Day 19

Today was a wonderful day.  We left Villavante with a destination of Astorga, just 15 mi away.  Astorga is a pretty good sized town with a major medieval cathedral,  a newer Gaudi cathedral, it was a major city in the history of the Camino, and it is known for chocolates and pastries.

We both felt good. The trail was good.

Today we finally made it through the meseta and entered the foothills of the mountains of Leon.  Tomorrow we will begin climbing to make it up to the first of two passes.  The landscape is changing from airid flat farmland to a few trees, some scrub brush and some rolling hills.  It’s nice to finally have something on the horizon to see.

A few miles from Astorga we came upon a pilgrim oasis.  In the middle of no where on the trail (litterally 5 mi from anything), was Dave. He had a building at the top of a hill, and a place set up with everything a pilgrim could want - water, coffee, 12 kinds of juices, milk, fresh fruits, dried fruits, breads, candies, nuts, and on and on.  He had places to sit and relax.  He had a bathroom.  He had hammocks.  Everything free.  He greeted people and said, “The Camino provides”.  People asked if they could donate and he said, “No.  But if you want to make a gift, there is a box over there. It is not necessary.  The Camino provides.”

Dave at the pilgrim oasis.

I asked him if he was in the movie.  He asked me which one, and named two.  I said, no, the movie “6 ways to Santiago”.  He said,  “Yes, I think so.  I have been in many movies”.  The depth of this selflessness is so hard to comprehend.

We continued on to Astoga.  We caught up with Kevin and Robin from Superior and walked into town with them.  They planned a lunch of local delacacies of like blood sausage & pig’s snout and pig’s stomach.  We were looking for pizza. Kevin does some taxidermy work, so that may explain it.

Astorga was great.   In Plaza Mayor we met several Camino friends, including Maggie with the blisters and Dr. Ed.

Plaza Mayor, Astorga.

Cathedral, Astorga

Gaudi Cathedral, Astorga.

At first we planned to stay in Astorga for the night, but then added some distances for tomorrow.  We will go into the mountains, and want to stay near the top, so we needed to put on a few miles yet today.  We toured the Cathedral and museum, got some chocolates, then headed out of town for another 4 mi.

Tonight we are staying in Murias de Rechivaldo. It’s a nice albergue run with a lot of Brazillian staff.  Dinner was vegetarian.  We sat with a tree-cutter from central France, his wife; and a German woman.  The German woman grew up in Eastern Germany.  She had a best friend who died 2yrs ago.  The friend had a dream to do the Camino, so now the German woman is doing it for her friend.  The husband thinks she is crazy.

Another great day. Another great group of people.

Vegetarian dinner in the albergue.

Sunset tonight.

Tomorrow we go into the mountains.

Our path tomorrow into the mountains.