Rabanal del Camino

Wednesday, June 18
Today we started the climb into the mountains, though it was a gentle one. Astorga is at about 2600 feet above sea level, and Rabanal, where we are now is about 3700 feet. Though this is not the high point. So today we basically just walked, though I limped a bit having developed a blister, or a very tender spot right on the ball of my left foot behind the toes. So after all these weeks of walking, now my feet are getting sore. But not so sore that we couldn't do some 13 miles, arriving here in Rabanal about 2 pm.
And here we found a gem of a pilgrim's hostel. This is ran by a confraternity of St James de Compostela from England, who have volunteer hoteliers come in for a couple of weeks at a time, so it doesn't get boring for them, they come to serve the pilgrims who stop by. The even had tea in the garden at 4:30. Oh so civilized!
Also there is a Benedictine monastery here in Rabanal, of all places. They have two monks here, maybe six in the summer. Actually they are members of a German monastery who have taken on having a presence on the Camino once again as in the past. They sang evening prayer (7 pm) in gregorian chant, and at night player (9:30)  included a blessing for pilgrims. But they also allowed Fr Paul and I to say a Mass in English in the church. We thought it might just be us, but a group of 18 pilgrims from Houston, along with their priest joined us, and so we actually had a full church. And after all the beautiful churches we've seen, this one was practically still in ruins - with plain, often crumbling rock walls, it was a very special place to celebrate Mass.