Camino 2016: Via de La Plata Day 25 - Astorga to Foncebadon

Friday April 22, 2016
Well time for the first scoreboard. At the end of the first part of the journey from Mérida to Astorga on the Via de La Plata I have walked 540km or 336 miles in 21 days. That is an average of 16 miles per day. Not bad for an old man! The second part from Astorga to Santiago de Compostela is 270km so the total will be 810km or 503 miles when I arrive at Santiago.
But it is not the scorecard that is important. It is the experience and the time to meet people from all over the world, to experience so many wonderful people and to be a humble pilgrim, grateful for the good and not so good as I travel through different parts of a foreign country and feel the grace of God in all that I see and do. It is humbling and I feel blessed every day, with time to really feel it.
Now to the update. I promised pictures of the Gaudi designed Bishop's Palace in Astorga which I visited yesterday. Here are some pictures of the inside. It was late in the day and cloudy so the colors of the tiles don't show well but a very interesting, if impractical building.
I won't comment except to say these are a sample of the various rooms in the palace.

Then we went for a kind of farewell dinner. I know I won't see Lucas again since he plans to walk a different Camino from Leon, but I hope to hear from him. A very nice young man.
I hope to run into Mike and Ruth again before I reach Santiago or later in Virginia since they have a son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren in Norfolk Va.
Then back to the albergue and out again the next morning. I had forgotten the atmosphere of the Camino Francés. We were 10 beds in a small room and all filled. The first started moving with flashlights, rustling and banging before 6:00am, and continued for more than 30 mins. Then of course everyone was awake so the rest of us got up even though it is not light until after 7:00 and breakfast is not available in the albergue. The polite thing to do is to pack everything except toothbrush, clothes for next day and sleeping bag the night before and then move quietly out to the hallway to pack these before leaving.
Anyway I left the albergue at about 7:30 and managed to get out of the city without getting lost for a change on the road west after 3 weeks of heading north.
Here is a view of the cathedral. As good as I could get in the early morning with all the buildings close by.

The path soon lead onto a trail with the sky looking ominous and after a while it started to rain lightly so on with the poncho. However it did not last long. The whole day was a steady climb of about 500 meters or 1,600 ft.

Soon I was able to take it off again when I stopped for a coffee in one of the villages and the sky started to clear.

Through a village where the storks had built a rather precarious nest on a sloping roof. I haven't mentioned it lately but I still hear the cuckoo almost every morning. The only times I missed it was when we were at a much higher elevation above about 3,000 ft.

We passed a well but I had plenty of water and I have never trusted the springs by the road, preferring the tap water in the albergue which has never caused me problems.

Then the trail became wet and muddy and more difficult but not as difficult as on the Via de La Plata. Hopping from stone to stone worked most of the time, but wet feet was almost inevitable.

I had set out without a clear goal of how far I wanted to go today. Rabanal del Camino was 20km and Foncebadon was 25 km. I would wait and see how the weather was and how I felt after yesterday's strenuous day. I arrived at Rabanal at about 11:30, had a sandwich and a drink and decided to continue to Foncebadon since the weather was good and I felt good. The Camino Francés is very different in that there are more villages with food and drink opportunities so one can be more flexible. On the Via de La Plata it may be 20km before the next village.
It was a 350meter, 1,000 ft climb up to Foncebadon but it was a steady climb and by now I was used to climbs. I found a nice albergue and settled in. There were three men from Barcelona also here who spoke very good English and after the usual showers and clothes washing we had lunch together.
First salad then pork loin steak with patatas fritas.

They are very nice and we had a good time, including finishing two bottles of wine between us.

Here is a view from the balcony towards the mountains.

Tomorrow it is not far to the Cruz de Ferro or Iron Cross, the high point of this section at about 1,500 meters or about 5,000 ft. It is a significant landmark for many. A tradition has developed to bring a stone from home signifying the burdens and troubles you carry and to lay it at the foot of the cross to free yourself of these life burdens. Last time I was here three years ago when I got here I couldn't find the stone I had carefully selected by the James River but it didn't bother me since I feel I can lay these at the foot of the cross any time, not just here so I am not burdened by these. I found my stone days later and threw it into the ocean at Finistere, the end of the world. I will try and get a photo of the cross with the pile of stones to post tomorrow after I have passed the cross.

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