Day 25 To Astorga

Written By T F

Day 25 Oct 3 Destination = Astorga / 275 km to go

“The higher we are placed,
the more humbly we should walk”
- Marcus Tullius Cicero

What a great stay last night at the Hostal Miguel! I’ll never forget it! I would love to return one day and try my hand painting in his ‘open’ studio for peregrinos and leaving behind my own canvas. Arturo was a fabulous host and it was tough to leave as tired as I was. I was one of the last to leave. Seems to be the case, currently. No problema. The other good news is that the storm that was predicted a couple of days ago did come in the middle of the night - it sounded like it rained cats and dogs for about an hour and we all woke up to it having left town and moved east. We’re all going west. What it did leave behind was a howling headwind of easily 30+ kilometers per hour. And a wind chill. At the edge of town I doubled back to a bench behind a building and dug for my rain jacket - a.k.a. now christened as a windbreaker - and put it on. What a lifesaver. I’m not gonna get rid of it after all as it kept me nicely warm. It will no doubt will come in very high handy at the higher of elevations to come. I think we climb from about 850 m to 1500 m over the next few days! Here ‘we’ go again - up, up, and away ! Ultreia !

A beautiful site in my rearview mirror and thankfully I did not need to test my new poncho (yet). A visually symbolic goodbye to the mesa

A beautiful site in my rearview mirror and thankfully I did not need to test my new poncho (yet). A visually symbolic goodbye to the mesa

Another one ‘crossed’ my mind, obviously

Another one ‘crossed’ my mind, obviously. (US) Friends Diane and Elizabeth snapped this for me as I did for them. I was going to grab my usual desayuno at the corner bar… scoped it out and decided, nope, next bar. Mistake. No next bar anytime soon.

Astorga off in the distance. As I descend this hill and into the valley I am officially off La Meseta for which I’m rather happy. It was probably more mentally difficult than it was physically challenging in spite of the fact it is close to 1/3 of the entire Camino mileage

Astorga off in the distance. As I descend this hill and into the valley I am officially off La Meseta for which I’m rather happy. It was probably more mentally difficult than it was physically challenging in spite of the fact it is close to 1/3 of the entire Camino mileage at 220km. I wish I would have picnicked on this hill in the park and just chilled for a moment. But often the ‘drive’ to keep moving, to keep moving. (Slow down Sr. Tomas!) Too often on my Camino (and in mi vida) I keep going rather than taking a few to stop, smell the roses sprinkled with gratitude. A Camino lesson.

“is graffiti art or vandalizing“. Not a very difficult question to answer in my mind but how do the taggers steal so much spray paint? You would think they would actually put 20 cameras in the paint section along with security. I really haven’t seen many other places anywhere in the world with as much graffiti on private, public, and commercial property as in Spain. Including defacing a lot of Camino signage

“ Graffiti….Art or Vandalism?“ Not a very difficult question to answer in my mind but how do the taggers steal so much spray paint? You would think they would actually put 20 cameras in the paint section along with security personnel. I really haven’t seen many other places anywhere in the world with as much graffiti on private, public, and commercial property as in Spain. Including defacing a lot of Camino signage. Arrghh.

Well OK then, at least this ‘vandal-artista’ made me wonder if all of my bikes at home miss me 😎

Well OK then, at least this ‘vandal-grafeet-artista’ made me wonder if all of my bikes at home miss me 😎 Pretty well done, I’d say…

It was I was looking at this bridge and the stonework and the yellow arrow I noticed a woman in the house next to me shaking out laundry. So I commented in my high school level Spanish that the bridge (puente) appears to be very old. And she replied it actually is a Roman bridge from 2000 years ago! And that I am walking on part of the Via Romana ! I stood on it and utter amazement again contemplating who marched across it and what were they doing and where were they going. A-ha moments like this are the very best part of my day. I guess I am a student of history after all- especially the whole Roman era

As I was looking at this rather old looking bridge and the stonework and the yellow arrow I noticed a woman in the house next to me shaking out laundry. So I commented in my high school level Spanish that the bridge (puente) appears to be muy viejo-very old. And she replied it actually is a Roman bridge from 2000 years ago! And that I am (still) walking on part of the Via Romana ! I stood on it and utter amazement again contemplating who marched across it and what were they doing and where were they going. Did ‘they’ bring peach and glad tidings, or sadness and tyranny? Such ‘aha’ moments like this are the very best part of my day. I guess I am a student of history after all- especially the whole Roman era

Camino Hoy !  Me gusta mi Camino…

If you’ve seen one cathedral you’ve seen them all well that’s not exactly the case I actually like this one better than Leon.-it’s part of UNESCO World Heritage Site.The gothic edifice was begun in 1471, the high altar from 1558

If you’ve seen one cathedral you’ve seen them all well that’s not exactly the case I actually like this one better than Leon. It’s part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘catelog’.

The gothic edifice was begun in 1471, the high altar from 1558

Special altar celebrating Santiago the pilgrim. As I tried to understand the detail embedded I thought about James four and five and the fact that he clearly had some specific things that he wanted to get off his chest in his book and those chapters

Special altar celebrating San Tiago - the pilgrim. As I tried to understand the detail embedded I thought about James chapters four and five and the fact that he clearly had some specific things that he wanted to get off his chest in his book and those chapters

Note: this is the end of Capitulo / chapter 2 please refer to Capitulo 3 for the final push on to Santiago and the next set of ‘etapas’ / stages.

T F
Next

Day 24 to Hospital de Orbigo