Camino de Santiago - Days 19 - 21

Day 19: Mansilla de las Mulas - La Virgen del Camino
Distance: 27.7 km(17.2 miles)
Approximate Walking Time: 7-8 hours
Altitude: Start at 795 m(2,608 ft.) and rise up to 840 m(2,756 ft.) and then go up and down into León at 837 m(2,746 ft.) and rise up to 900 m(2,953 ft.).

     We left Mansilla de las Mulas around 6:30 and walked with the same Spaniards we'd met a few days earlier. It was their last day for the year and the following one, they plan to finish the Camino from León to Santiago de Compostela. Most of the walking was through the suburbs of the city of León. We passed by a few remaining farm fields in the early hours and quickly hit the suburban sprawl around 9:00 a.m. The donkey we saw was used to humans and tried to play cute to get some food out of us.

     We crossed over a bridge and into León around 10:45 a.m. It's a good size city with a little over 130,000 people. It was founded over 2,000 years ago by the Romans and was a stronghold of the Spanish kingdom of Castilla y León. It was lost for a while during the Muslim invasion but quickly recaptured by the remaining Spaniards in the Kingdom of Asturias. It's famous for its 13th century gothic Cathedral that stands as the hallmark of the same architectural style. We visited León in July with Izzy's parents and have pictures of the Cathedral in a previous post.

     We handled some bank business and continued to follow the trail through the town. It gave us a view of the city we hadn't had before. There were two large albergues there, a municipal one and another run by nuns. Both cost 5 euros and had long lines. If you walk the Camino and have never been to León, you should stay the day and venture around the town. We followed the trail past the Cathedral and went in to collect a stamp. We had to go to the back to the museum and deal with a most unpleasant woman who seemed offended we didn't want a ticket to go in the museum.

      An important building we hadn't seen before in León was the San Marcos Monastery. The idea for the building goes back to the 13th century also, just after the reconquest of the city. It was first used as a hospital for pilgrims on their journey to Santiago. The façade shows elements of the influence of the Spanish Renaissance style.

     After passing through León, we walked through Trobajo del Camino and on to La Virgen del Camino. Both were small suburbs of the bigger city. The main albergue in Virgen del Camino, Don Antonino, was a bit off the path but comfortable and clean. It cost 5 euros and had a great kitchen and hot showers. We visited the supermarket and purchased some pisto to make one of our favorite trail meals, chicken and rice with pisto sauce. We also met a newer group of pilgrims since most of the ones we were walking with stayed behind in León or finished for the year. The small town of Virgen del Camino has an interesting legend. In 1505, the virgin Mary appeared to a local shepherd at the site of the local hermitage. There is a statue commemorating it in the Cathedral of León.

Day 20: La Virgen del Camino - Hospital de Órbigo
Distance: 23.7 km(14.7 miles)
Approximate Walking Time: 6-7 hours
Altitude: Start at 900 m(2,953 ft.) and slowly descend down to 820 m(2,690 ft.).

     The next morning we awoke well rested and set off for Hospital de Órbigo. The walking continued to be across mainly flat stretches of land with occasional ascents and descents, none of which were steep. We followed the main road out of town and had some confusing missteps along the dirt trails. Again, problems caused by not having flashlights. We accidentally led two older French ladies down the wrong path. We walked and talked with them for a bit and their headlamps made seeing a whole lot easier. One of them was having some trouble getting started. We walked through a couple of unimpressive back road towns, Valverde de la Virgen and San Miguel del Camino. Both seem to simply be stop off points or small communities of farmers grouped together.

     The trail followed along the N-120 for most of the day with occasional moments of feeling like we were out in the wilderness. Around 9:00, we entered Villadangos del Paramo, a suggested stopping point on the French guide. We stopped at one of the first gas station and purchased some of the softest bread of the trip. If you've been to Spain, you'll know that their bread can cut your mouth all to hell so finding soft bread was a bit of a treat for us. We finished off our peanut butter, had a bit of a rest, and headed on to the next town. There were several albergues in Villadangos, two of which are 3 euros and 5 euros a piece. At 9:00 a.m., we had no intention of calling it a day. In the next town we passed, San Martín del Camino, an old lady beat her dusty rug from the second story above us. We were too tired to move or care.

     We finally arrived to Hospital de Órbigo around 1:00 in the afternoon as the heat was starting to become stronger. The day was quite monotonous as the trail simply followed the highway from León past a bunch of corn and grain fields. The odd thing about the corn fields in Spain is that the crop is merely for animal feed and none of it is used for human consumption. We entered the town from the east and crossed the long bridge connecting the two sides of the town. The bridge was built in the 13th century and was the site of a resistance that blocked the movement of Napoleon's troops in the 19th century.

     We checked into the Municipal albergue for 5 euros. We had two bunk beds in a room of twelve or fourteen beds. After taking a shower, we went out back to wash our clothes and met an older Swedish guy we hadn't seen since day 3 in Pamplona. He told us of how he walked many kilometers each day, something like 40, and now he was having a lot of trouble with his knees and legs and couldn't walk more than ten or twelve a day. The lesson we learned from him and many others was not to overexert your body and listen to it when the limits are reached. We walked long days but never more than two in a row and we slowed our pace so as not to over exert ourselves. The tortoises had finally caught up to the hare. 

