Left early(sounds familiar now) and climbed to a town called Foncebadon, mostly a dirt street and a few rickety houses, I found a shack that sold me early morning coffee which was good as high in the mountains, its cold this early in the morning.

      Sitting at the table, taking this magic and enjoying a coffee at sunrise, 2 miles to the Cruz
The Cruz de Fero, or the Iron Cross, this is maybe the simplest of places on the Camino, but the most impressive of places along the Way of St James. A long Oak post with an iron cross on the top. The original cross was removed in 1976 to protect it, and is in the museum of Astorga.the exact origins of this cross is unknown, it may have been a Roman sign, or an altar dedicated to the Roman god Merkur, the patron of travellers. One thing is certain, pilgrims have been laying stones here for centuries.
One is to bring a stone from home, and lay it at this spot as a way of leaving, or casting off a burdon that you want to relieve yourself of. You have to bring and carry from home, along the Way, a stone that represents your burdon.
There is a prayer that goes with the Cruz de Fero ceremony that is as follows,
"Lord, may this stone, a symbol of my efforts on the pilgrimage that I lay at the foot of the cross of the saviour,one day, weight the balance in my favor of my good deeds when the deeds of my life are judged. Let it be so"
For many pilgrims, the stone is a symbolic laying down of a burdon and it can be a very emotional event for them.
I said the prayer out loud, and laid my stone.

The Camino gave me a new cap to wear here. it was attached to the Cruz, with an invitation to take it if you needed it. (3 years later on,and I still wear that cap)
Talking with a Spanish student of the Camino, he says that the Camino is symbolically divided into three sections. The first is from St Jean to Burgos and is the purifying, or cleansing of the spirit. The second is from Burgos to the Mountains of Leon and the Cruz, this is the dying, or death of the old spirit or soul, the third is from the Cruz to Santiago de Compostela, and is the resurrection or rebirth of the new soul. It's funny how the terrain depicts this in many ways, the beauty of the Pyrenness, and hell of the Meseta and all that dry heat and the baron plains, now we go into the green mountains and valleys, and supposedly beautiful scenery from tomorrow on in to Santiago.
Hiking the mountains alone was peaceful and quiet, the foliage was blooming everywhere, and the bees were busy busy, I just walked and listened, to my foot steps and the nature, loved it.

                             how can you NOT be awed by this site today along the Way

this was a good day climbing, but the way down was treacherous, steep, rocky and loose.. As I neared the bottom close to lunch time, I went through some picturesque tiny villages, but kept going as I heard that Molinaseca at the river was beautiful, as it turns out, I was not disappointed.

this is the village of El Acebo, half way down.

When I arrived in Molinaseca, it was a little paradise. I was taking this picture of the bridge over the river Meruelo, when I heard my name, on the other side was Tino and his daughters from the Canary Islands, the loveliest of people, I had not seen them in 5 days, then there was Matt and Jason, it was good to catch up with these guys again.

We spent an hour or two lounging in the shade and talking, then some fool challenged us to swim in the river. Tinos daughter went in, so the guys were shamed into following. I slowly inched my way in, and as I was ready to plunge, I heard someone shout "jump Pat, jump in" . I looked up on the bridge and there was Franchescas Mom again, where does she get lost to all the time, she was way ahead of me yesterday on her bicycle. The cold was so intense, my broken toe ached for 20 minutes after, and that was no fun. Had lunch and moved on.

Before the plunge, and Tino and I resting under a tree while the rest shopped

From here it was 8 k into Ponteferada, a non description town where we stayed the night.
I helped Tinos daughter cook an Italian pasta meal in the communal kitchen, which we all ate outside as it was so hot. My body has started to tell me I'm pushing too hard again to make up another day, so I will back it down ,,,,,again, but when we arrived, I bought a tin of sardines in olive oil, ate them straight up, for the protein and omegas, then ate half a water melon and banana. Had our meal and went to bed. Tomorrow isn't long, about 24 k, and I am on track anyway to meet my new deadline for Santiago, so I can make Finistere an my birthday. Onwards and upwards tomorrow. Finish on my 64th birthday, what a way to finish.