5th stage: Molinaseca - Villafranca del Bierzo (32 km)

A long but flat stage followed the very mountainous one the day before. Nevertheless our group had to suffer some losses henceforth because of the recent body stress. First one was Pascal, who had problems with his legs and had to stay in the bigger city Ponferrada we arrived after 2 hours of walking. After a short farewell and some photos of the famous Templar castle, we went on. I was lucky with the decision to buy a bandage for my knee, because it started hurting again after a while. At noon the pain became unbearable in both knees, so I had to take a break for lunch alone in Camponaraya, while Fran, who was walking with me went on. Later it got better with walking and I made my way through the beautiful and hilly wine region of Bierzo. In Valtuille de Arriba I met Hong San again and we walked together the last 4 km to "Little Santiago", respectively Villarfranca del Bierzo. In the pilgrim's hostel we made another acquaintanceship. I got talking to a young Mexican sculptor, who noticed my old Praktica MTL3, because he had an analog SLR camera as well. The time went by very fast as we talked about camera technology, had dinner all together and once again I forgot about my knee problems.

4th stage: Rabanal del Camino - Molinaseca (26 km)

The 4th day of walking could be summarized as the long and painful way down. Scenically one of the most beautiful stages of the whole tour it got the hell during the last kilometers.

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.