Day 24 to Hospital de Orbigo
Day 24 Oct 2 Destination = Hospital de Orbigo / 309 km to go
“The destiny of every walking man is to immerse himself in the panorama surrounding him, to the point of becoming one with it and, ultimately, to vanish”
-Federico Castigliano
Today the thought process is to get rolling early and go a little longer since most of the day will be flat or slightly downhill, other than the first stretch to the first town will be uphill. I have chosen not to take a rest day and Leon I think I’ve seen enough and want to stick to my schedule of being in Santiago on the 16th. I do have enough margin to either take a full day off between now and then or have shorter mileage days as required by how I feel.
I seem to of survived last nights sushi dinner buffet- all you can eat -in spite of violating my rule where I do not eating in a sushi restaurant if there are no other people around. I ate alone. I did quiz the waiter since he was new there and asked when do you get the deliveries of your fish to which he answered Thursday (yesterday). Stilll this did bother me because they only get their fish once a week 😳 like I said I’m glad I survived it gastro-intestinally speaking 😵
Bleak: definition; bare, desolate, and often windswept: a bleak plain. piercing; raw: without hope or encouragement; depressing; dreary:
Slow newsday…maybe it’s because most of the road was a beat up gravel road along side a highway but it’s still the original Camino Francés. I think most would call it a boring day, bleak, ugly. Can’t wait to get it over with but I think in the big scheme of things it’s OK - it’s part of it. Very mental and very physical - 41,000 steps. 24km, 15 mi !
This is a personal record for me thus far. And I felt it.
Nothing romantic about the unworked weed filled fields or the abandoned rural casas. Looks like a lot of failed efforts, economic hardship, and broken dreams. It had a sadness to it all.
The ‘land between’.
Jeff Manion wrote about this concept in his book by the same title. (Summary: “The Land Between provides biblical insight for people traveling through undesired and difficult transitions such as foreclosure, illness, breakups, unemployment, uncertainty, and failure, etc. Such times provide our greatest opportunity for spiritual growth”). The premise; I don’t want to be where I was. I don’t want to be where I am right now. I want to be somewhere out there in the future and I don’t wanna be here anymore- I’m stuck. I feel trapped. So today’s section resonances with me on how he adroitly covered the subject of ‘getting from here to there’ and growing in the process. One step at a time, one foot in front of another, looking forward not spending a lot of time looking back.
Even some of the Hostals along this stretch look iffy if not sketchy , like out of the ‘Hotel California’ where ‘you can check in but you can’t check out’. I doubled my pace after passing by especially creepy one. Freddy Kruger carved life size rendition of SanTiago standing guard out front !
As I passed, now I hear a singing behind me and out of nowhere there’s a Peregrino walking. Most definitely feel like I’m in the twilight zone it and I’m really looking forward to days end.
Lots of litter on the side of the road and trail in the ditch. Most of it’s plastic bottles, empty cigarette packs, and lots of beer cans -it appears that some of those that have gone before have chosen to smoke and drink their way through this section 😱
Anyway, it was the kind of a morning to reflect on ‘bare bone’ basic principles in my life -no scratch that- the most elemental of things - no scratch that - trying to get down to the blank canvas in my mind of whats most important in my life. Whats there, do I want to redraw anything, kind of like starting a watercolor painting with a ‘wash’. Do I want to lay something new down on it? If I had any catharsis on my Camino today was the day. Maybe that is the effect la meseta has on one over the ten plus days….cleansing, purifying. A distillation process. Evaporating off the unimportant, the noise, the static.
Taking stock, I feel good. After all how many people actually have the luxury to be doing this right now. And I’m 40,000 steps closer to the goal and won’t have to repeat the section again. I want to move on quickly while not forgetting any of it along the way
Occasionally there are alternate routes that deviate from the traditional classic Camino Frances route which typically go through the countryside instead of along roads or highways but typically add about 15% to the overall mileage for that section. I took a few without regret. Today, if I were in better shape, I think I would have taken todays alternate :)
Oh well, I only have 7 km more to where I’m sleeping for the night so I should be there by 3:30
‘Se Vende’ cheap (furnished, bed in bedroom! I looked )
Puente over Rio Orbigo
If you asked me how I’m feeling right now that I made today’s destination- one word - “vertical”. I really liked this welcoming town. I’d return here for sure
Albergue de Peregrinos -San Miguel
Wow, am I rewarded today or what. Arturo bought the Albergue 7 years ago and it is fabulous. Filled with over 100 paintings created and completed in a single evening by Perigrinos that have passed through here over the years! He has provided a small studio will canvas and all the paints for any to use. Wow! A real joy to see such talent & inspiration. Very thankful to have ‘happened’ upon Arturos hostel. What a host!
I love this one and took a photo at this exact spot entering town
12€ a nite. Every other bed due to Covid restrictions. I meet the most interesting people from all walks of life ( not just poor college age ) in the hostels vs. the private room I get every couple of nights. (No extra charge for the nightly snoring chorus - ‘libre’ - free). Again, each room filled with Camino inspired paintings. Wonderful!
I go for the bottom bunk always. Lady at dinner said a guy in Pamplona in her albergue fell out of top bunk and broke his ankle- true story 😳 game over. Dinner was good but I was pooped. I declined after dinner drinks and walked back to the albergue and got horizontal quickly after a quick load of laundry and hanging them outside to (try to ) dry overnight. En mi cama by 10 pm. Storm overnight with heavy rain… thank goodness.
