Saturday, September 13, 2014 – Rabanal del Camino to El Acebo

We ate breakfast at Hostería a Cruz del Ferro: 5€ each for toast with ham and cheese slices and homemade apple and apricot butter; orange juice; coffee/hot chocolate; platter of fruit (Don had a banana; MT took a peach for later). We paid our bill for room and breakfast and tried to buy an apple for Don (lady said that was no charge), but did buy a wedge of cheese (2.20€) for leftover toast she said we could take. We departed at 8:15 am.

The rough track crisscrossed the asphalt road toward Monte Teleno.

‏‎8:45 AM – After Rabanal del Camino: MT passing bench on path up into tree-covered hills.

‏‎8:45 AM – After Rabanal del Camino: trees and mountains.

‏‎9:01 AM – After Rabanal del Camino: MT and other pilgrims on rocky path.

‏‎9:02 AM – After Rabanal del Camino: MT and different pilgrims on rocky path.

‏‎9:10 AM – After Rabanal del Camino: white rocks on path (MT thought they were marble [Don brought back some small ones, and a friend with a PhD in geology said they were marble]).

‏‎9:16 AM – After Rabanal del Camino: MT where rocky path gave way to just dirt path, but with enough rocks for someone to make an arrow; some flat grey rocks (slate or shale?) on right.

‏‎9:17 AM – After Rabanal del Camino: MT on rocky path again (1 min later).

‏‎9:23 AM – After Rabanal del Camino: MT on path with layered grey rocks (slate or shale?).

‏‎9:25 AM – After Rabanal del Camino: layered grey rocks (slate or shale?) uphill next to path.

9:38 AM – Near Foncebadón: bicycle and arrows painted on asphalt road (to go left or straight?).

We arrived in Foncebadón (pop 8) around 9:40 am.

Foncebadón is the last village of the Maragatería and  is one of the most famous landmarks in the history of the Camino. The earliest documentation of the town was from the Council of Monte Irago* in 946, in which the Bishop of Astorga at the request of King Ramiro II of León gathered all the abbots, priests, and deacons of the diocese, and they tried to solve the problem of constant robberies and murders that were committed on the Camino route. On this mountain, lurking bandits took advantage of the rugged terrain and the usual bad weather from October to April, with a lot of heavy fog and snow.

During the Camino’s height in the 12th century, Foncebadón had its own pilgrim hospital, hospice, and church built by the hermit Guacelmo (late 11th-12th century), the remains of which we passed on our way out of town. The 11th-century church later became an abbey. The town was devastated during the War of Independence (1808-1814) and had to be rebuilt. In the late 19th century, construction of railways and new roads (especially through the nearby Puerto de Manzanal) led to the town’s decline. In the 1960s and 1970s, many of the town’s residents migrated to nearby cities in search of employment. By the 1990s, there were only 2 people, a mother and son, living among the ruins. Today most of the houses are abandoned, but this semi-abandoned village is now stirring back to life with the reawakening of the Camino. The new influx of travelers has inspired entrepreneurs to buy and renovate some of the most emblematic buildings, such as the church and the albergue.

As with other pueblo-calles (road towns) in the area, the street running through the town is called Calle Real.

*The council’s Latin documents say it took place “apud Montem Iracensem” [at, by, or near Mount Irago]; hence it is known by that name (although it is sometimes called the Concillo de Astorga [Council of Astorga]). Many sources claim that it took place in Foncebadón and specifically in the monastery there. The problem with this is that the hermit Guacelmo did not establish the church (which later became a monastery) in Foncebadón until the late 11th or early 12th century. According to other sources, this council may have taken place in Rabanal del Camino or in the Monasterio de Santa María de Tabladillo. During that council, that monastery received a written privilege from King Ramiro II, which said the site of the monastery was “justa rivulam quem vocant Tablatello sub Monte Irago, in confinio Vergidense,” which the Spanish translate as “debajo del monte Irago, junto al arroyo llamado Tablatello, en el confin del Bierzo” [below Monte Irago, next to the arroyo called Tablatello, in the confines of El Bierzo]. A place with the name Tabladillo is preserved near El Acebo, between Foncebadón and Ponferrada, but without a monastery. Other sources believe the site of the council was the Monasterio de Compludo, also "debajo de Monte Irago" but on the other side of the mountain, just off the Camino route to the south, between El Acebo and Riego de Ambros; the abbot of that monastery also attended the council. The list of abbots who attended the council does not include a monastery in Foncebadón.

