We are now on our way to Astorga. It rained during the night and it is very cloudy and quite cool which is great for walking. The route we have chosen is a couple of kms longer than the road route but takes us through a number of picturesque little villages and towns. The landscape in this part of the Camino is quite different from the Maseta. There are taller trees, hills and mountains in the distance can be seen, and the little grassland birds have been replaced with larger birds such as magpies and other birds we cannot identify by name. We reached Hospital de Orbigo in a couple of hours and were so disappointed that we had not pushed on yesterday. It is most beautiful. It is all dressed up for a Fiesta including the jousting tents in the meadow leading up to the city. We stopped and had breakfast in a little bar just on the other side of an old Roman bridge. The Camino took us through some very interesting landscape, difficult going at times because of the rocky road killing our feet and at other times, it was pleasant. When we finally reached the top of the hill with a cool wind blowing, we just stood there and enjoyed it. We had been quite warm during the climb and it was a relief for both of us. It was a very long trek and at one point we had to take a break. We sat down in a shady place beside the path and had our lunch. The place seems to be just full of Germans. They don´t seem to want to mix and, I suppose, they don´t need to since they can always find someone from home to do a bit of the road with. We also met a couple praying out loud while walking, they did not even respond to our "Hola", quite a rare thing on the Camino. Finally, after over 6 hours of walking, we reached the top of the hill and, there in the distance, we could see Astorga. It was a good 5 kms away but, we now had a target to shoot for. Two hours and four extremely sore feet later, we were in town. There was one final hurdle to overcome, so we thought, and that was an extremely steep hill to reach the town. We got to the Municipal Albergue only to realize that we had to now climp quite a lot of stairs to get into its lobby. Once checked in, we were shown our room - on the fourth floor, no less. It had a g
reat view and another couple in it since it is a 2 bunk bed room. They are German, not that friendly. They went to bed just as we needed to unpack and fell asleep. The guy snores enough to swallow us up. Poor them, we have all our things packed in individual ziplock bags so everything we take out is noisy. Our walk from here will be a continuous uphill all the way to Rabanal del Camino, an 800 meter climb. We almost certainly won´t make it there tomorrow since it is over 25 kms away. Bye for now, we are going to dinner and will hopefully be back to our room before our bunk mates go to sleep. Remember, all our things are in plastic bags!
We are now on our way to Astorga. It rained during the night and it is very cloudy and quite cool which is great for walking. The route we have chosen is a couple of kms longer than the road route but takes us through a number of picturesque little villages and towns. The landscape in this part of the Camino is quite different from the Maseta. There are taller trees, hills and mountains in the distance can be seen, and the little grassland birds have been replaced with larger birds such as magpies and other birds we cannot identify by name. We reached Hospital de Orbigo in a couple of hours and were so disappointed that we had not pushed on yesterday. It is most beautiful. It is all dressed up for a Fiesta including the jousting tents in the meadow leading up to the city. We stopped and had breakfast in a little bar just on the other side of an old Roman bridge. The Camino took us through some very interesting landscape, difficult going at times because of the rocky road killing our feet and at other times, it was pleasant. When we finally reached the top of the hill with a cool wind blowing, we just stood there and enjoyed it. We had been quite warm during the climb and it was a relief for both of us. It was a very long trek and at one point we had to take a break. We sat down in a shady place beside the path and had our lunch. The place seems to be just full of Germans. They don´t seem to want to mix and, I suppose, they don´t need to since they can always find someone from home to do a bit of the road with. We also met a couple praying out loud while walking, they did not even respond to our "Hola", quite a rare thing on the Camino. Finally, after over 6 hours of walking, we reached the top of the hill and, there in the distance, we could see Astorga. It was a good 5 kms away but, we now had a target to shoot for. Two hours and four extremely sore feet later, we were in town. There was one final hurdle to overcome, so we thought, and that was an extremely steep hill to reach the town. We got to the Municipal Albergue only to realize that we had to now climp quite a lot of stairs to get into its lobby. Once checked in, we were shown our room - on the fourth floor, no less. It had a g
reat view and another couple in it since it is a 2 bunk bed room. They are German, not that friendly. They went to bed just as we needed to unpack and fell asleep. The guy snores enough to swallow us up. Poor them, we have all our things packed in individual ziplock bags so everything we take out is noisy. Our walk from here will be a continuous uphill all the way to Rabanal del Camino, an 800 meter climb. We almost certainly won´t make it there tomorrow since it is over 25 kms away. Bye for now, we are going to dinner and will hopefully be back to our room before our bunk mates go to sleep. Remember, all our things are in plastic bags!
1 comment:
Each morning we rise, prepare our coffee and tea, and then immediately look for your daily blog entry.
You disappointed us three days running, but then, you surfaced again.
We half expected that you might surface in Paris, but no, you are still on the Camino. Good for you!
E&L
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