Day 17 - 11.07.2020

Hello dear ones, it seems that age has made its presence known say, and I forgot to tell you something! On our way through the wonderful villages, when everything gets monotonous and becomes full of boredom, every time someone comes to warm our hearts.

This time the "angel" who came to get us out of the monotony is Jose, a Spanish "chico", who lives in Germany and carries the Way in his soul, he came by bike from Germany and rides the whole Camino and if he has no problems he will he also ride his bicycle back home to Germany. Jose gets off his bike to keep up with us and to keep us company part of the route. From story to story he tells us that he visited Romania and with regret he told us that he did not get to see it all.

Today's stage continues like the previous day, passing through rural areas and intersecting small villages. In the first half of the route, starting from 350 meters altitude, you reach 725 meters altitude, after Hospital da Cruz.

We arrived quite easily in Palas de Rei, passing through huge chestnut forests. When booking a hostel we find that it is totally inaccessible with many stairs, so we decide to look for something else. We finally find another hostel, but because of the Covid-19 hostel itself it is not open, so we get a room.

This whole stage is very tiring for me, not physically, but mentally, because going through many small villages that did not have bars and restaurants, I had nowhere to go to the toilet. We arrived around noon, it was exactly 2 pm, when we finished the accommodation procedures, and the rest of the day we do nothing but rest.

Day 15 - 09.07.2020

From Fonfria to Triacastela there is a continuous descent, as we started on the road quite early and the fog and low temperatures are tiring, the wind in front makes the descent even more unpleasant. We didn't really recover after the previous day and we don't feel like talking.

Arriving at Triacastela we stop for a coffee. We are in a real dilemma, where to go? Through San Xil, a shorter road in the valley or through Samos with 7.2 km longer? We choose to go through Samos to visit the famous monastery, a beautiful road with impressive oak and chestnut forests on both sides of the river Oribio (Sarria).

In Samos we are looking for the monastery, mentioned above, dedicated to San Julian founded in the sixth century, which unfortunately is closed under the given conditions, we barely manage to stamp our credential. After we leave the small town, I can barely move my arms, which puts Vasi to an extra effort. 

With great effort we arrive in Saria, we take accommodation at a boarding house, because no one answered the phone at the hostel. We weren't very inspired because the bathroom was very small, and it was impossible for me to go to the toilet or take a shower.

 

We rest the rest of the day without worries, we know that the albergues will be open. We didn't even think much about tomorrow, but in order to not get bored, life gets us in a little hassle tomorrow, which we could have avoided today.

Day 13 - 07.07.2020

We start a fast and beautiful day, used to walk many kilometres in one day, today's stage is a blessing, until Villa Franca del Biezo we do not find many shady places, but we went early in the morning so we had no problem.

The next route to Trabadelo is a real pleasure because most of the route goes parallel to the river, which gives you a generous shade due to the vegetation, but also an invigorating feeling due to the water.

We arrive at Trabadelo quite quickly during the day, we try to find out about the difficulty of the next day's stage, because the climb on O Cebreiro makes us uncomfortable and nervous. The rest of the afternoon we enjoy the pool of the pension where we stayed, but also on the banks of the river Valcarce, thus reducing the foot edema that accompanied me for several days.

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.