Inside the church at Rabanal
The garden at the Albergue in Rabanal
Afternoon tea at the 'English'
refuge in Rabanal
The Albergue at Rabanal
Another beautiful walk out of Astorga, gradually climbing to Rabinal, a typical hilltop village with wooden balconies to all the houses. It was a hot day and we arrived exhausted. Decided to stay at the only English Alburgue on this camino run by the Confraternity of St James. It was one of the nicest alburgues we have been to. It had a large orchard to sit in, quiet space and they gave us our own bedroom! Jenny told them about her panic attack in a top bunk! It was delightful.
The two hospitaliers served afternoon tea at 5pm and one of the hospitaliers was Alison Raju who has written guide books for the camino. She is a very modest but talented lady, who speaks four languages. We attended a Catholic service in the church opposite where they sang Gregorian chant, then off for supper with a couple from Canada who work for the salvation army. All comments about the church and faith were kept to ourselves.
Bernt phoned us that evening telling us that in no circumstances were we to walk downhill to Ponferrada. People were arriving with injuries. We took the telephone number of the local taxi firm. Mo
Rabanal is very close to my heart. I was hospitalero there in 2007 and 2009, and I actually visited on my way to Leon in May. It's a lovely place and the refugio is very special.
ReplyDelete