The first part led us to the on 1504 m situated Cruz el Ferro, the highest point of my way on the Camino and the Montes de Leon. Traditionally all pilgrims are supposed to leave a brought stone from home on the peak of the already big cluster of stones on which the Cruz el Ferro is positioned. It's a symbol for all burden they have to carry and wanted to get rid of. I didn't know about this ritual until the Finish guy Arto told me, so I picked up a gorgeous little red stone the day before on the way to Rabanal, ignoring the fact it's not brought from home.I left it there as you can see on the photo. From that point the way went downwards to Molinaseca and my knee started to hurt after a while, because of the impact of my crappy shoes, respectively the hard soles. As the pain intensified I had to fall behind and took a couple of long breaks but it didn't disappear. I cursed these unsuitable military boots I decided to take with me instead of my convenient trekking shoes. I din't understand this decision and asked myself: Why the hell I'm the only one having these hurting knees? In this moment I didn't know there were lots of other people with equal problems I got to know the following day.
I arrived about half an hour behind the others in the small place Molinaseca, which is characterized by its narrow alleys and cute small houses. Despite of my knee problems and long breaks I was still the 5th pilgrim this day arriving at the hostel. In the evening our group of loose acquaintances increased to over 20 people from almost 10 different countries, all having dinner together (btw. a logistical problem). While I was drinking wine and enjoying another gorgeous cultural experience, I didn't thought that the days without any pain by walking were numbered and that it could be even worse the following days.
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