Day 40 - 26.5 Kilometres

Rabanal to Molinaseca

Today started very well with a climb up one of the prettiest mountains we have crossed so far. It was a cloudy dawn, and the sunrise was bouncing a strange mauve light across the clouds and faces of the surrounding hills. The hills near us were thick with purple flowers - heather, wild iris, foxglove, and a low-growing one that looked like lavender cotton candy - and dun grasses, all set agains black cedars, made darker by the wetness in the air.

At the top of the mountain was the Iron Cross. It is a very small cross on a very tall pole stuck in a pile of rock at the summit. Tradition dictates that pilgrims leave a rock from some where else (either home or found on the Camino) or that they leave a personal item. The base of the cross is a totem to all the pilgrims who have passed through before us. There were love notes, photos of children, candles, charms, pictures of saints, pieces of clothing, cigarettes - you name it, it was probably at the Iron Cross.

One of theings I love best about Spain is its people. As we walked through one sleepy village we noticed a huge cherry tree loaded with fruit. Near the tree was a fence with several plastic bags wrapped around one of the posts. As the cherries were very high up, a few brave souls climbed the tree, while I swatted at the branches (not the ones they were on) with Cz´s walking stick. It was like a giant cherry piñata.

Then, around the corner, appears an old man walking on two canes. He starts talking to us very fast in Spanish, and we have no idea what he is trying to tell us, and fear we might be in trouble. (The group were Cz and me, a German, a Brazilian, and the Irish Boys - not one Spanish speaker in the lot!) Eventually we figure out that he is cheering us on, calling out "More, More. Fill your bags. Take them all!" He then passes us his cane to us to send up to the Brazilian and German girl in the tree so they can hook branches closer and swat more fruit down to the Irish and Americans. All told we came away with 1-3 kilo of cherries each.

We spend the rest of the day plotting our cherry fest.

We have cherry mashed potatoes, red wine cherry compote, and fresh cherries with yoghurt.

Only time for one recipe.

Cherry Compote with red wine. I don´t actually know what a compote is, but I imagine it goes something like this...

ingredients
Lots of pitted sweet cherries
red wine
sugar
flour or tapioca or cornstarch (the directions are for flour)

directions
Put the cherries in a pot big enough to hold them with room to stir
Add wine so in comes half as high in the pot as the cherries (ie half pot cherries = quarter pot wine)
Add sugar to taste (these cherries were very sweet so we only added a few tablespoons)
Heat over medium until boiling gently
Sift in about a quarter cup of flour, stirring constantly
Cook until thickened, stirring occasionally

Serve with tasty things.

We made trifle with cookies, yoghurt, fresh cherries and the compote.
I imagine you could do a cherry sundae, cherry short cake, or cherries with rice pudding or...the variations are endless.