Cruz de Ferro tomorrow

Linda - Oct 13
We have had two fairly long days of walking-yesterday we walked into Astorga, and it was a LONG haul! Since it was 31 km, we didn´t arrive until the hottest part of the afternoon, so the last couple of kms were not enjoyable! After the siesta and laundry, etc we found enough energy to do a bit of sightseeing- in particular the Bishop´s Palace designed by Gaudi, which is very impressive. It was a holiday for the locals, so there were many people out enjoying the nice weather. No stores were open as a consequence though, so we were not able to stock up on our bananas, which we enjoy in the morning while we´re walking.
Astorga has a large cathedral as well, but it was of course closed due to the holiday. The town is also noted for its production of chocolate, and we stumbled on a wholesale outlet shop which was like nirvana for me! An elderly Spanish gentleman invited us in to try samples of different chocolate bars, and of course we purchased one for the road the next day (Russ will carry it - what a guy!).
Today we left Astorga and walked farther than the recommended stage in our guide book, thinking that it will make the climb tomorrow a bit easier on Russ´s ankle. So we are in the mountain village of Foncebadon, full of derelict buildings but apparently recovering due to the volume of pilgrims on the Camino, so there are three albergues here. It´s very beautiful and we can see the trail we will walk tomorrow, which climbs up to Cruz de Ferro, the highest point reached on the Camino. It wasn´t until we arrived here that we found out that we have actually climbed the worst part already, however there are some pretty severe downhill stretches, so Russ will take it slow.
We have heard that it will rain tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed that they´re wrong! We really want to see the views from the top, and the thought of rain or even snow at 1500 meters elevation is not pleasant (in mid Oct). We have gloves and toques, etc so are equipped for the worst.
That´s it for now....