On my way to Rabanal a dusty walk of about fourteen miles. Dinner with some fun people!

Okay there is much to cover but I'll do my best. First let me apologize for all of the photos. I can't keep track of them so if there are duplicates just know that I'm not doing it on purpose. I have so many I did not send. I'm also challenged by the list creation so just know that I'm doing my best.

My night in Astorga could not have been better. I'm feeling pretty good, the passengers seem happy and I dot have any other physical issues as long as you don't count just being sore and tired. Given the fact that I have watched a number of people drop out because of injury I'm feeling quite blessed right now.

Dinner at Restaurante Serrano was on my must achieve this for this second Camino. I went through the schdule several times well in advance to be sure that I would not be in Astorga on a Sunday. It's the only day Serrano is not open. If I can't get a table that's okay but I know I can't get one if they are closed. I had the Foie Gras which was prepared in the same way it as two and a half years ago. I know because when looked at the I see the Foie Gras and I ask how it's prepared? The Chef's sister tells me that he only prepares it one way because that's the way he likes it and so do the customers. Great. 

For the main course I ask for suggestions and she tells me that he is preparing a roasted lamb and that it is one of his most popular dishes. I'm in, the lamb it is. Both dishes are just incredible and the 2011 Malleleolus was perfect. I say my good by's and return to the Hotel. The Catherdal and the Gaudi are now lit up and it completely changes the look of both. 

I get a good nights sleep and I leave around 9:30. No rush it's a short walk of about fourteen miles. There is a hill test today, not terribly significant elevation change but a long hill and it's completely in the sun. The walk takes me through a few interesting villages where I stop a few times for a cold drink. 

One of my other items on my "things to do list" is to stop at the pilgrims chapel which Is a little more than a mile out of Astorga. The church is managed by volunteers and is financed by donations. Most pilgrims will enter and make a donation and then have their credential stamped and spend a few minutes in the chapel. Well on my first Camino I had a real problem and I had to return to Astorga. In the end I visited the church again on my second departure from Astorga that day and I had the volunteer hold my credential while I took her picture, I took the same picture again today.

I'm one day away from the Cruz de Ferro where the stones will be placed. There are now ten stones. Rebbica, a friend of Robin's father passed away in July and Robin sent me an email that Rebbica's mother passed away just two days ago so I will now place both names on a single stone. One other addition is a stone for Mary Alice, Robin's mother who fell last week and has not been feeling well ... She needs a stone.

I have two stones that have made the entire journey. Betty Young, Beth Morre's mother who passed away two years ago and the stone for Lori with two names on it, her sister Diane who died as an infant and Jeri her mother who just had surgery after a bad accident.  All of the other stones are from the Camino. The question I was asked is how do you pick them? I don't they pick them, they pick me. There are countless stones I'm walking on every step on the Camino. As I am walking and looking down at the stones suddenly one will just look right and it will stop me and I'll pick it up and put it in my back pack. All shapes, sizes and colors. The only stone I was trying to find was a stone in the shape of a kidney. I saw many but none picked me. I do have one I think is close to the shape.

So with that I will sign off and take the stones to their place at the Cruz de Ferro. I had dinner tonight with some really fun and nice people. We all went to the pilgrim mass before dinner in the village's stunning little chapel which is more than six hundred years old. I have a photo. More on that tomorrow but now I need to get some rest. 

My guide book says "today we head up through the pass of Iragoto the highest point of our whole journey". It will be a steep ascent up to the Cruz de Ferro and it comes early. The distance to our next destination, Molinaseca will be sixteen and a half miles. I am now within one hundred and fifty miles of Santiago. Seven hundred thousand steps taken, three hundred thousand remain. 

Good night. Buen Camino.