Camino Day 20: Mansilla de las Mulas –> León
Camino Day 21: León Rest Day
Camino Day 22: León –> Hospital de Órbigo
Camino Day 23: Hospital de Órbigo –> Astorga
For the past few days, my friend hadn’t been feeling very well. I wasn’t sure if I’d be walking to León with him or solo. But like Michael Jordan in his flu game, he powered on the 18 kilometer journey to León.
In my original plan, I hadn’t planned any rest days. I thought I’d be going every single day. Now I was about to enjoy my second rest day of the Camino while still planning to end on time. We arrived in León before 11 AM, our earliest arrival yet. We also reunited with our Irish friends who had gone to León ahead of time.
After a short rest, I rode the guiri train, you know, the tourist train that takes you around the city and tells you information about it in a variety of languages. I basically paid for a ride around the city because I was so exhausted that the words were not computing in neither English nor Spanish.
In the afternoon, we rested back at the hostel. It was great to be out of an albergue, although we still had bunk beds. Despite this, we were one of the only ones in the hostel, making it a much more enjoyable time.
In the evening, we wondered out. We paid way too much money for mediocre pasta because we ate in front of the cathedral. Then, we finished our night in the Plaza Mayor, just passing the time.
The next day, we were able to wake up when we wanted. We weren’t awoken at 4 AM by people rustling their bags, eager to get a start on the day. The morning was a lazy morning. Eventually, we found our way to the cathedral.
The Catedral de León is not the biggest of cathedrals, but it is still beautiful to see. It’s collection of over 120 panes of stained glass were amazing and carefully placed for the optimal lighting. To the modern person, it’s kind of weird to think this is how the Bible was presented the illiterate citizens only a few hundred years ago.
León is a big city, but there isn’t a ton to see. I spent the rest of my day getting my nails done, thinking about shopping, and eating a fantastic hamburger. The afternoon was calm, preferring a tranquil day to a hectic one before we set off again.
Tuesday morning was not easy. One of our friends decided to stay behind an extra day because they were not feeling well. The remaining three of us hunkered down for a long day. In total, we walked about 33 kilometers.
The walk out of León wasn’t too difficult. Walking out of cities makes the time go by faster because you don’t realize how much you are actually walking. The terrain was still rather flat. We still passed some wheat and sunflower fields, but they became fewer.
At 20 kilometers, we were feeling good. At 25 kilometers, we still felt rather good. The town was also built along a highway, so we continued along. At some point, though, we lost track of the arrows and found ourselves among the corn fields. We were excited to see a new crop, but then, we also lost sight of the yellow arrows pointing us to Santiago. Luckily, we were easily able to find out way back to the main path. The last few kilometers were still difficult.
When we arrived in Hospital de Órbigo, we were all rather surprised. It was actually a pretty cute town. It looked clean and there were some shops and restaurants. Even a bank! We decided to treat ourselves to a big lunch and settle for a small dinner. In the afternoon, we went to the municipal pool. However, if you wanted to swim, you had to wear a swim cap, so I wasn’t about to do that.
This leads us to this morning. I knew I could not do 30 kilometers again, so we were going to settle for about 25 or so. We left a little earlier so we could spend some time in Astorga. The morning was rather cold. I never thought I’d be wearing a jacket at the end of July in Spain.
We stopped for some breakfast, enjoying the time off our feet. Before long, though, we were walking again. There were some hills. We hadn’t seen hills in a long time. More trees were appearing and there were mountains in the distance.
About 10 AM, we could see Astorga in the distance. We thought we were so close, but there was another town in front of it. I just wanted to get to Astorga. The trail seemed to go on and on. We saw cows, pigs, and donkeys, too. Finally, we arrived in Astorga around 11 AM.
Astorga was such a cute town. I looked around the town, wishing we were staying here. One of my friends had gone to get another pilgrim credential because she ran out of space for her stamps. She asked where the next good town to stop at was. They told her 20 kilometers away. There was no way I could walk a further 20 kilometers after yesterday.
Well, we did it. We decided to have a short day and stay in Astorga. We didn’t want to sit in a small village all day with nothing to do. There were other days we could make up the distance. Plus, two of our French friends were staying in town. On top of that, our friend who stayed an extra day in León decided to walk over 50 kilometers to reach Astorga.
Like I said, Astorga is a cute town. The architecture is warm and welcoming. We enjoyed home made pizza in the Plaza Mayor. There was even a chocolate museum! I was able to take a nap in the comfy albergue bed. In the afternoon, we walked around the town, passing the Palacio Gaudí and the cathedral. In my opinion, we made the right choice. The Camino is about enjoyment, not pushing yourself beyond the limit.
