What a day! Man oh man this was a tough day. The toughest so far. But also one of the best. We really did feel we were knocking on heaven’s door today. Left the hotel in Rabanal at 7.45 this morning and arrived at the hotel in Ponferrada at 4.45 this afternoon. 9 hours, an hour off for stops, 8 hours to do 32km over difficult terrain and on a hot day.

From Rabanal it was a climb of 400 metres over 7km to Cruz de Ferro at 1505m. This was a wonderful climb in the cool of the morning through heather, broom, oaks and flowers. Not a cloud, not a breath of wind. We grew to hate that. We were in great spirits the views to the surrounding mountains and back down the valley were amazing. The path was rough and rocky but okay to walk up. We grew to hate that.

After a quick stop for coffee at an alpine village we soon arrived at Cruz de Ferro. This is such a humble monument but marks one of the most significant points on the way to Santiago. A simple iron cross stands atop a weathered pole, now surrounded by a huge pile of stones. The pole and the cross has become one of the abiding symbols of the pilgrim way of St James. The tradition is to bring a stone from your home, or somewhere earlier on your travels and deposit it here. At the same time to reconnect with the purpose of your journey. The stone is a token of love and blessing. We had each brought a stone from Raumati Beach and these are now on the pile. Probably already buried under hundreds of new stones.

A 7km walk across the tops to the true highest point of the Camino Frances at Alto Altar at 1,515m. It was now very hot with no shade from trees. There is an abandoned ruined village which has a population of 1. Manjarin hospitalero Tomas will bless pilgrims, play Gregorian chant, provide coffee. The sky was perfectly clear and we could see Ponferrada down in the valley about 20kms away. It is usually very misty up there so I think that was one reason we were enjoying the walk in the mountains so much.

Once we started to descend it became very slow and difficult. The track was possibly the worst we have had. Rough and rutted with lots of loose stones. Quite steep and walking poles were necessary. Barbara was worried about her knees so went very cautiously. It was 10km down to Molinaseca and it seemed to take hours. At one stage we managed to get off the track and use the road. Some of it was very pretty. In a little tree shaded valley we crisscrossed a stream and it could have been Wilton’s Bush.

At Molinaseca we had some orange juice and rested in the shade for a while. We were very hot and tired, it was 3pm and we still had 7km to go. The now concrete path followed a busy road through the outer suburbs of Ponferrada and was totally tedious. Out came the Ipods and with heads down just looking at the footpath in front of our feet we plodded on for nearly two hours.

We have now collapsed in our hotel room, not moving. The great medieval castle of the Templars is just 50 metres along the road and I can’t be bothered to move myself and go and have a look. It will have to wait till morning. Barbara meanwhile is fast asleep.

It was a great day, loved walking up in the clear air of the mountains and our knees and ankles came through a hard day unscathed.

Ipod tune today: Guns n’ Roses, Knockin’ on heaven’s door.

Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door.