I couldn’t understand why Shaun was snoring so bad last night. He didn’t make a sound the night before in Leon. Every time he would start snoring loud, I’d try shaking the bed to try to wake him up enough that he’d change positions. After Anna got up this morning and left, he told me he considered reaching up between the wall and bed and smacking me every time I shook the bed. He couldn’t get any sleep with Anna’s snoring and my shaking the bed. Pam complained about how bad her bed was shaking from the snoring below her. I guess I’ll give Shaun the benefit of the doubt next time.
The first town we were going to be passing through was over 6 miles away so we grabbed a pilgrim breakfast in the Albergue we were staying in. It was a cup of coffee, a glass of orange juice, and a croissant for 3 Euros. There doesn’t seem to be anything like bacon and eggs in Spain.
Naturally, the first 4 miles were all road walking which just absolutely destroys our feet first thing. Barry and a couple from Australia that were walking with him caught up with us before we left the road. I spent about 3 miles talking with Barry and discovered we are very like minded politically. He’s also embarrassed by our President and thinks he should have his twitter account closed. His handlers need to be doing a better job with him.
After a coffee in Villavante, Barry and Kay and Ross (the Australian couple) moved on. They were hiking at about a 3 mph pace which we couldn’t maintain if we wanted to cover almost 20 today. Their plan was to walk another 5 miles and then call a taxi to take them the rest of the way to Astorga. We found out Barry is almost 72 years old.
Our next break was in just 3 miles where we decided to cool our feet of and stretch them out. This was just shy of half way for us today in the town of Hospital de Orbigo. The radio was playing “Love Story” and Helen saw Pam and I sitting together in the courtyard so she danced in to say hello.
Leaving the cafe, the Camino passes over a medieval bridge from the 13th century that was built on the remains of an old Roman bridge. The field between the rivers used to hold jousting tournaments in the 14th century. We had just missed a festival over the weekend all set up for a jousting tournament. This was a very attractive town set up for hosting pilgrims. With any luck, George will end up staying here tonight.
The next two towns were only a mile and a half apart. We did stop in the second town because we had such a long stretch without any towns after (about 5 miles). Something else that was different today is the presence of terrain. For the last week we have had pretty level walking but now we are getting close to mountains again and will actually have some climbing today and tomorrow.
Allen greeted us at the door of the bar and told us there was a nice courtyard behind the bar. We went in and saw Sherry whom we haven’t seen for a few days. She sat with us for a while and we talked about future plans we all have. We found out she has also sold her house and is traveling this year to decide what the next phase of her life is going to be. After the Camino, she’s going to Iceland for 6 weeks to see where her Grandmother came from. She has an exciting journey ahead.
As we were leaving, Helen and Lise came in. Helen knew Pam had broken her shell that Veronic had giving her in Bayonne and needed a replacement. Helen carries a pilgrim’s gourd instead of a shell and she found another one to give to Pam. We’ve been spending more time with Helen and Lise but still haven’t really had the chance to spend a lot of time with them yet. They seem like an interesting and very likable pair.
We still had 7 miles to go and it was almost 2 so we had to push on. Just outside of Santibanez de Valdeiglesia (now you understand why I just say “town” a lot), Shaun pointed out baby cows for Pam to see. He knows she’s a sucker for baby animals. Pam thought it was cute how they put them in little petting cages. Eventually, Shaun broke the news to her that these were veal calves. Pam vowed to never eat veal again.
The trail was a very pleasant gravel lane with lots of trees for shade. It was sunny, but not too hot. It felt good to be climbing and descending hills again. We could see mountains all around us. I don’t understand why anyone would choose to walk beside the highway when this tract exists.
Four miles into this section, we met Dave. Dave has been living in an abandoned building for the last 8 years and has cleaned it up quite a bit. He puts out fresh fruit and drinks for pilgrims and just leaves out a donation box. We had watermelon and fresh grapes which tasted great. We talked with him and other people passing for about 20 minutes.
Shaun was the strong one now and said we need to push on or we’d end up falling asleep. We pushed on and now Shaun was the afternoon walking monster. I’m usually fastest in the morning. Pam is fastest in the early afternoon. Shaun is a blaze at the end of the day–I don’t know if it’s beer anticipation or imminent foot failure but you have to run to keep up with him.
We had one more stop in San Justo de la Vega to cool off the dogs one last time. It looked like we had a lot of road walking in front of us and my feet were cramping up. We had less than 2 miles to go now. We were pleasantly surprised when the trail diverted off the road onto a gravel track. We kept looking behind us for bikes or possibly Helen and Lise to show up. Who we didn’t expect was Andre and Katalina. We thought for sure they would either take a taxi or have a short day from hangovers. They were doing fine and traveling fast. We walked the last mile with them into Astorga.
We got beds at the first Albergue we came to, which happened to be the one we wanted to stay in. We relaxed a bit before showering to go eat. Heading out to dinner was like a pilgrim reunion. We saw just about everyone we have been interacting with for the last few days except for Oregon Brenda. It was her birthday and we wanted to see her.
We picked a pizza place for supper. Pizza menus can usually be safely deciphered. While we were deciding, Brenda walked by so we nabbed her for a bit. We got the chance to wish her a happy birthday and saw that she was staying at a nice hotel in town. She decided to treat herself to a quiet room and personal bath for this umpteenth depiction of her 29th birthday.
We called it an early night because we are hoping to get in another 16 miles tomorrow to get us close enough to the Cruz de Ferro (the cross where we drop our stones).