‏‎9:40 AM – Foncebadón: MT entering town.

‏‎9:41 AM – Foncebadón: wooden cross, identified on placard as “Cruz de Foncebadón”; it also says in 4 languages: “Please don’t leave stones on the cross. Thank you.” Apparently some pilgrims had mistaken this wooden cross for the Cruz de Ferro. (MT on road past the cross.)

We stopped at the Albergue-Tienda-Bar Monte Irago (same as last year, when there was a young man with baggy pants that could have been the peasant version of traditional Maragato bloomers). Outside, it had log seats around a wood slab table with 2 goats on a wall nearby. We bought some müsli that came in the form of cakes. While eating them on the wooden table outside, we met a girl from Slovakia (who later took our photo at the Cruz de Ferro). We got “Monte Irago” sellos in the bar.

‏‎9:43 AM – Foncebadón: Albergue-Tienda-Bar Monte Irago.

‏‎9:43 AM – Foncebadón: Albergue-Tienda-Bar Monte Irago – wood slab table and log chairs for eating outside.

‏‎9:49 AM – Foncebadón: Albergue-Tienda-Bar Monte Irago – large sleeping dog near our table.

‏‎9:49 AM – Foncebadón: Albergue-Tienda-Bar Monte Irago - 2 goats atop stone wall near our table.

‏‎9:52 AM – Foncebadón: Albergue-Tienda-Bar Monte Irago – our müsli (cakes), both half gone.

Iglesia de Santa María Magdalena, with its recently restored gable, is dedicated to the patron saint of the town. The parish albergue, Albergue de Peregrinos parroquial Domus Dei, is located in the old church building.

‏‎10:05 AM – Foncebadón: Iglesia de Santa María Magdalena (partially renovated).

In 1991, since Foncebadón was practically uninhabited, the Bishop of Astorga decided to remove the bells from Iglesia de Santa María Magdalena and transfer them to the Museum of the Camino in Astorga. On the appointed day, the persons responsible for the task (2 priests, 6 workers, and 4 civil guards) arrived in the village. They were met by María, an elderly mountain woman who with her son were the only inhabitants of the village. She was perched atop the roof near the belfry and brandishing a stick while shouting that they should leave the town alone and that those bells needed to stay there to warn people if a fire was discovered in the village (since there were no phone lines) or to guide pilgrims in the fog. The men were so surprised by the attitude of María and her uncompromising protection of the bells that they eventually left without them.

‏‎10:09 AM – Foncebadón: ruins of church and pilgrim hospital and stone walls on left of road past end of town.

The ruined buildings outside the village on the left of the camino are the remains of the church and hospice built by Guacelmo. According to www.senditur.com these are the ruins of what was once the Monasterio de Foncebadón, in which the famous church council was held [see note above]. (Guacelmo’s church later became an abbey or monastery.) When Foncebadón had to be rebuilt after being entirely destroyed in the War of Independence (1808-1814), it was moved slightly to the east; so what appears are the remains of a belfry of the tower of the old church.

As we left the top end of the village onto a muddy track (due to mountain springs) to rejoin the road and walk up through the mountain gorse (ulex) and heather through the pass of Irago (Puerto Irago) to the highest point of the whole Camino.

Reached through the rugged slopes of Foncebadón, the pass (Puerto Irago, 1,505 m) that separates the Maragatería and El Bierzo is dominated by the nearby Monte Teleno (El Teleno), the highest mountain in the Montes de León, at 2,188 m. This was the sacred mountain of the Astur tribes that inhabited these lands before the Roman conquest. Teleno is the name the Astur tribes gave to the Celtic god Teutates, and it gained the recognition of the Romans, who dedicated it to Mars Tilenus. The Roman recognition of indigenous cults led to religious syncretism; the local gods were worshiped under a Roman composite name—a mixture of Roman and indigenous.

