Day 4: Rabanal to Acebo & Happy Birthday to Me!

Today was a beautiful day and a great way to spend my 30th birthday.  Leigh Ann and I left Rabanal del Camino around 9am and it was gorgeous.  We went up and down mountains covered with yellow and purple flowers, rolling hills and a gorgeous blue sky.  

Our first stop was Foncebadon where a couple of fellow pilgrims from my last couple of days remembered that it was my birthday and sang me a birthday song. That was great. 

The road to Cruz de Ferro was a steady steep incline but after a decent night sleep and a hearty breakfast I had the energy to power up the mountain with not much of a problem.  And I was surprised the feet were cooperating for the most part with me.  The blisters are tying to heal and weren't hurting as much as they did the day before.  

We spent some time at Cruz de Ferro with Melissa and Alexia drinking wine and snacking on the snacks we all had with us, including some delicious Spanish salami that Leigh Ann was carrying.  It was a good day.  

The descent of the mountain however was much tougher than I had imagined it to be. We initially planned to walk to Molinaseca today, however by the time we for to Acebo (one town before) we decided to call it quits.  

The rents of the evening were the icon on my wonderful day.   George, a fellow pilgrim that I met on my first day out of Leon, who by the way is a wine maker out of California, managed to find a bottle of bubbly someplace in town. It turned out to be the one and  only bottle of bubbly that this little village  had.  George got it and we toasted to me turning 30 on the Camino one more time.  And even better surprise was when the girl serving the restaurant overheard that it was my birthday, she brought me a slice of cake with a tea candle on it (they didn't have birthday candles) and all the people in the little restaurant sang me another birthday song. 

What a great day to spend and end a special day.