Astorga to Foncebadon

Our evening in Astorga had been perfect.

We'd eaten lovely food (thank you Janne), met awesome new people (Susanna and Sueon) and I'd spent the evening lazing in front of an open fire with Janne, Davide, Martine and Rasmus.

We'd been playing our favourite music together and after a long day of walking, it was nice to stretch out on the sofa and cuddle up a bit with Janne (who gives great hugs!).

I'll also remember this evening as the time I realised Davide didn't know that it wasn't cool to like James Blunt! As 'Goodbye My Lover' played on the iPhone, we each talked about old loves, old hurts. I cringed at the 20-year-old me who would listen to that song on repeat and cry!

I'm writing about the evening before because my overriding feeling from it was that of warmth - from the fire, and from each other.

Today, we had a mountain to climb and things we about to get (physically) cold. And beautiful.

Any day which involves only climbing is going to be a tough one, but honestly, all I'll remember from this day is how perfectly gorgeous it was.

As we ascended higher and higher towards 1400ft, the snow got deeper and the views more and more spectacular.

I'll always be grateful to Manon and Ines who suggested a break near to the end. I remember being keen to just 'get there' but as soon as we sat down, I realised they'd done us all a huge favour.

We were very near the top and taking time to sit and really look out over the mountains and just how far we'd come will be one of my most poignant memories of Camino.

There's something very special in experiencing something so beautiful and knowing your body has worked hard to get you there.

While Davide and the girls had a snowball fight, I took loads of pictures of us all and tried to drink it all in.

A while later, we arrived in Foncebadon - a tiny little snow-capped village. It was such a perfect end to a physically challenging yet beautiful day. I hung back from the group when we arrived so I could have a minute to myself to be in the moment. I was so overwhelmed with happiness and joy at being in that place, at the time, with these people, that I cried a little.

Our albergue in Foncebadon was one of the quirkiest we stayed at - it was absolutely rammed and had a very masculine energy to it, which made for a loud but entertaining evening. The mood was quite bohemian and as people played guitar, sung and danced, it felt like there was an undercurrent of men and women reaching out to each other for warmth against the freezing cold outside.

Janne and I attempted to dance like no-one was watching. I love dancing with her, she loves it as much as I do.

Before we went to bed, Manon told me she was wishing for more snow overnight so we'd get snowed in, couldn't walk and she could spend the day drinking hot chocolate. Her enthusiasm for the idea made me think of children wishing for a 'snow day' at school.

I love her sweetness, and after a hard day's climb and the intensity of the evening, it was a lovely, light way to end the day, with a child-like wish for snow.