Monte Teleno is a mountain of soft profiles, rounded hills, and heath at the summit. The summit is at the center of the Sierra del Teleno, which runs from northwest to southeast, serving as a natural border between the regions of La Cabrera, La Maragatería, and El Bierzo. One of its peaks besides Teleno is Cabeza de la Yegua [Head of the Mare] (2,142 m), which was known by the ancient Gallego name El Morredero, which meant the dying place—for pilgrims as well as the Maragato muleteers carrying fish from the ports of Galicia to the inland cities. On Monte Teleno, too, hundreds of pilgrims were killed, either attacked by wolves or lost in the midst of a blizzard. That is why travelers eventually found a somewhat safer way over the Puerto Irago.

‏‎10:26 AM – After Foncebadón: MT on path with thin green bushes (the yellow flowers had gone, but probably gorse); Cruz de Ferro on horizon.

‏‎10:32 AM – Cruz de Ferro: MT contemplating the monument, while others place their stones.

The Cruz de Ferro (the name used by government agencies, aka Cruz de Hierro, both meaning Cross of Iron) is at the summit of Monte Irago (1,505 m/4,935 ft), the highest point of the Camino Francés in the Peninsula. According to the Codex Calixtinus, pilgrims had to ascend and descend Monte Irago during the 10th stage, which runs from Rabanal del Camino to Villafranca del Bierzo. The iron cross stands atop a 5-meter high weathered pole that has become a famous landmark on the Camino.

The iconic Cruz de Ferro sits atop a mound of pebbles that might be of Celtic origin, since at that time it was customary to build hillocks of stone (milladoiro) in the highest, strategic, and symbolic points of a road. Some say it was where the Celts worshiped; this is thought to have been the location of an altar to the Roman god Mercury, on a pile of stones called Montes de Mercurio that the Celts erected in honor of Mercury. Others say that its origin is due to the hitos (milestones, landmarks) that used to mark territorial boundaries in Roman times. Whatever its true origin, any of which was pagan, this custom is believed to have been Christianized by the hermit Guacelmo, founder of the abbey of Foncebadón, when he placed a cross on top of the mound in the late 11th or early 12th century. (The original cross is in the Museum of the Camino in Astorga.) Tradition says it was built to mark the route of the Camino in times of snowfall. Traditionally, each pilgrim adds a stone (brought from home or picked up along the journey) to the large cairn below the cross. The Celtic tradition of leaving a stone was followed by the Maragato muleteers and by Galician harvesters who would work in Castile. It was the Galicians who called it Cruz do Ferro in their Gallego language.

When there was a break from other pilgrims placing stones on the mound and taking photos, we went up to place our stones. MT actually had two stones, one for this year and the one from last year that she couldn’t find in her backpack then.

‏‎10:35 AM – Cruz de Ferro: MT and Don just after placing our stones atop the pile at the base of the cross (girl from Slovakia took the photo).

‏‎10:35 AM – Cruz de Ferro: iron cross at top (Cropped).

10:37 AM – Cruz de Ferro: more pilgrims going up to cross.

‏‎10:38 AM – Cruz de Ferro: more pilgrims (placing rocks and taking photos) at the cross (taken from the side as we continued on trail).

‏‎10:40 AM – Cruz de Ferro: Slovak girl (at left) and MT with Ermita de Santiago and cross in background.

The Ermita de Santiago chapel was built in 1982 from the stone of the ruined church of San Roque in Manjarín.

‏‎10:36 AM – Cruz de Ferro: Ermita de Santiago (closed).

‏‎10:41 AM – Cruz de Ferro: sign (as we were leaving) for “La Cruz de Ferro” – Spanish text [translated: At the top of Monte Irago, 1530 m in altitude and in the pass from the Maragatería to El Bierzo, stands one of the oldest and most legendary monuments of the Camino de Santiago. The Cruz de Ferro is a simple structure formed by a long shaft of oak, about 7 m in height, that ends in a small iron cross and emerges from a surprising base of stones in the shape of a cone, of almost 30 m in diameter. This fabulous stacking comes from the secular contribution of Jacobean pilgrims as well as drivers and travelers from all walks of life in transit via the Monte Irago, in the belief that this gesture would protect them from the dangers of the way. For the pilgrims, it was also a way to testify before God that they had fulfilled their life with their pilgrimage to Santiago.

