The Lady from Atlanta had skipped this part along with many who were in the know last time. They had caught a taxi into Molinaseca or Ponferrada. Not me. I have walked it twice before and quite frankly the second time I walked it with great naivety as we had stopped half way down the first time and lolled about in the albergue and pool attached to the hotel at El Aceba. The thing is this down to Molinaseca is, in my opinion, the worst down on the whole camino. Not just because it is a neverending supply of sharp edges and places to fall but, because in the last week the addition of rain required two helicopters to air lift two people out who had fallen.

Given the fragility of my foot and my knee and, quite frankly the rest of me, and knowing that this particular descent had brought me to a halt last time after straining everything I decided not to do it. This is despite the fact that it wasn’t until reaching Triacastela almost 100km later that I found I could no longer move my left leg due to a nerve pinching so sharply that I literally had to stop on the trail. We had caught a taxi for the first time in two caminos that day into sarria to the physiotherapist and tears rolled down my cheeks. Don’t worry we walked out of there and on to Barbarela but this time no!

This time I caught the taxi before the pain! Smart move hey. The fact that I was also still fighting off a cold of some sort also contributed to this decision.

So I started to head up the hill in the dark with the rest of the team from Rabanal. It was cold and it was damp with rain sneaking in and out.

I slowly crept up the mountain to Foncebadon as the sun rose in between showers. Many of the people I had met passed me I said goodbye or see you in Ponferrada. Well let’s face it everyone passed me!

The lovely Taiwanese couple known now as “Not Vincent” and Francine, the Italian and Spanish friends from Rabanal and a nice Canadian girl dressed in shorts and pretending it was a mild day. They all passed me. BTW I was freezing!

I stopped for breakfast at a great cafe and had avocado on toast and it was spectacular. A rare treat in these parts. I was eating while an impromptu performance of flamenco guitar was played by the barman and some nice background music played by an Englishman.

I headed out again as the rain came and went and I spotted some good looking cows and said hello.

It wasn’t too far from breakfast when the Iron Cross appeared and I felt a touch of emotion as it is where pilgrims are supposed to leave a stone and say a prayer or leave their burdens behind. It was really a special milestone on the camino and I was glad I’d pushed through the cold and rain and fought the illness to get there.

I had actually contacted a taxi driver the day earlier to arrange a vague pickup time and after saying my peace and leaving my stone I headed on to Manjadin which was the start of the treacherous descent. I messaged the taxi driver that I was on my way and he drove up from Molinaseca to meet me.

So the trip down the mountain was actually quite relaxing this time. The driver even played classical music as we passed the multitude of wet pilgrims heading into and out of Molinaseca and into Ponferrada.

I caught up with the lady from Atlanta for dinner and spotted a knight from the castle on the way home.

One of the women from the US who had eaten pizza with us in Burgos was at my albergue and I tried to help her with her plan to jump forward to meet her son. Unfortunately I don’t think I was much help. I’d never used all this public transport before as we had walked every step.

I also tried to plan my own jump forward as I still wasn’t 100 percent and also wanted to visit Casa Susi at Trabadelo as some friends had recommended it and I was keen to see the results as some fund raising had been done in Australia for a failing roof. Anyway they were going to be closed the night I wanted to visit so I planned to jump on a bus tomorrow to jump ahead again. It was also a way of resting part day to give myself some recovery time. Anyway early to bed in readiness for the morrow.

Buenas noches.