A rocky goat path

Last night we had really good accommodation in the small, beautiful village of  Acebo. In fact the last two nights have been really good. Rabanal was equally beautiful and friendly. I have posted photographs of both villages on Facebook.  Well, if the villages are great it sure makes up for the walking which has been at its most difficult during the past couple of days. Today's  journey down the  mountain on a small, rocky,  goat path was not just hard but at times highly dangerous. With rocks slipping under foot you had to concentrate the whole time. This meant that you could only appreciate the views and the bird song when you stopped for a rest.  When we reached the village of Molinaseca we stopped for coffee and enjoyed the views This was a truly picturesque spot. It would have been nice to stay here and enjoy the mountain views and the river but we were heading for Ponferrada and had to move on. The rest of the walk to Ponferrada was very warm and frustrating. You could see Ponferrada in the distance but instead of getting closer it seemed to be moving away from us. Eventually we made it and are staying in a hostel just beside the famous  Knights Templars  Castle. During today's walk our paths crossed with some pilgrim friends, Phillip and Ann  from County Clare  and  Joe the American who we have been friends with since the very start of this  journey.  Joe had a complaint to make about the blog. He said we need to give information on how to make donations. I will look up sort codes etc tonight and put the information on tomorrow's blog. Having reached Ponferrada, Mary and I have now joined that group of people who have walked the entire Camino from St. Jean to Santiago, since we walked Ponferrada to Santiago last year. From now on we are retracing old steps in order to join that illustrious group who have done it all in one go. C.

Yesterday was for the most part very cold and windy, which kind of matched our mood, but on reaching the picture postcard village of Acebo, suddenly the sun came out and the rest of the day was glorious.  For the first time since 26 May we ate dinner outdoors.  Today has been sunny and hot, opportunity at last to use sun cream carried all the way from home.
We have given up on staying in albergue dormitories.  Much too up close and personal for our liking. We heard a story from a German lady today.  Last night in the Albergue where she was staying, a man lit up a cigarette in the toilet beside where she was sleeping (the fact that the door kept scraping on the floor is another matter) so she complained to the owner who threw them all out this morning without breakfast!
Anyway Ponferrada is very historic and all things Knights Templar if you are into that sort of thing.  I am more interested in trying to get my washing dried on the balcony, which according to a notice on the back of bedroom door, contravenes some sort of bye law.  Here's hoping we don't get thrown out!     M.