Today is a relatively long day, about 12 miles. I’m worried about this since yesterday was a short day and I had a lot of pain in my quads, calves, and hamstrings. Of course silly me hasn’t been stretching like I should. So last night I did about 10 minutes of gentle yoga stretching and this morning I didn’t notice any pain. I’ve walked 6 miles already and am doing well 🤞 🙂
Later…we arrived at our hotel rural with plenty of time to do laundry and have an early dinner.
Sorry there isn’t much to say today. Tomorrow will be a big uphill.
Ten more days after today. Mixed emotions are cropping up. We are stronger for all our walking and yet the walking takes its toll on our endurance. We are longing to enter Santiago and equally yearning to return to the life we know.
The walk was short to Villafranca, only 5-6 miles. It’s a town I know well. 4 years ago we had lunch at Don Nacho and I dined there two years ago. The food is memorable.
The dining room
Red peppers stuffed with cod
I even tried to replicate this dish at home. Not quite the same but a good effort.
It is a bittersweet time. All the goodness and all the hard work of walking are bound together tied by a ribbon of love of home and family. I wish I could express this better and I trust that you know what I mean.
Molinaseca is a beautiful little town and this morning we were privileged to walk through the town and continue on a sidewalk path all the way to Ponferrada. And the sidewalk continued through all the little towns afterwards. It’s just one big town with signs announcing the end of one town and the beginning of the next together.
The local grilled octopus stand
We have walked this for 9 of the 13 miles anticipated. But after this last town of Camponaraya we will return to a more Camino like path.
Under 200 km 😃
Buen Camino
Our hotel tonight
The entry
4 years ago Glen gave me a lecture on poultry husbandry and ever since I’ve been enchanted by roosters 🐓 . I want this one!
The phrase for today is “Pick & Choose”. Pick the spot to plant your trekking pole and choose where to put your foot so you can take the next step.
Today’s walk started out on the road. Technically the camino also runs along the road as well as the parallel path. We decided to do the first 3 miles on the road then switch to the path to save ourselves a mile. Well it may have saved a mile but it added an hour and a half to our walk.
Pick & Choose
The path
Keep your eyes on your feet and the path and be careful. But never forget to stop occasionally to enjoy the view.
It is cold, windy, and wet today. The higher we go in elevation the windier it is but I’m told it’s better on the downhill. The temperature is in the 40’s but I’m dressed more warmly so it’s not too bad. I added a second jacket to my daypack so I have a fleece and a rain jacket. And Smartwool makes a dandy pair of socks 🧦 that can double as mittens.
Now the sad part of the day. Today we walked to Cruz de Ferro (the iron cross)
This is where pilgrims bring a stone from home to leave it at the cross. It symbolizes a prayer, hope, concern, or thanks. What makes me sad is that this feels like a sacred place and many pilgrims run up to the cross to take a picture, waving their trekking poles like they’ve just ascended Mount Everest.
Hopes and prayers
My stone
My stone is the small black one on top of the white stone in the center.
I love Astorga! I forgot to mention that we visited the chocolate museum. I didn’t have a picture but I did buy postcards to send to the grandchildren.
At one time there were 51 chocolate makers in Astorga. It is the chocolate capitol of Spain.
Today was quite different. we are off the meseta and back into the mountains. A 400 meter climb beginning in cold rain and ascending into plain old cold. It was the first time I thought, “I want to go home.” Of course it didn’t help that I was wearing shorts, a tee shirt, and a light rain jacket. Silly me 🤪. I made it 8.5 out of the 12.5 miles but then my foot hurt and I just wanted to lay my head down to sleep. So we took a taxi and I took a two hour nap.
There was a very bright spot early on. This is one of the tiny churches along the road with nothing else around it.
Our room is incredible! Very medieval. It was also cold but we sorted that out quickly and now it is toasty.
Outside the room
Our room key
Beef stew cooked 5 hours-delicious
So the day started out not so good but ended up very cozy and comfortable.
Today we are taking a taxi to Astorga. My right ankle has been slightly swollen this entire walk and frankly we were really worn out last night.
Yesterday was a 16+mile day and today is also 16+ miles. It’s the difficult part of planning the camino. Our time is limited so we have no days off. Walking everyday can be a lot on the joints. I’m sure 800 years ago pilgrims would simply stay in one place until they healed. Today with reservations, schedules, and more that doesn’t work for us. So today is a taxi stage. We are off to Astorga.
