La Fuente to Potes. ..

Having agreed breakfast at 7.30 and sleeping until 8, the table is laid with bowls of muesli and fresh fruit and a guttering candle ... dawn beginning over the mountain ... no sign of Mikhail throughout, his door closed ... meditating, sleeping, sulking? We may never know, but he has eaten his muesli ... coffee has to wait until Cicera, an hour or so over the pass ... tacking steeply uphill, over and down along a track to the beautiful village and its open bar ... a coffee and loaf from yesterday. .. it is old, Marcelo says ... better than nothing ... mejor que nada ... these mountains have plenty of Nature, not much commerce. ..

David arrives for coffee and I take another ... then on to the 4km diversion to the mirador recommended by Mikhail ... amazing and worth the effort ... back to Cicera to pick up the path over the mountain ... three options ... high, lower and the middle way ... which is high enough and with red arrows all the way. .. proper mountain walking through autumn woods, steeply up hairpin paths and wonderful all the way to Liebana ... a moment of awe before the massive mountain face above the village ... another interesting up and over proposed to avoid dangerous mountain road, usurped by cars at the expense of the pilgrims ... lunch of old bread, watered and dressed with honey, chocolate from yesterday's supplies ...road to Potes 8km for cars, pilgrim path 15 with climbing ... enough is enough and the road is chosen ... cliff on one side, drop to river on the other ... hyper-aware of oncoming traffic and survive unscathed ... soon at a bar before Potes for refreshment and rest ... into the very busy Saturday night town ... tourist info issuing keys to central albergue with lots of beds ... only David and me so far ... though the advertised hostel at Santo Toribio, 3 km on and up is closed ... that is the destination tomorrow ... a gentle day, there and back, time to take in the history ... then assess onward route for Monday. .. David goes back to Madrid in the early evening ... a good companion. .. both having improved our language skills ... his brief biog ... 30, working as security for RENFE ... studying psychology ... wanting to work with children ... his rapport with little Claudia in San Vicente augurs  well for such a career ...