Foncebadon to Ponferrada

After the literal and metaphorical highs of yesterday, I had to come down, and boy, did I.

As I was brushing my teeth, a delighted Manon came into the bathroom declaring: "Claire, it 'as 'appened! It snowed!"

Sadly for Manon, not enough to snow us in, so off out we went again into the white wilderness outside.

I was cursing my footwear today, definitely not substantial enough for snow, and I could feel my feet getting colder and damper with every step.

But you can't worry about your feet too much when you have two lovely French girls rolling joyfully in the snow just ahead of you.

Not far into the walk was a famous Camino spot. Pilgrims are supposed to bring a stone from home that they travel with, representing sin, baggage etc, that they then add to a huge pile of stones under a cross.

I'd forgotten my stone, and to be honest, it wasn't really my thing, although I was worried I might regret it when I got to the point and arrived empty handed.

As it happened, the giant pile of stones was covered in snow when we arrived and I suppose that's quite a good metaphor for how it left me feeling - cold.

It's clearly a meaningful place for many, but for me, I felt like I'd already been leaving little broken pieces of myself along the trail already.

The walking was tough today. Up days are tough, but down days are harder. I'd already been having trouble with my left knee, my feet were still messed up and now my socks were wet too.

I was glad when we were able to rest at a little cafe where I could change my socks and warm my feet by a fire.

I walked into Ponferrada with Davide, Susanna and Tano (we left Manon and Ines smoking in a cafe about 6km out). After the beauty of the mountains and the cute villages, we were back into a town and the last few kilometers were grey, matching my spirits by this point.

When we finally arrived, we were told we could have taken a short cut. This was not news I needed to hear!

That night we decided to eat out because the kitchen/dining area in the albergue was full to bursting - you'd think this would be a treat, but I much prefer us all eating simple food we've cooked together.

Back at the albergue, the communal area had been taken over by a group of hippies who'd been walking for months and months. They were banging bloody drums like there was no tomorrow and after such a difficult day, when all I wanted to do was relax with friends, I almost lost my shit.

It was the only night I've been grateful for a noise curfew. We were ushered up to bed at 10pm, and wanting to rescue some of my evening, I suggested our gang retire somewhere for a bit of peace and quiet.

Which is why we ended up having a little party in the toilets until the small hours. Martine, Abdal, Rasmus, Janne, Davide and me sat on the bathroom floor, drinking wine from the bottle like a bunch of teenagers.

On the face of it, it was pretty fun, but I actually went to bed feeling really unsettled. I was physically exhausted, not been able to find any peace during the evening and emotionally I was a bit all over the place to be honest.

It was a 'down' day in many ways.