Although the origin of the Cruz de Ferro is uncertain, historians agree on emphasizing its antiquity and relate it to a pre-Roman milestone or a cairn erected during the Roman domination.]

We continued west along the top of Monte Irago and then on a steep descent to Ponferrada.

This is where a radical change in the landscape begins: el brezo (heather) and los matorrales (scrub, thicket, underbrush) we had been used to on the mountainsides gives way in El Bierzo to the greenery of the very fertile valley, with fruit trees and chestnuts.

After the Cruz de Ferro, we entered the region of El Bierzo.

El Bierzo (O Bierzo in Galician) is a comarca (a traditional region or a local administrative division) of the province of León. (Maps show the Camino passing through the region from the Cruz de Ferro on its eastern edge to the border of Galicia just past La Laguna del Camino.) Historically part of the Kingdom of León, and briefly (1821-23) a province of its own within the larger Leonese region, with the new administrative division of Spain in 1833, the majority of the region was integrated into the province of León, with other parts becoming part of Galicia. El Bierzo developed its own peculiarities as Galician and Leonese traditions mixed under Castilian influence, and thus was granted the administrative status of comarca (a term used in Galicia). Residents of the region are called bercianos.

Its capital is the town of Ponferrada. Another major town is Villafranca del Bierzo, the historical capital. The name of the region derives from the pre-Roman city of Bergidum. The Romans introduced new crops, including Vitis vinifera grapevines, but the greatest expansion of viticulture was related to the growth of monasteries, especially the Cistercian order, during the Middle Ages.

Bierzo is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO) for wines located in the northwest of the province of León. Being surrounded by mountains on all sides creates a sheltered microclimate favorable for the cultivation of recognized quality products.

‏‎11:14 AM – After Cruz de Ferro: mountains.

11:15 AM – After Cruz de Ferro: MT and Don with mountains.

Just before Manjarín, Don had to make an emergency stop in the bushes (between the path and the road).

Around 11:20, we arrived at Manjarín (pop 5 or 1).

‏‎11:22 AM – Manjarín: MT on road approaching unique albergue (sign by MT says “Refugio”).

Manjarín has a population of 5 according to www.pueblos-espana.org, although Brierley and www.galiciaguide.com say the official population is 1, the modern knight hospitalero Tomás Martinez who operates the private albergue in an abandoned house he renovated. Tomás is a real character, dressing up as a Templar knight for his visitors. Outside the albergue are wooden planks showing distances to various places around the world, and only 222 km to Santiago. Except for this “atmospheric” albergue, it is another abandoned village.

There was mining here in Roman times. The village was founded in the 9th century. In the 11th century, it began to expand thanks to the monk Guacelmo, who built a hostel for pilgrims. A pilgrim’s hospital run by the Knights Templar existed here as early as the 12th century. The village was completely abandoned at the beginning of the 19th century. With the decline of the Camino de Santiago and the arrival of the railroad and industry, people started to move to the cities. It was uninhabited from the late 1970s until 1993, when Tomás Martinez, a Madrid hermit who claims to be the last Templar on the road, resumed the work of a hospitalero, building a shelter over the ruins. Today, he and an assistant are the only villagers. Just 3 or 4 houses remain standing; the rest are in ruins.

‏‎11:22 AM – Manjarín: MT at refugio (albergue) with many flags and signs with distances to various places worldwide.

‏‎11:22 AM – Manjarín: MT at refugio with many flags and signs with distances to various places worldwide; yellow arrows (see red circles) near road sign for leaving Manjarín and at base of small white cross.

‏‎11:24 AM – Manjarín: signs with distances to places, with sign for leaving Manjarín—although we had just arrived there.

‏‎11:24 AM – Manjarín: signs with distances to places (another yellow arrow (see red circle) pointing the way, next to the sign for leaving Manjarín—although we had just arrived there).

‏‎11:25 AM – Manjarín: closer view of signs with distances.

11:30 AM – Manjarín: another yellow arrow (on the other side of the road).

