Today we were up sooooo early. We walked under the Milky Way from 4:30-5:30 am before it started getting light and the stars went away until tonight. It was so beautiful to be under the stars with the headlamp off, all alone on the Camino while everyone else slept in their albergues.
At 5:30am we passed through Santa Catalina de la Somoza again (after yesterday’s backwards portal trip) and people were heading out from the albergue at that time, also in the dark. The mother-daughter team with the matching red backpacks that we first saw in Hospital de Órbigo were walking out (and they are on Skype right now in the Foncebadon albergue). Maybe one day we will walk together.
Here’s our day in pictures:
The magical Tienda Tea and Coffee in El Ganso, where we arrived at 7:30am after sleeping for half an hour on the bench in front of the church because we were so tired. She gave us wifi and cafe con leche and hard boiled eggs and a shady place to rest and blog and a sunny place to dry our clothes. We stayed until 10:30am (see blog post: Portals).
Sofia eating sandia at a donativo, a father son team with a van full of coolers that hangs out at the fork between Rabanal del Camino and Rabanal Viejo. Donativos are like small refuges for pilgrims–usually found on long stretches of Camino–oases!
The road to Rabanal del Camino.
Crosses on the fence in the woods. 
After having a beer in Rabanal del Camino to wait out the thunderstorm, we decided it had passed and went on up the mountain to Foncebadón. We walked with thunder and lightning flashing in the hills behind us as the storm kept moving away and we walked the opposite direction to blue skies. Finally the dry red dirt gave way to lush vegetation and ferns, but since we had put all our things in dry bags there are very few photos. I finally dug my phone out of the bottom of my backpack before missing the whole amazing trek.
