Week five summary

PLODDING ALONG - having the experience of our lives.

Day 28 - Saturday, Sept. 20 - Sahagun - El Burgo Ranero- 17 km

Not many choices on this this day. Walk or don't walk.  And since "don't walk" is not an option, that only leaves one choice - walk.

In some ways, I wish people when writing their experiences didn't use words like "monotonous", "boring" etc, but for some reason those words have been used frequently across the mesetas.  Using those words sets a low level of expectation in our minds before we start.  And of today's walk in particular, someone said, "it's the only part of the Camino I truly hated."

It is true - this was a long walk.  With only one small village to break the routine.  But I still don't get the remarks.  It was no different than the long walk a few days ago from Fromista to Calzadilla.  It was no different than the long walk along the firebreak just before San Juan de Ortega.  Or how about the long walk into Los Arcos at 35 C a few Sundays ago.

It is what it is.  

Arrived at El Burgo Ranero, got invited in to a private hostel, that hostel had a masseuse for a donation, so for the first time we treated ourselves to this pleasure of the Camino.  

Day 29 - Sunday, Sept. 21 - El Burgo Ranero - Villarente - 25 km

Not an easy day because of the distance, but also not a hard day.  Walked three hours (13 k) before breakfast in Religious.  Then one and half hours (6.5 k) to Mansiokas de la Mulas.  Beautiful garden Albergue there where we stopped to refuel.  Would have made a great spot for the night, and as tired as we were we almost stayed, but really wanted to get closer to Leon today so soldiered on for the next hour and half of heat (this was the first really hot day for a couple of weeks). Arrived at Villarente at 3:00, found another great Albergue, rested and ate a pilgrim meal with everyone else. (Thee were no other choices without rather lengthy walk)

Day 30 - Monday, Sept. 22 - Villarente to Leon - 12 km

We expected the walk to be easy, dotted with several cafés on suburban streets, but not so.  It wound through highways, business sections, etc.  and by the time we finally got somewhere we were quite hungry.  Thankfully, we had one bar with us, (had not been able to stock up on fruit yesterday because it was Sunday), otherwise my blood sugar may have kicked into high gear.

Finally found our hotel in Leon - pleasantly surprised when we got there.  The location is not what we would have liked, since it is out of the "pilgrim" area, but 53€ per night for 4 star was a steal.  It took us about 30 minutes to walk to the Cathredal after.

Met Markin, and had an intriguing pilgrim supper (meaning none of us had any idea what we had ordered) and a great 2 hour catch up chat

BONUS - after leaving Marlin, we ran into Sigrid and Clara - the twins from Holland.  They were as happy to see us as we were to see them.  They were with friends, so it was only a quick "hello" but we made unofficial plans to meet again in Santiago.

Day 30 a - Tuesday, Sept. 23 - Day off in Leon

Did some shopping in the morning near the hotel.  In higher afternoon we walked in to the Cathredal area and did the tour as well as some "pilgrim watching".  Back to the hotel area for the evening meal (found a pizza place) and that was that for the day off.

Day 31 - Wednesday, Sept. 24 - Leon to Villadangos del Paramor - 20 km

Left the hotel at 8:45 and just like that, we were pilgrims again.  Walked though the official route, even though we had been to much of it the day before, and then out of the city.  The first part of the walk was getting through the suburbs, and then breakfast at Virgen del Camino.  After that we missed the cutoff to the "more desirable" alternate route, so had a long, hot, noisy 14 km walk beside a rather noisy highway.  Combine that with Lorraine's leg not cooperating - let's just say we were glad to find an albergue, and call this a day.  Uneventful evening meal at local restaurant. Except we met Rob from Berlin and exchanged blog addresses.  Look him up at www.Robsco.blogspot.de   

Day 32 - Thursday, Sept. 25 - Villadangos to Justo de la Vega - 23 km

Cold morning - guessing 2 or 3 C, cold enough to see our breath until about 9:00 am, cold enough to wear gloves. But after that, it became a beautiful day, warm sunshine - probably 24 C.

We had a great walking day - so great that we went 9 km further than we expected.  Lorraine's legs cooperated the best they have since week one. The first part of the day saw us pass through three villages, which makes the time pass more quickly.  

At 1:00 we left Orbigo for the last 11 km to Astorga.  This was the first time sin several days we have been off the highway, and it was wonderful.  Pasture, farmyard, corp land, potato harvest, wooded area, etc.  It was a great stretch, but proved to be a bit long.mso we were glad when we found an albergue 3 km early!  It proved to be not much, and the meal was likewise not much. BUT it saved us from walking a painful three more km!

The highlight of the day was a man named David.  4 km before the finish, there he was ... Sharing his life and his energy ... And all his possessions with anyone who wanted.  Look for a separate blog on him ... " a Man named David"

Day 33 - Friday, Sept. 26 - Justo de la Vega to - Santa Catalina de Samosa - 12 km

A purposeful slower start to the day, as we knew that we would be looking for a clinic in Astorga, so Lorraine could get that pesky bump (is it a blister, is it an infection, is it a thorn?) checked out.  Found the "clinic" (actually hospital outpatients) at 10:00, had it looked at and poked and prodded, and we were on the way at 12:00.  She went to the Farmacia, while I went back and paid for the breakfast I had forgetten to pay for this morning, we found a fruit store and by 12:30 we were pilgrims again.

Walked until 3:00, it was hot, and 12 km felt right for the day so we stopped.  Just "happened" to be at an absolutely beautiful albergue, which makes up for last nights dispointment. 

And that, my friends, is the end of week