I started my 20th Day on the Camino de Santiago 250km away from my goal.

I was on the home stretch now and ready to face the mountains ahead.

I woke up with a normal-sized foot which started my day on a high note and began my ascent along the path.

By the time my stomach was grumbling too loudly to ignore I began to enter a complete ghost town full of hating crumbly buildings.

Although the town had obviously been abandoned at some point in time some locals had moved back in to get a cut of the pilgrim tourist trade passing through and a couple of eery cafes spotted the deteriorating architecture.

I ended up finding myself in breakfast paradise. Bulk bins of dried fruit and nuts covered the wall and I grabbed some delicious-looking muesli, soy milk, banana and some dates and enjoyed every bite of my egg-free breakfast.

In my new favourite Camino cafe I ran into the Polish girl from my albergue the night before… Completely covered in bed bug bites.

Talk about bed allocation luck on my behalf.

I gave your some sympathetic words and skipped any hugging or close contact and eventually we both headed back out on the Camino.

I could tell she needed some alone time so I left here (and her little friends) behind.

My next encounter with the natural wonders of the Camino de Santiago was a bit more traumatising. Next to our happy yellow-arrow path was a dairy cow farm… And some unlucky calves were being forced away from the Mummy cows.

Have you ever heard Mummy cows scream as their babies are being dragged out of their lives? I hope you never have too. I took a moment to absorb this awful human habit and continued up the mountains.

I was approaching one of the Camino de Santiago sentimental landmarks (that I of course knew absolutely nothing about). The Puerto Irago Cruz de Ferro comes across as a simple iron cross marking the peak of the 1,500m mountain but for many pilgrims it is an important symbol of The Way of Saint James. It is seen as a moment to reconnect with the purpose of your journey and there is a common ritual among pilgrims to leave a stone from your home or some other meaningful token at the base of the cross before continuing along the way.

Stone-less and token-less I took this spot as an excuse for a break and watched many pilgrims having emotional moments at the base of the cross. As a very non-religious and low-level spiritual being Ihad always been in awe of people that become so overcome with emotion at certain landmarks or sacred spaces. I am no stranger to overwhelming emotions but the concept of being triggered by a communal place of meaning was something I had never quite understood but was starting to get an insight to during my Camino de Santiago journey.

I ran into the two German boys from the night before who had been hanging out with the poor Polish girl who had been attacked over night.

I asked if they had seen her today.

“Not yet: but she left her pyjama top behind so I put it back in my bag to return to her.”

I couldn’t help it – I burst out laughing.

“You might want to take that out of your bag!!”

I explained the situation and the pyjama top was thrown out of the bag and onto the Camino de Santiago.

I said farewell to the poor traumatised German pilgrims and headed on my way.

I passed through a few different gorgeous towns that day – all seemingly bursting with cute little organic country stores selling all kind of wonderful treats.

I was overwhelmed with happiness to be surrounded by mountains again and the day went by quickly as I walked with a number of nice people from all corners of the world.

I walked late into the afternoon, once again snacking on the blackberries lining the path.

I began to descend through a very steep, rocky path. Beside the occasional show-off mountain biker racing past me I was completely alone and glad that I had no witnesses to my lack of coordination.

Eventually the rocky descend cleared into a gorgeous town.

And I am talking drop-dead gorgeous.

Molinaseca has to be one of my favourite towns on the Camino de Santiago. The historic village is accessible be the prettiest medieval bridge I had every seen and walking across it felt like real steps back in time.

I strolled into the beautiful town where locals and pilgrims sun baked by the river, old ladies filled the thin cobblestone alleyways and people just genuinely all seemed happy to be there.

I found a gorgeous little albergue where I had the choice of bunk beds for 10 euro or single beds for 15 euro. I decided to splurge and skip the bunks for a night which resulted in an almost empty room to myself (with two ensuite’s for me and my two Spanish roomies).

After washing up I headed out to explore.

I was very happy with my decision to stop in Molinaseca. The town was completely charming and my albergue ‘Albergue Compostela’ was gorgeous and owned by an extremely kind lady.

I found a cozy local market – another bulk-bin dried fruit and nut mecca!

I stocked up on yummy breakfast treats and some picnic dinner snacks and headed out to the grassy area beside the gorgeous town bridge to enjoy the warm afternoon.

I sat back and reflected on another wonderful day of excessive walking. I was getting extremely close to Santiago now and I wondered if 780km wouldn’t be long enough…

I had completely thrown myself in the deep in when I had decided to walk this pilgrimage but I seemed to be a natural pilgrim. I loved waking up and going to sleep in new places every day, I loved the variety of conversations I had with such unique people every day, I loved the sense of community along the path and I loved the long afternoons spent alone. I loved the Camino de Santiago.