     We spent the afternoon wandering around the town. We found lots of old stone buildings, some fun graffiti, and tried to walk through the grassy field under the bridge. Sadly, it was fenced off because of the restoration work on the wall connected to the bridge. Izzy found a prickly plant by brushing up against it. It produced a stinging sensation on her foot until we washed it off with water. We cooked dinner at the albergue of scrambled eggs and vegetables. I spent the evening making sure our clothes didn't blow off the line and into a large stream of water and Izzy played with two small kittens.

Day 21: Hospital de Órbigo - Rabanal del Camino
Distance: 35.8 km(22.3 miles)
Approximate Walking Time: 9-10 hours
Altitude: Start at 820 m(2,690 ft.), rise up to 920 m(3,018 ft.), descend to 870 m(2,854 ft.) at Astorga then ascend up to 1150 m(3,773 ft.).

      Little did we know we were about to embark on one of the most difficult days of the entire trip and it didn't even include a steep ascent. We covered nearly 36 km this day and asked ourselves repeatedly how people did this day in and day out. No wonder many people were having severe leg and foot problems. We left Hospital de Órbigo early in pitch darkness. There were two paths to Astorga, the traditional along the N-120 highway of 15 km and another through the countryside of 16 km. We elected the extra km to get away from the highway. We saw one of the most beautiful sunrises of the entire trip.

      We made our way through fields of hay, up and down steep hills, and through the forest. It felt wonderful to not see cars passing every ten seconds. We passed through a large corn field just outside of Hospital de Órbigo and entered Villares de Órbigo. Halfway to the next town, Santibañez, we passed a small cart with drinks and snacks for pilgrims. They had a donation box to leave something to help provide more snacks for future pilgrims.

     We finally arrived to Astorga a little before 10:00 a.m. Our legs were tired and a bit wobbly from walking 16 km without stopping. We followed the yellow arrows into town. The streets were lined with a lot of clean looking architecture. Astorga is another relic of the Roman occupation and was established as a military outpost in the first century A.D. There was an albergue at the entrance to the town with a statue of a pilgrim out front. Just past that, we found the main square with the town hall and lots of restaurants. We stopped for a few minutes to take some pictures and find a bread store but there wasn't one. As we walked on to the Cathedral, we passed the white bread truck and waved them down to buy a loaf of bread. We continued on to the large square with the Episcopal Palace and Cathedral for our morning break.

      We rested for a bit in front of Gaudi's Episcopal Palace. One of the best feelings each day was taking off our boots and letting our feet air out. We sat and stared at another creation of one of our favorite Spanish architects. The palace was originally built as just that, a palace. After a fire left it in ruins, a local bishop contracted Gaudí to rework it into something more modern. He had the bishop photograph the building and the area around it so he could design something appropriate. In the midst of many other projects, Gaudí managed to offer up this design and construction began immediately after the plans were approved. The palace is now a museum of artifacts from the various trails of the Camino de Santiago. It cost 2.50 with the pilgrim's passport to visit. We escaped the cold for a bit and took a walk around. We didn't go inside the Cathedral because it was Sunday morning and closed for the mass. We did collect a stamp from the office though. It was built during the 15th and 16th centuries and has a more baroque style. Astorga was a recommended stopping point but we wanted to continue on to Rabanal del Camino. Around the town, there were several old Roman ruin sites, old medieval city walls, and great places to eat. There were several albergues scattered throughout the town that were as cheap as 5 euros. We also bought some mantecadas, the town's famous sweet dessert.

      We followed the white dirt path out of town to Murias de Rechivaldo. The main square next to the church is a must see spot. There was a small albergue there for 5 euros. For the next 15 km, we encountered an unusually large amount of people out walking the trail. We were confused a bit because we hadn't seen too many people in the early morning hours. As we approached the next town, we figured out that it was a group of tourists, mostly German, who had come to have a Sunday walk along the Camino de Santiago as part of their Spanish experience. We saw their bus just outside the town of Santa Catalina de Somoza.

     Santa Catalina was a nice town with a couple of nice albergues that had chairs and tables out in their patio area. We stopped and rested for a bit and took some pictures of little artisan shops with blue doors decorated with lots of Compostela themed souvenirs like walking sticks and the sea shell. We walked another 4 km to El Ganso but found only a small albergue open and serving lunch. The municipal albergue looked like it had closed up for the year.

     From El Ganso, we walked the last 6 km to Rabanal del  Camino. The weather cooperated with us for most of the day and continued to be overcast. Those 6 km were some of the most painful of the entire trip for us. We were tired, our backs ached from carrying our heavy packs, and we just wanted to rest in a bed for hours. Along the way, we had a beautiful view of the distant Galician mountains and we found another stretch of fence covered in crosses. Around 5:00 p.m., we finally arrived to Rabanal del Camino.

      The only downside of arriving so late was we didn't have much time to rest before showering and washing our clothes. We were in a difficult fight of wanting to rest but knowing that we needed to do some cleaning before resting. We managed to wash everything but the weather turned bad and rained. It was damp and cold the rest of the night and none of our things dried properly. We stayed at the municipal albergue and paid 4 euros. Free wifi was included. There were several other nice albergues, including one run by some British at the entry to the town. We ate one of our favorite meals of the entire trip that night at a restaurant called La Posada. Their dessert, natillas, were some of the best we had throughout our 2 1/2 years of living in Spain. We walked around the town for a bit in between the sprinkles of rain and took a few pictures. We called it a night early and went to bed to try and recover from the long day of walking.

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