Day 36

Rabanal del Camino to El Acebo - 17.5 kms
16 May 2019

When I was about six years old Mum and Dad took us on a trip to Mt Egmont (as Mt Taranaki was then called). I remember being so excited that I ran ahead of the rest of the family on one of the narrow mountain tracks - Dad had to chase after me; he later called me his mountain goat. Well today I felt like my six year old self again - just in a slightly older body - I was filled with excitement and joy as we walked the mountain paths on today's route. How do you describe an awesome day in words and photos - neither could tell or show how magic today's walk was. Beauty was was everywhere - in our surroundings and in the people around us.
From Rabanal del Camino we were straight into a climb which took us from 1150m to 1505m to Cruz de Ferro, we then dropped a wee way then back up to 1515m - this is the highest point on our whole Camino. From 1515m we dropped very quickly and steeply on an incredibly rocky and uneven path to El Acebo, a small mountain village at 1155m where we're staying tonight.
Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross) is a significant point on the Camino Francés. Traditionally pilgrims place a stone from home at the base of the cross - the stone is meant to represent something that is special to them, something that they have carried all the way from home. We both left wee greenstones that we had collected from a South Island west coast river - to us they held memories of the beauty of our families and home.
One incident marred our walk this morning but it too held beauty. We had not long left Cruz de Ferro when we came across a group of pilgrims. A lady had fallen and hit her head hard on a rock cutting her forehead above her eye quite seriously. Ella and Liam, the young Christchurch couple, were right behind her when it happened. When we came across them they had already asked a Spanish speaking pilgrim to ring for an ambulance. The care Ella and Liam and others were giving to the lady was so lovely to see - they were true Camino angels.
We had perfect weather for walking. The sun chased the clouds away but the temperature never got above 15 degrees. After yesterday's higher temperatures it was such a relief.
Today we got to talk to people from Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, the States, Ireland and Brazil and another New Zealander.
El Acebo is a beautiful old mountain village. We won't forget today or our stay here in a lovely casa rural - our room, which is above the cafe/bar, has a small square window with heavy internal shutters - the view out is over the distant mountains.

Our day was magical from start to finish

Foncebadón - the only village on our walk until we got to our destination.

Pappy's house in Foncebadón needs just a few repairs but in the interim he'll have lots of fresh air.

Pappy's door and window. 

At Cruz de Ferro

Even the beetles were beautiful

El Acebo behind us

Looking down on El Acebo

Still a steep decent into El Acebo

Where we're staying tonight in El Acebo

As soon as we arrived at our casa rural we had a very welcome hot drink

The view from our accommodation 

...and a wander around the quaint village

For Sale - phone number provided if you're keen to buy

Our host cooked us dinner and lit the fire to make the bar cozy.

The view from our window tonight - more magic