Day 11 - 05.07.2020

  

Astorga – Foncebadon - day 11

We start quite quickly, from the chic Astorga, barely visible by day, but in passing we admire once again the wonderful architecture that is shown to us in a different light, as if springing from a fairy tale, stone houses, piled one along the other, narrow alleys dotted with multicolored flowers at the windows.

The classic stage of this part of the route ends in Rabanal del Camino but we extend it to Foncebadon. Basically today we start crossing the mountains in the Leon region. The ascent is quite gentle up to Rabanal del Camino, but a continuous ascent, which is going to be accentuated to Foncebadon, a town located at an altitude of 1437 meters. 

For the first time in this adventure we feel swift and when we get to Rabanal del Camino relatively quickly we decide to eat at the restaurant at the entrance of the town that had a generous terrace and we can sit quietly in the generous shade. 

We buy a combined plate consisting of eggs, french fries and grilled sausages but also salad, coffee and cola for cooling. After the hearty meal, you can barely move, but seeing that other pilgrims are catching up, we get up as if in a hurry, stepping up. 

Around 3 pm we arrive in Foncebadon, we are the first pilgrims to reach the hostel. After we stay and we wash , other pilgrims start arriving: 4 Italians and 3 Spanish. We are not very tired so we sit on the terrace in the inner courtyard of the hostel and seem much more confident in our chances of success. The only thing that can make our souls bitter is the distance and the lack of trust of the other pilgrims, no one talks to us or sits down with us at the table. The afternoon passes quickly and the evening gradually envelops us.

What will the next day bring us?

Day 9 & 10

Day 9

At 7 in the morning we have to leave the monastery, we walk around the town, drink a coffee and look for the bus station. However, we regret the part of the Meseta that we will not see but the conditions do not allow us (we do not find accommodation open, the internal situation in Romania is a bit uncertain) and the fear of being stuck in Spain does not give us peace. While we wait for the bus we make reservations for albergues in Leon and Astorga so that we don't have any problems. 

We arrive in Leon feeling down and quite worried about the situation at home, we don't even have the strength to go and visit the city. We go shopping for the next day, wash our clothes and clean the wheelchair of mud and dust after the past few days. Vasi rests all afternoon. The albergue where we are staying is a new and modern one with an adapted bathroom and very good conditions, so I can wash  without any stress. 

Day 10 : Leon - Astorga

Today's stage is a long one because, in fact we planned to do two combined stages 24.6 km to San Martin del Camino plus the 23.7 km to Astorga.

At the exit from Virgen del Camino we choose the common route because we don't know anything about it,  we prefer to go parallel to the national road N120. It is a boring stage without big differences in level but also without places where you can drink a coffee or something refreshing. After Hospital de Orbigo we meet a completely different relief, we leave behind the vast fields of cereals or vineyards and the hills are a bit more pronounced and then we meet the gorgeous alpine vegetation.

We arrive in Astorga. Entering the beautiful town is difficult for me and my 3-wheeled bike stairs, obviously I can not climb them and on the road the severe slope of the hill tests us. Good thing, it's a short distance. We find a chic town where you can admire the beautiful cathedral and the wonderful episcopal palace, the last work of Antoni Gaudi. The pedestrian squares are full of tourists and pilgrims, the terraces are lively.

The municipal albergue in Astorga is quite modest, it has a lot of stairs at the entrance but I was somewhat lucky because they had a bedroom in the basement and a spacious bathroom quite accessible. Next to the albergue just a few steps away is a beautiful garden where you can spend the afternoon in peace,while you can taste the wonderful chocolate made right in the village. We rest quite well due to the fact that in the basement bedroom there's just the two of us.

 

Day 8 - 02.07.2020

An endless day through huge fields of wheat, you can barely see someone, a tractor gathering huge bales of straw or a combine harvesting wheat.

We advance all day on dirt and asphalt tracks, being very early when we left the hotel, and we got lost, instead of turning left towards Itero de la Vega, we go forward towards Boadilla del Camino on the road.

Without energy and moody, we didn't even take photos slowly, the only interesting thing from this stage is the Roman bridge, which is still used today, being transited even by cars.

We do not find accommodation in Fromista or in the following villages, so we have to go to Carrion de los Condes, where we spend the night in the hostel of the monastery of Santa Clara. We are expected by a gentleman, the nuns do not interact with anyone. Not being renovated for many years, the doors are so narrow that every time I have to go to the toilet Vasi has to take me in his arms.

After the 43 km, the fatigue makes its presence felt, but also Vasi's hip pain, in the evening other pilgrims, two cyclists and a man and three boys (about the age of my son, Raul, 17 years old) start to arrive.

We spend the rest of the evening studying the map and trying to find out what awaits us next, but also to decide what to do, because the muscle pain, according to the pharmacist, makes its presence known even while resting.

We decide to go by bus to Leon the next day because there are still two difficult stages ahead of us, including the climb on O Cereibo. All day long we have our nerves stretched to the limit.