I am passing the "Cruz del Ferro"(Cross of iron) the next morning. It is a small cross on an oak trunk, five meters high, situated on the mountaintop at 1504m.
It stands on a huge pile of stones. It is a tradition, supposed to be more than thousand years old, that each passing pilgrim adds another stone, he or she has gathered on the way.
After quite a few days in the lowlands before León and in between León and Astorga, I will now have to cross the mountains separating the region Maragatería from the Bierzo. Foncebadón is situated at an altitude of about 1200 meters, with an astonishing view over the valley out of which I came up. It was abandoned for about forty years until the year 2000. Today, there are six people living here. The refuge is very small, four other people and I will be sleeping in the church right next to it. We have dinner all together. Later, a guy from Brazil tells a few tales, he is in a story-telling-club back home. The night in the church gets quite cold, I am laying in my sleeping bag with lots of cloths on and a cap on my head... 
