Downshift Musings

Our visit to Astorga was lovely. Mary and I took the bus to cut short what would have been a 31km day, but Tristan walked the whole way.

Our hostess Patrícia and her son Gabriel at the hostel Só por Hoje (“Just for today”) were lovely and welcoming.

We had a lively pilgrim dinner of classic Brazilian food and made some friends.

Tristan finally got a chance to go out and meet the ”young crowd”. There was apparently quite the gathering and a bit of a pub crawl to celebrate a pilgrim’s birthday.

We visited the chocolate museum and the Episcopal Palace designed by Gaudi. It was even more beautiful than I had imagined and I was glad to see it this time since Rich and I missed it in 2017.

I think I need to redecorate at home now.

We left Astorga yesterday morning headed up our first mountain to Foncebadón. Tristan was really feeling the long distance from the day before and struggled, even with his pack transported ahead. We ended up needing to call a taxi out from Astorga to transport us 5 km to Rabanal del Camino where I was hoping there would be a pharmacy.

Alas, no pharmacy, but an ice pack and some lunch enabled him to climb the last 5 km to our hostel.

Foncebadón, a tiny hamlet. They’ve paved the only road since I was here last time.

And Mary and I made it too. We met 80-something George on the way up. He’s from Alabama and doing his 6th Camino.

Absolutely gorgeous weather. We’ve been lucky so far! I was way too tired to post last night so… lots more to share. We’re in Molinaseca now about to go stick our feet in the river. Next post- our visit to Cruz de Ferro this morning!