Camino 2016: Via de La Plata Day 24 - La Bañeza to Astorga

Thursday April 21, 2016
When we looked out this morning there had been rain in the night again but it was not raining now. So after a quick breakfast of banana, joghurt and some dried apricots I headed out. At 7:45 it was just getting light.

Still plenty of water everywhere no since we had to cross three rivers today we were concerned about crossings, but decided to go on the Camino path rather than the road byway. Today we had 25km to go to Astorga.
When I came to the first river I found that it went under the bridge of an abandoned railway so got over easily

This was the river under the bridge.

The sky was looking better all the time but it was still cold. Lots of flooded fields

along paths between the folds with a lot of water on them but it was fairly easy to walk around it until........

What to do here. The water was running across the road and it was not possible to get around it on either side so........

Boots and socks off and Tevas on with trouser legs rolled up. The dark area between my feet is my shadow. The water came halfway up my legs and it was very cold
Boots tied to the backpack by the laces

Across the river using hiking poles to keep steady since the current was quite strong, and then I walked through the village looking for a café while my feet dried but no luck. I found a bench at the end of the village so I dried my feet and put back on my socks and boots.
Here is the church in the village with its family of storks.

Next the path was pretty good until we came to a giant patch of deep sticky mud all across the path - yuk! At the end of it was a giant pond of muddy water that looked so deep that walking through it with or without boots was not really an option. Walking around it meant scrambling around through some dense bushes that took quite an effort.
Then another lake.

It looked as if I could walk around it across the field but when I got in there there were lots of smaller rivers and swamps. By then my boots were so wet I just walked through it with my boots on. They were already full of water anyway. I had one more pair of socks so after a bit I stopped and changed my socks again.
The rest of today's hike was supposed to be though some fields but because of all the water in the fields I decided to stick to the road which added another 7km and not much fun on the 30km I covered today.
I passed a restaurant and stopped for a beer and a snack about half way along and finally, rather tired arrived at the albergue in Astorga.
Now it is time to go to sleep so I will add the rest to tomorrow's blog
So much for all the water, at least we had no rain.
Arrived in Astorga and found the albergue. It is BIG with over 100 beds. I was in a small room with 10 beds. At least I had a lower bunk with Lucas up above me. He arrived shortly after me.
After settling in he and I went out into the town . First I wanted to get a guide to the Camino Francés and look around the cathedral. The bookshop only had one guide that was not in Spanish and that was in German so I got that and it is fine. Then to the cathedral. It was interesting but felt claustrophobic. It was built before flying buttresses so everything is narrow with heavy columns and narrow aisles. With usual choir area in the middle there is not much free area.
Then to the Bishops Palace designed by Gaudi but now a museum. Not much of real interest in the museum except some old documents, one mentions the monastery of Poblet so I will send a copy of the photo I took to Francis and Maite since they might be interested.
The building itself is very interesting inside with tiles, almost Moorish style like in Cordaba. I took some photos but no time to upload them now.
That'll have to wait for wifi in a restaurant on the way so I will stop and post

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