Day 17 - 11.07.2020

Hello dear ones, it seems that age has made its presence known say, and I forgot to tell you something! On our way through the wonderful villages, when everything gets monotonous and becomes full of boredom, every time someone comes to warm our hearts.

This time the "angel" who came to get us out of the monotony is Jose, a Spanish "chico", who lives in Germany and carries the Way in his soul, he came by bike from Germany and rides the whole Camino and if he has no problems he will he also ride his bicycle back home to Germany. Jose gets off his bike to keep up with us and to keep us company part of the route. From story to story he tells us that he visited Romania and with regret he told us that he did not get to see it all.

Today's stage continues like the previous day, passing through rural areas and intersecting small villages. In the first half of the route, starting from 350 meters altitude, you reach 725 meters altitude, after Hospital da Cruz.

We arrived quite easily in Palas de Rei, passing through huge chestnut forests. When booking a hostel we find that it is totally inaccessible with many stairs, so we decide to look for something else. We finally find another hostel, but because of the Covid-19 hostel itself it is not open, so we get a room.

This whole stage is very tiring for me, not physically, but mentally, because going through many small villages that did not have bars and restaurants, I had nowhere to go to the toilet. We arrived around noon, it was exactly 2 pm, when we finished the accommodation procedures, and the rest of the day we do nothing but rest.

Day 13 - 07.07.2020

We start a fast and beautiful day, used to walk many kilometres in one day, today's stage is a blessing, until Villa Franca del Biezo we do not find many shady places, but we went early in the morning so we had no problem.

The next route to Trabadelo is a real pleasure because most of the route goes parallel to the river, which gives you a generous shade due to the vegetation, but also an invigorating feeling due to the water.

We arrive at Trabadelo quite quickly during the day, we try to find out about the difficulty of the next day's stage, because the climb on O Cebreiro makes us uncomfortable and nervous. The rest of the afternoon we enjoy the pool of the pension where we stayed, but also on the banks of the river Valcarce, thus reducing the foot edema that accompanied me for several days.

Day 12 - 06.07.2020

 From the discussions with the other pilgrims we are left with the impression that today's stage is just a descent, surprise! Right at the beginning, at the exit from the locality, until the iron cross there is an accentuated ascent and it reaches 1505 m, after which the descent to Ponferrada follows.

A feeling of success and joy envelops your heart when you reach the base of the cross. How many people have brought their suffering, joy, but also their whole life through the stones left at its foundation.

Although we were happy, a shadow passes over our souls. What do we leave there? The stones we had brought especially from Romania, the white quartz stones from the Țibleș Mountains, we had lost together with Vasi's credential in the storm on Alto del Perdon. A smile appeared on my lips, I had tied a tricolor to my little pink backpack. It wasn't big enough to wrap it around the wood of the cross, but it was big enough to tie it to the tape that was wrapped around the cross, probably not a big deal for many, but it was for us and for all Romanians, who couldn't reach Camino.

After a few moments of peace and tranquility, we set off again for Ponferrada.

Having problems finding accommodation again, none answered the phone, we have no choice but to go further to Camponaraya. Hostels are not open, so we take a room, we are the only pilgrims again.