The reason I’m a little sad 😢 is because Astorga symbolizes the end of the meseta. While the paths along the highway aren’t the most pleasant they are flat and when I’m not struggling to go up hill or carefully watching my feet going down I am free to let my mind wander about. Will there be another camino? What will life be like when Glen retires? Any more grandchildren? What will my life be comprised of? So many thoughts.
Sunrise over San Martin ☀️
In Astorga we experienced a new kind of adventure or at least I did. My right foot has been bothering me and since we are in town for the day it seems a good time to see a physiotherapist for a treatment on my foot/ankle. We went to a couple of places and none could see me before Friday. There are lots of pilgrims needing physiotherapy from the waist down. So we finally settled down in a cafe and I tried to make phone calls. Communicating in a foreign language is difficult at best and impossible over the phone. I actually had to interrupt a woman having coffee with her mother to see if she could interpret.
I finally got an appointment for today. This clinic had an amazing feature…if I didn’t understand the guy he would do something and a digital voice would answer my question. Bliss!
After an hour session of massage and manipulation the physiotherapist taped my foot up, told me to not carry too much weight, and to let the discomfort guide me in walking.
Yesterday I was insulted by my watch. After two days off my watch said, “It looks like you took a day off. Try to close at least one ring today.” I do not need a digital object to make remarks about my movement or lack there of. My watch never says, “Hey you’ve been working hard for quite some time. Take a day off and rest. You’ve earned it.”
Apart from the watch today has been a good day. Although it was cool and somewhat windy, the sun was out and we made it into Leon, the halfway point. There are little towns dotted along the way so plenty of places to stop for a drink or a snack. However the actual walk into Leon is rather tedious. Léon is a big city so it’s all city walking. Not very attractive.
Léon
The other good thing that happened today was totally serendipitous. I went to the front desk for change to go to the laundromat. A French couple was checking in and they spoke no Spanish or English. The clerk only spoke Spanish and English. So I stood up and said, “I speak French.” I was able to translate the clerk’s English instructions (and some of the Spanish) into French so the couple could check in. Two minutes earlier and I would have gotten my change and been gone. I was really glad to help. I guess my word to describe today is helpful.
Buen Camino
One of our stops
I hope that’s not the guest house
If you’re not ordering food, the bathroom costs 1€
I’ve never seen one of these!
My stamp for today
We are staying at a Benedictine monastery made into a hotel. Lovely 😊
We have taken a few days off the camino to rest and recover. It is harder this time around and with a janky (that’s a medical term) ankle and general exhaustion we elected to skip two stages of our Camino.
We spent an extra night in a monastery converted into a 4 star hotel, The Real Monasterio San Zoilo. It was wonderful. The common areas of the hotel had Gregorian chants piped in. Very soothing. Last night we stayed in a truck stop. Apart from a few amenities both were great places to stay. Our room is new, clean, and has everything we need. The restaurant downstairs has a fine menu even if the place resembles a Stuckey’s without the pecan logs.
View from the room
Where are the pecan logs?
The snack/gift shop
So we head off today for a 12 mile walk and just to keep things interesting there’s a light rain this morning. The rain cleared up quickly and despite cooler temperatures with the sun out and our pace of walking it was very pleasant.
Today we are walking along the road. It’s not the prettiest paths, but it goes from Fromista to Carrion de los Condes. There is an alternative path that we took four years ago that follows the river. It is a more beautiful path, but longer. There’s no shade along the road but it’s cool and actually when I say there’s no shade what I mean is there no trees lining this road. There are however scattered clouds in the sky and they make a little patch of shade right underneath them It reminds me of when we lived in New Mexico, and we might be driving down the road and look over at a field, and there would be a single large circle of shade, and if you looked above, the sky would be absolutely clear except for that one cloud that was giving shade to that little part so today I’m grateful for the clouds and for the little shade they provide.
Upon arriving and checking in we went to the main plaza in town for a drink and met two Americans from Houston. Friends and work colleagues they bickered like an old married couple. We talked about how we each had caminos planned that were derailed by the dreaded covid. Then Mike reached into his pack and gave us a hand carved shell that he made.
Mike from Houston
The back of the shell
Does anyone remember going to Disney World or Disneyland and seeing the Monsanto 360° theater? Wherever you stood whether you looked ahead or to your right, to your left or turned around it was if you were standing in the middle of that place and everywhere you looked was what you would see around you if you were really there. It’s like that here on the camino and taking a picture or even taking a panoramic picture or even trying to to do a 180° video of what’s around me just doesn’t capture it. It’s so vast and so beautiful. It takes my breath away.
So incredible
Buen Camino
No way
I’ve seen deer crossings, but never a toro crossing
One day I decided to go for a walk... 