HOSPITAL del ORBIGO to MURIAS de RECHIVALDO — 14 Miles    THE DAY FROM HELL!

When I was awakened at 5:30 this morning with a case of “Mexican Tourista,” I thought this would be the worst part of the day. Boy was I ever wrong. For the first couple of hours I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk because of my need to be close to a bathroom. And my foot still hurt. But by the time we went to breakfast at 8am, things had settled down. Lots of people I’d met had been talking about “Camino Candy” (Ibuprofen) so I decided to take a little this morning.

I was looking forward to another easy day of just 10 miles but when we met Lesley for coffee she proposed the idea of walking a longer day today so that we could shave some time off tomorrow’s walk. That sounded OK to me — it was only going to be 4 more miles than we had originally planned. She also said she didn’t want to walk along the highway but would prefer the more rustic “original” Camino route.

It had been raining for the last 24 hours and although I didn’t like the highway and the noise of all the cars if I’d been by myself I would have chosen that route.  On our way out of town we met Carol, the 75 year old lady from Australia and she and the guy she was with were both going to go the highway route. I could kick myself for not following them because that’s when our troubles began. They turned left at a fork in the road and we turned right. We walked and walked, on muddy paths, through fields of barley and then realized we hadn’t seen a Camino marker for a long time. Just then we saw a guy and we asked for directions to the Camino. He quickly rattled off something in Spanish and pointed in the opposite direction than we were going.  So we started walking back the other way, but still weren’t seeing any Camino signs.  I did see a church steeple off in the distance and told Leslie that the Camino path usually went by the church in each little village.  So we started walking toward the church, which was way off in the distance.  As we got closer we saw a little old lady standing in a doorway and I asked her where the Camino was. She said, “Camino? Do you want to have some breakfast?” And I started laughing. Then we found a man who pointed us in the right direction. By that time we had gone a mile out of our way.

The path went up a big mountain and if we thought we were in mud before, we were in worse mud now.

The going wasn’t easy and there were hardly any markers and I was never sure we were going the right way. We were in some industrial farming area.

The mud and the steep hills continued, and in fact got a whole lot worse. There were only two other Trekkers that we could see and they were ahead of us by about a quarter of a mile. This was the worst walk ever! The road continued to get muddier and muddier and it was the only place anybody could walk.

I was sinking deeper and deeper into it. Leslie got about 2 blocks ahead of me because with every step I couldn’t seem to get my feet out of the mud.  Every time I would put my foot down, it would sink 4 inches down into the muddy clay and I couldn’t pull it back out.  And when I did pull it out the clay clung to it in huge clumps.  At one point while trying to pull my foot up it actually came out of my shoe while the shoe stayed deep in the mud.  I almost fell over when I bent down to wedge my foot back into the tied shoe.  After a few more slow steps it was murder to keep my feet in my shoes.  So I carefully bent down and re-tied each shoe and then the mud got all over my hands and under my fingernails. I kept talking to myself and cussing under my breathe and wanting to just sit down and cry. But I couldn’t do that in this mud!  It continued on like this for the next 5 miles.

I finally got to where the mud was only a couple inches deep but there were big pools of water in the path. And as if the mud weren’t  bad enough, those steep uphill climbs were killing me.

Then we came to this cute scarecrow or whatever it was and a little shrine to the Camino and that lifted our spirits.

We trudged on for another 2 miles and when we reached the top of the mountain we could see the town of Astorga about 2 miles off in the distance. We were elated!

When we were almost there we passed this statue of a pilgrim  with a water bottle.

I can’t believe we look so happy in this photo!

Appreciating the beauty of the walk into Astorga.

The clay on our feet was beginning to dry and every so often we would stop and try to kick it off.  When we got to the outskirts of Astorga we had to walk on winding streets up extremely steep hills before we reached the central plaza of town.

This was an upscale town.  Hotel rooms were running about $160.00 a night.  So I  was kind of embarrassed when we walked into a little Bar with our mud caked feet.  But we were desperate for a break and this little Bar was crowded with patrons so I don’t think anyone noticed how muddy we were.  We had Cafe con Leche and Churros and they helped to revive us.  As we walked out of the Bar I noticed we had left clumps of clay all over the floor.

Astorga was a really cute and rather large town and its cathedrals were astoundingly beautiful and done by Gaudi.  We didn’t know this until we walked a little farther through the town and saw them.

Then we passed what looked like a very ultra-modern church with a commeration to Pilgrims walking the Camino.

By this point we should have been exhausted and ready to drop but unexpected beautiful surprises like these just took our breath away.

Our Camino Concierge, Dick, had driven ahead this morning and texted that he had booked us into private rooms at the Albergue Aguedas.  As we continued walking and got closer to it he texted that it was really “rustic.” I asked him what that meant and he said, “It is in the eyes of the beholder.” Uh oh. This place might be a real dump.