At Manjarín, we met a group of 12 people (2 from the US) on a “taste of the Camino” tour with a guide from Barcelona, who worked for a company called Explore www.explore.co.uk based in the UK. One lady, from Seattle, called it a “sissy way,” but then said that the people back home wouldn’t know the difference. For a while, MT walked with the leader of the group. We later met a German lady from a town near the Tegernsee south of Munich, who was on her second Camino.

As we left Manjarín, we saw more of those small purple flowers, which seemed typical of high altitudes, along the road.

‏‎11:38 AM – After Manjarín: large purple flower next to road (this one was mostly white).

‏‎11:38 AM – After Manjarín: group of purple flowers on edge of path.

‏‎11:39 AM – After Manjarín: MT and tour group leader by water trough (last year, 3 dogs had followed us out of Manjarín, but stopped here to drink).

‏‎11:44 AM – After Manjarín: more purple flowers.

‏‎11:44 AM – After Manjarín: one pure white flower.

‏‎11:51 AM – After Manjarín: another large group of purple flowers.

Past Manjarín, the path began to climb steeply to the place marked on Brierley’s map as Punto Alto (1,515 m), the highest point on the Camino.

‏‎11:52 AM – After Manjarín: MT on rocky path uphill with heather (and gorse).

11:54 AM – After Manjarín: Don on temporarily level rocky path with heather (and gorse).

‏‎12:07 PM – After Manjarín: more rocky path uphill.

12:08 PM – After Manjarín: Don on rocky path uphill.

‏‎12:10 PM – After Manjarín: MT and German lady on path coming up.

Having read warnings in Brierley about 2 very steep downhill parts, MT was planning to use the winding asphalt road after Punto Alto (high point 1,515 m/4,970 ft).

We stopped at a “Mobile Bar” around the Punto Alto and ordered 2 glasses of wine (which came with a snack like cheese curls, but round) to go with our bread, cheese, and fruit.

‏‎12:39 PM – Punto Alto: Mobile Bar (MT at table at left).

We started on the asphalt from there, but then came back and used the footpath, as the bar owner had recommended and we had seen many other pilgrims take that option while we ate. Once or twice after that, we tried the road again a bit, but kept going back to the path when the road veered away from the straighter path. There were still a lot of ups and downs on the path.

‏‎1:12 PM – After Punto Alto: MT on asphalt road with mountain ahead.

‏‎1:29 PM – After Punto Alto: MT back on footpath with winding road below.

1:32 PM – After Punto Alto: winding road (from footpath).

‏‎1:34 PM – After Punto Alto: MT on footpath and first view of large town [Molinaseca or Ponferrada?] in distance.

1:37 PM – After Punto Alto: Don on rocky path.

‏‎1:45 PM – After Punto Alto: MT on rocky path, starting downhill.

‏‎2:02 PM – After Punto Alto: MT on solid rock path.

Suddenly, we could see the remote village of El Acebo below us, although it would take a while to get there on the winding path. We had to go very slowly downhill into El Acebo.

‏‎2:11 PM – Approaching El Acebo: from path above (Casa Rural La Rosa del Agua,  where we would stay, was on the near [left] end; you can see laundry hanging on clothesline by a small pool in the garden).

‏‎2:11 PM – Approaching El Acebo: from path above, with larger town in distance (telephoto, 46 mm).

We arrived in El Acebo (pop 17) around 2:15.

El Acebo (meaning holly tree) is a typical mountain village of the region, a pueblo-calle (town road) with one principal street (again Calle Real) running down the middle and an open surface drain as a token gesture to channel the rain that frequently overflows it. Its typical stone houses with slate roofs and wooden balconies are perfect examples of berciano (Bierzo) architecture. As with previous villages, El Acebo once had many houses in ruins. However, in recent years, as tourism and the popularity of the Camino increased, it has brought in money, and people have returned to live here. The 12th-century Romanesque parish church of San Miguel is located at the far end of the village.

‏‎6:47 PM – El Acebo: La Rosa del Agua – exterior (terraza on right).

