Hospital de Orbigo and on to Astorga

The sopa castellana turned out rather spicy, due to an accident with the cayenne pepper, but for a first attempt without help, it was very good.  It took the boys longer to cook than they had anticipated, but I think they had fun making it.  W sat out in the back patio of the albergue to eat, and I started chatting with the other pilgrims. There was a group of young Spanish students who has just started their walk in Leon, and had walked the kilometers that we had just done on the bus, an older Spanish couple and guy from Cuba.  The boys cleared away and washed up, and the disappeared - the conversation was very fast and I could barely keep up with it, let alone join in.

It was a lively discussion, covering many topics, and continued until the hospitalero came out to lock up.  Lights out was at 10pm, with breakfast served at 6am the following morning.  I really enjoyed the evening, very relaxing and the perfect antidote to the stress caused by the bus ride earlier, and I was sure  I was going to get a good night's sleep.  When I chose my bed, I had not taken into account the bright orange emergency light that shone right into my face.  When we had arrived at the albergue, the sun was shining through the windows and I had not seen the light at all.  

I woke up after fitful sleep, and waited for breakfast to be ready.  We were down first for breakfast, followed by the young students, all of whom looked like we had after our first day - barely awake, complaining about the snoring and stiff and achy in places we had never felt before!  I do not know what time we left the albergue, but the morning was beautiful, clear and crisp, the path well-marked, and we were on our way.

We reached the first village quickly, too early to stop, only to find that the second village did not have a cafe that was open.  Nico and I went into the albergue there, and used their "comfort" facilities quickly, because there was a sign that said they were only for guests of the albergue, but there was no one to stop us.  I would have paid them if they had wanted me to!

We made really good progress through the countryside, and I would share the pictures, but they are on my camera, not the iPad, so I will share them later.  Suddenly we were looking down on Astorga. There has been s town here for thousands of years, it was an important garrison town for the Romans.

We walked through the satellite village, past the cafes (by mistake), and the Camino seemed to be heading straight for the cathedral, where the albergue we had chosen was located.  Suddenly the Camino took a sharp left, and through an ugly part of town and up a very  steep hill.  We walked past the municipal albergue, past the Roman excavation, through several squares and finally to the cathedral.  We had been joined by an English guy, and together we finally found the albergue.  We checked in, chose beds, showered, washed clothes and headed out for lunch (but not before I found out that Dave is from Biggin Hill, close to where I grew up!).  Lunch was tricky for some reason, and Nico split his toe open on a step, but we were finally fed, and then stopped in at the supermarket to buy food for supper.  Back at the albergue, it was siesta time, which was sadly interrupted by a very loud conversation upstairs - the floorboards are the only thing that separate the floors - but the couple that we had met yesterday are in the same dormitory, and he went upstairs to ask them to be a little quieter.  

After resting, we went down and had a cup of tea, which we shared with Dave, and also began to prepare supper. We then visited the cathedral and the Palace Gaudi designed for the Archbishop, which is now a museum.  A quick Skype call home while we cooked supper, and then an earlyish night - we have a lot of walking to do tomorrow.

The remains of the sopa,and a couple of views of the Plaza Mayor in Astorga.