I am once again enjoying the luxury of a private room as a treat after doing 46km in a day. Didn’t I say never again?
There is a reason for today’s long walk. In the next few days Robin is meeting her husband who will join her for the last week of the walk although this will require her missing a couple of days walking and catching a train. The other girls are going to join her so they can continue to walk together. However, Gale and I are determined to walk the whole way and yet we would also like to walk into Santiago de Compostela with the people with whom we have shared so much of the journey. As a result we need to do some extended days and today, which was largely flat, seemed like a good opportunity to make a dent in the extra distance we need to do, hence a 6.30 start and a long day.
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| Hippy Cafe - everything free! Check the guy in the background... |
It’s been a day of tracks and roads and rain. Initially our route took us through the outskirts of Leon and then continued to follow main roads. It’s been like this for a few days now, a big change from the white track that trailed through fields taking you from tiny village to tiny village earlier in the trip and a reflection of the more populated area we now seem to find ourselves in. It’s not so bad though: sometimes the track is alongside the road but at others it is slightly offset, buried in the woods or shrubs by the roadside although always within earshot of the traffic, which today being Sunday wasn’t too bad.
We had a good lunch at Hospital del Órbigo, a small town which grew up to serve pilgrims on the Camino and which has one of Spain’s longest medieval bridges. We bumped into Rob and Greg after sticking our noses into the interesting looking courtyard of an albergue where, it turned out, they were staying. And as we chatted the heavens opened. And I mean a downpour. It was a difficult decision to walk out into the rain and ignore their suggestions that we join them for the night but we did.
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| Approaching Hospital del Orbigo |
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| Hospital del Orbigo |
From Hospital del Órbigo we hit tracks across fields and woods. For an hour the rain poured, the lightning split the sky and the thunder rumbled above us. Water streamed down the track and although often the rain would seem to abate for a while it would then start again with the same intensity. We passed two tiny villages and each time managed to ignore the temptation of the albergues we saw. But after a long walk through woods and moorland the private rooms in the hostel here in San Justo de la Vega won us over, even though the rain had stopped by then and the sun was trying to appear. By the time we went for an early dinner it was raining again and I’m now in bed trying to decide whether there is any point in checking tomorrow’s forecast.
From Hospital del Órbigo we hit tracks across fields and woods. For an hour the rain poured, the lightning split the sky and the thunder rumbled above us. Water streamed down the track and although often the rain would seem to abate for a while it would then start again with the same intensity. We passed two tiny villages and each time managed to ignore the temptation of the albergues we saw. But after a long walk through woods and moorland the private rooms in the hostel here in San Justo de la Vega won us over, even though the rain had stopped by then and the sun was trying to appear. By the time we went for an early dinner it was raining again and I’m now in bed trying to decide whether there is any point in checking tomorrow’s forecast.
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