I went and found a supermarket just down the road from the Albergue I purchased a Pink Lady apple and some little muffins that would enable me to take my meds in the morning. I then sat in the street for a while watching the world roll by. Then Bryce and Rory messaged to say they were just around the corner. So I went and joined them for a drink. They were sitting next to a couple Aussies who were doing the Camino on bikes. We decided that we would have dinner at the bar/albergue that we were at. And then head back to our Albergue for sleep. Ray meet another Irish Guy in the restaurant he was from Northern Ireland and when they got talking none of us 3 could really understand a word of what they were saying. Apparently it was English. This other guys accent was so strong it was hard to make out much of what he said. But he was walking the Camino way faster than us. We ordered our dinner and then chattered at the table till they started coming out. Ray ordered the Pasta, the rest of us ordered baby prawns fried with green beans. They were actually quite good. Then I had Chicken steaks for dinner with Chips and supposedly cheesecake for dessert but it was just some sort of crème caramel which was still very nice. After dinner we hobbled our way back to our accomodation. On the way back there as a local who had either been drinking to excess and was very drunk, or he was suffering from some mental illness. He was following us pretty closely we slowed down and he slowed down we stopped and he stopped. We stayed together as a group just in case this was going to develop into something. But when we got to the Albergue we said farewell and went inside and he continued on his way.
This Albergue wasn’t the best they were managing two another accross the road and it was pretty clear that is where their priority lay. There is a picture of the bunk room we were all allocated top bunk which is never great when you are a big guy. We sorted out our stuff and then eventually climbed into bed. Now I have struggled to get comfortable in some of the beds over the last week or so. My hip flex’s have been tight and I need to keep rolling over to get comfortable. Add the blisters that were sore and i couldn’t rest one of my feet on the bed meant that it was hard to get comfortable. All this to say that the little Korean Lady that was underneath me in the bunk chose to vacate the bunk at some point during the night. When I got up to go to the loo at about 1:30am she was gone. Now I am not sure if that was the snoring or the rocking around in the bunk or a combination of both. But there was a vacant top bunk that she relocated to. It wasn’t the best sleep and then pretty soon it was time to get up. I got up slightly before the alarm went off. This proved to be a very good decision as there was only one toilet for all the men in the hostel. And when we got up there was suddenly a cue for the toilet, and whoever was after me was not in that much of a hurry.
I headed downstairs and continued to sort out my stuff for the day and make sure that my feet were ready for our journey today. It took awhile for everyone to pack their stuff dress their wounds and get ready to hit the road. All in the dark with only head torches to light the way, this was downstairs away from the rest of those sleeping upstairs. Needles to say that none of us would be recommending San Miguel Albergue to anyone. We headed outside and the lads asked me to say another prayer to bless the day ahead. I thanked God for our accomodation the food to sustain us, acknowledged the pain and the wounds that we carried. Asked for blessing on our feet and our tired muscles for the journey ahead today. We would be walking just over 20 kms today so it wasn’t too bad. We headed off and just out of town there was a choice continue next to highway or take the more scenic route to Astorga. We looked at them on the map and decided that there wasn’t much in it when it came to distance. What we didn’t check was the elevation. But We figured that the scenic route was a lot more up and down over the hills to get you there.
There was a lovely donation based Cafe as we went accross the hills to get some food and coffee we stopped and head a couple of things and I played with the Border Collie dog for a little while. Then we headed off again to find a place closer to Astorga to get some breakfast. We stopped in a bar in San Justo del la Vega and Chole the French girl who stayed in same hostel as Ray and I on the first night was there. She was pushing to be in Santiago a day before us so I didn’t think we would see her again so we sat down and had coffee with her and took a photo together as we may not see her again. It was an ok breakfast, but as I headed off my feet were sore probably the hills and the rough surface of the stones.
But we were on our way to Astorga now and the key thing about Astorga was the Cathedral and the Goudy Palace next to the Cathedral. When we arrived at the Cathedral they were just starting a mass, so I volunteered to sit a little bit out with the bags so the others could go in. I was pretty tired during the service and had to fight nodding off. I also took some more pain meds as my feet were really sore. After the service we went and got our pilgrims stamp at the Cathedral office and then headed to the Palace which is actually a museum. What an amazing building but I will let the photos speak for themselves. They were closing for Siesta so we got kicked out at 2:00pm and so decided to head for our Albergue which was about 4.5 kms away. Murias de Rechivaldo at Casa Rural Las Águedas Hostel. It is really lovely with a courtyard in the sun that we have been having some drinks and also getting our washing done and the showers were also excellent. I have changed the dressings on the blisters and I think they are on the mend but I am going to send my bag again tomorrow. Everyone is struggling with some injuries of some kind now. It is a vegetarian dinner tonight and we have decided to stay here as it sounded really nice. Ray struggled a little bit with the idea of no meat but he went down the road and had a late lunch with the some meat so he will stay here as well.
Tomorrow I think we have an about 20 something kms but I think several of them are uphill. Anyway thanks for the comments and the encouragement and the prayers i do really appreciate it.
Nga mihi
Mike
Leave a Reply