csj guide

[Donald Schell]

Dear Delphia,

When my daughter Maria and I walked stopped in Foncebadon in 1998 we made
our early breakfast in the wind shadow of the church.  The town was
essentially empty except for one boarded up house.  We did see that the
church was being restored (stone rubble, stone-working tools and scaffolding
there, though the roof wasn't complete), though no one was there, and we ate
outside it because inside, though wind-sheltered was colder than learning
against it in the sun.  Sounds like things have changed.  Exactly what is
the inaccuracy in the CSJ guide?  Was there simply no refugio there, or was
it closed for some reason or not yet completed?

And when you say you had no choice but El Acebo - was Tomas's refugio and
coffee stop at Manjarin closed, already full or was it too primitive?  It is
also listed in CSJ's guide, which is why I'm asking.

Maria and I had very, very welcome coffee at Manjarin on that freezing cold,
windy day in July, and then we walked on to El Acebo for lunch at Taberna de
Jose (which we recommend very highly).  Tomas told us the day before had
been blisteringly hot on the mountain- the same weather we'd had at Rabanal.
That cold morning Tomas's coffee and bit of shelter from the wind was
wonderfully inviting, but everything seemed very, very rustic.  Had we been
looking for a refugio rather than coffee, I don't know whether we would have
stayed there or continued on to El Acebo or Molinaseca.

love,
donald