As we entered town, we met in the street the young man who with his wife owned Casa Rural La Rosa del Agua. They both seemed very nice, and he offered us a double room with bath for 45€ including breakfast (the poster by his desk said a double was 50€). We sat at a table on the terraza (patio) outside to rest for a bit and then decided to stay there (although we had originally planned to go on to at least Riego de Ambrós). We got sellos there. Both of us showered and MT washed clothes in the kitchen sink and hung them to dry on a clothesline in the garden [yard] (guests only).

Casa Rural La Rosa del Agua is in a restored stone house typical of the El Bierzo region, with traditional stone walls and wooden beams and ceilings, blended with modern niceties like the hydromassage shower.

‏‎6:47 PM – El Acebo: La Rosa del Agua – steps up to wooden balcony with entrance to rooms.

‏‎2:37 PM – El Acebo: La Rosa del Agua – MT in our room, No, 2 (II) by window.

2:46 PM – El Acebo: La Rosa del Agua – view out our window.

2:37 PM – El Acebo: La Rosa del Agua – inside of our room door and bathroom.

‏‎2:38 PM – El Acebo: La Rosa del Agua – bathroom with hydromassage in shower (the large wooden beam continued across the bedroom part).

‏‎2:53 PM – El Acebo: La Rosa del Agua – same wood beam in bedroom, with angled supporting beam.

2:53 PM – El Acebo: La Rosa del Agua – the angled supporting beam was a sure head-knocker in the night (so Don had to sleep on that side).

While starting to check on restaurants with menus, Don took one photo of our lodging at La Rosa del Agua, and then his camera went dead (with lens extended). Back in our room, he plugged it in with the recharger; the green light came on the camera, but there was no “charging” notice on the screen and the camera still didn’t work, although the green light stayed on when it was unplugged. Don remembered that you could get the Kodak PixPro manual online; so we did that on MT’s iPhone with the casa rural’s WiFi. The troubleshooting section in the manual said to check if the battery was installed properly. So Don just took the battery out, blew on the contacts and in the compartment, and put it back in. Then the camera started working, Praise The Lord!

Then we went further into town to check on mass. A lady in the 2nd restaurant, Albergue-Restaurant Mesón El Acebo, told us there was no mass there, since there was no priest for the last 3 months, but said to try for the noon mass the next day (Sunday) in Molinaseca.

At 7 pm, we went to Mesón El Acebo for their 10€ menu: 1st course: Sopa de Bierzo (kale and potatoes); 2nd course: Pango (shellfish related to cod) with no bones and lettuce salad (vice fries)—MT had regular with garlic and white wine sauce; Don requested red (tomato) sauce; dessert: both had tarta de Santiago (almond cake). We got sellos there: “El Acebo Primer pueblo del Bierzo en el camino” [first town of El Bierzo on the Camino].

‏‎6:48 PM – El Acebo: abandoned house down the street from La Rosa del Agua.

‏‎6:49 PM – El Acebo: other houses with nice balconies (one with flowers).

‏‎6:51 PM – El Acebo: ruined house wall, probably held up by the vines grown onto it.

‏‎6:52 PM – El Acebo: house with fancy wood balcony, which was part of Mesón El Acebo, where we ate.

‏‎6:53 PM – El Acebo: Mesón El Acebo, looking back from further down street; sign for “Comida Tipica del Bierzo” (Typical Cuisine of the Bierzo [region]).

On the far end of the village, we passed a modern sculpture of a bicycle outside the village cemetery, a memorial to another pilgrim killed on the roads here

‎Sunday, ‎September ‎14, ‎2014, ‏‎8:33 AM – El Acebo: bicycle monument at far (WSW) end of town.

This monument was in memory of a 70-year-old German pilgrim, Heinrich Krause who died of a heart attack in 1987 just outside El Acebo on his way to Santiago.

‏‎6:54 PM – El Acebo: view back (to NW) toward our CR; more of main street (Calle Real), which was also highway LE-14, with open surface drain down the middle and same houses with nice balconies (one with flowers) as before, but from opposite direction.

‏‎6:55 PM – El Acebo: more houses back up street (to NW) toward our CR.

We returned to La Rosa del Agua, and the owner sold us ice cream (1.50€) even though his tienda was closed.

8:27 PM – El Acebo: sunset from our room.

8:30 PM – El Acebo: sunset from our room.