Day 26 - Saturday, 17th May, 2014 - 17.0 km
[Sleeping in luxury in a hostel (rather than the dormitory below)]
[Dropping down off the hills to Molinaseca]
[A cottage that would give my builder a heart attack!]
[Molinaseca - Church]
[Molinaseca - Bridge]
[Molinaseca breakfast]
[Eila outside a hotel where she stayed with "Walks in Spain" - strange sheep intestine sculpture]
[Michael and Eila on path to Molinaseca]
[Eila - Ponferrada Municipal Alburgue bunks]
We have arrived at the big Municipal Hostel at Ponferrada, arriving just before it opened at 2pm. We thought we might walk on, but in the heat of the day it seemed to be unwise so long as we promised to get up early tomorrow. We were told when we booked in, that they would open they doors at 6:30 and that we would have to be out by 7:30am tomorrow.
I am sitting outside in the garden outside the hostel and watching people arriving and slowly going about their washing chores. Pilgrims are well organised, but look very tired. Unfortunately they are playing a sort of Spanish "The Corrs" meets "The Nolan Sisters" on repeat through a PA system that has speakers all around the garden, which is quite awful!
We set off from El Acebo this morning having rented a three room last night, which was 12 Euros instead of 7 Euros for the dormitory. It seemed a 'no brainer'. Micheal needed a good nights sleep to rest his tendon. We felt we needed a 'lie in' to make full use of having sheets on a bed without the need to unpack our own - a luxury! Michael seems to have recovered a bit. We were worried that he might have done to lasting injury to himself, which would need us all to alter our plans for getting to Santiago.
[Ponferrada Municipal Alburgue]
[Dutch couple on their honeymoon - El Acebo]
Yesterday we spoke to a Dutch couple who were making the Camino from their home in Holland. The man said that it was in fact their honeymoon as they only got married last year. I said that "You obviously know how to show a lady a good time!" They laughed but explained that they had been planning it for a long time and it seemed their marriage was only incidental to their Camino plans, but he did say "Our friends did say that perhaps we should have made the Camino before getting married!"
[Ponferrada Municipal Alburgue]
The is precious little privacy in the dormitory life at the Alburgues. As I was passing the showers to get into the dormitory the other evening I heard Eila's voice saying "Rupes, is that you?" She then said that she had forgotten her towel, which was in her pack in the dormitory and had just washed all her clothes in the shower by treading on them in the time honoured pilgrim way!
Buen Camino.
