) The guy who hiked from Logroño to Ponferrada in 2017 is different from the guy who hiked from St. Jean Pied de Port to Logroño in 2016. And the guy who will walk from Ponferrada to Finisterre will be even more different. What changes will come during the 18 days and 184 miles between June 5th and June 22nd?