Day 22 - Possessed by the true spirit of the Camino

It was quite cool when we left, and it only got colder as we headed upwards towards Cruz de Hierro,  the highest point in the walk. On previous days any morning haze had cleared after about an hour to result in a clear sunny day, but this time it got thicker as we went. The surroundings were changing as well, we were leaving the cultivated lower lands for more natural territory. It wasn't a difficult climb as such, just a long upwards walk, with not much in the way of proper rest stops along the way, so coffees were few and far between.

After Cruz de Hierro the downward trek began, the haze cleared revealing another warm day. The trail followed the road a lot of the way. K decided the more solid road surface was easier on her feet than the marked path, while M decided that deviation onto easier terrain was not in line with the true spirit of the Camino and stuck to the rocky trail.

By the time we reached the quite modern looking town of El Acebo at around the 20km mark we were more than ready for a rest and a drink, and it was at this point that K decided she would give her feet a break and take a taxi to the destination town, while M, embued with the true spirit of the Camino, carried on by foot.

From El Acebo the trail was quite steep and also quite rocky, passing through some nice looking villages along the way. M nimbly negotiated the downward path for the remaining 5km, leaving all the other less agile pilgrims behind. One of the best manoeuvres of the day was when he had to leap up onto the edge of the path and scramble over rocks to avoid those pesky French, who had decided that the best place to stop a group of 10 people in order to inconvenience others the most would be to plonk themselves in the middle of the path (of course, such blatant disregard for others is not in line with the true spirit of the Camino). At the end of this impromptu parkour demonstration he could hear exclamations of "sacre bleu!" in his wake.

The descent completed, M entered Molinaseca, a lovely town with an ancient bridge over a peaceful looking river. After such an athletic descent M was looking forward to basking in the inevitable adoration of K as he recounted his adventures of the day, instead K was asleep and quite annoyed because his arrival had woken her up. Internally, M questioned K's commitment to the true spirit of the Camino, but kept his reservations to himself, for he was still hopeful that K would eventually come to enjoy the same combination of physical exertion, religious enlightenment, and internal reflection that he had experienced on this momentous day.

Dinner was very enjoyable at a restaurant on the banks of the river just by the bridge, once again we took advantage of the three course pilgrims' meal, M was especially taken by the first course selection, ultimately settling on the chicken nuggets, which of course ended up being totally devoid of any chicken based content from what he could tell, fortunately the meal was rescued by the baked lamb which was very nice indeed.

We chatted to a Canadian couple and an Australian man, all of whom thought that the descent from El Acebo had been quite difficult. M nodded silently in agreement, though in reality he thought their bodies were experiencing weakness as they had failed to embrace the true spirit of the Camino in the way that he himself had been able to.