Dick met us at the beginning of Murias de Rechivaldo, this two block long village and he seemed to know everybody there as he walked us to our Albergue. After all, he’d been socializing with them all day. It was an absolutely darling place and we knew we’d have to take off our shoes and socks before we went in.

You can see how high the mud went up Leslies trekking poles.

Back view of mud high up our pants.

We got to our room and it was the cutest thing ever.  Dick had turned the radiator heat up really high so the room was nice and warm.

I got out of my clothes and using the bathroom sink tried to rinse the mud off of everything, especially my shoes. What a mess!  There was mud all over the counters and dripping onto the floor.  When everything was rinsed out I asked Dick to take the pile of wet stuff to be washed and dried in a machine. He stuffed my shoes with newspapers, which soaked up a lot of water and then we put them on the radiator to dry.

Once he’d gone I stepped into the shower, turned on the water and stood there for 5 minutes waiting for it to get hot. Well, it didn’t. Dick had to go get the manager who came in while I stood there with a towel wrapped around myself. He turned the shower on for another 5 minutes and came out and said “The water’s cold.” No kidding! Then a lady came and told me I could use the shared bathroom upstairs so I gathered my stuff and with the towel still wrapped around me, I walked through the common sitting area and up the stairs to the other bathroom.

I stood under the hot water for ages and tried to wash the clay off my discolored feet.  It felt so good to be clean and the greatest part was that there was a blow dryer under the sink.  I joined Dick and Leslie out on the patio for a late lunch.  Dick and I shared a cheese, tomato and chorizo sandwich and each had a glass of wine.

My foot was hurting (same foot that hurt last year) and on my other foot there was a blood blister underneath my big toe and another huge water and blood filled blister on the side of my big toe.  And my intestinal problem continued full force.  I just needed to go to bed.  So I snuggled down into the most comfortable bed I had ever been in.  I fell asleep at 4pm and the next thing I knew, Dick was waking me up telling me it was 7 and that I’d better get up.  I actually thought it was 7 the next morning.  But it was dinner time and Dick was going to go join Leslie for a vegetarian meal.  But when I got up to go I felt horrible, foot hurt like crazy along with awful stomach cramps so I just went back to bed and fell sound asleep.  I loved that bed and this place and wanted to stay forever.  The only drawback was that I couldn’t get on the Internet!

It was easy to go back to sleep and sleep well through the night despite frequent trips to the bathroom.   And every time I thought about walking tomorrow I was sure I wouldn’t be able to do it.

 

 

 

MAZARIFE to HOSPITAL del ORBIGO — 10.5 Miles

We went to sleep last night with rain falling and woke up to it again this morning.  My left foot was hurting when I walked so I decided to give Dick my backpack to take in the car and I carried a day pack under my raincoat.  Yesterday, in speaking to Lesley, I told her I had decided to shorten today’s walk to just 10 miles instead of the 20 miles we would do if we kept to the schedule in Brierley’s Book.  She said she wanted to do the same thing.  Everyone else we had come to know and love was doing the whole 20 miles today.  So we probably wouldn’t see any of them again.

We met up with Lesley in the Bar of her Albrgue, had a Cafe con Leche and were ready to head out in the rain.

It was just sprinkling at first but quickly developed into a full blown rain.  This was the first time I had ever walked the Camino in rain and rain was something I had always dreaded.  The walk was really easy and there were only 2 uphill places the whole day.  But the rain!  It continued non-stop and the path got wetter and muddier with each step.

And it wasn’t only the path.  WE also got wetter and muddier as we went along.  My shoes were not water proof and I was finding out that my “waterproof” rain jacket wasn’t either!  And Leslie was having trouble with her Gortex jacket because she was getting damp underneath it, too.

We finally reached a town we both thought was Hospital del Orbigo.  But when we stopped in a little cafe we realized we were still 3 miles away from it.  We had a Cafe con Leche and a banana and started out again.

The rain hadn’t let up at all and after 2 more miles we came to a spot in the road where the yellow arrow pointed straight ahead but people had written all over it with words like “No No No No,” and “False,” with other little arrows pointing off to the left.  A bunch of other Trekkers stopped at this arrow and they didn’t know which way to go either.  Lesley and I chose to go left.  Well, that was the wrong decision because we ended up behind a big power plant, had to circle around it, then ask an old man for directions to get to the center of town.  Just then I received a text from Dick telling me we were going the wrong way.  So we turned right, where the man had told us to and I received a text from Dick that we were going the right way.

But we still didn’t know exactly where we were supposed to go to get to the Albergue.  Just then, Dick pulled up beside us in his car and told us we were about a half a mile away and to keep going straight.  A block later he pulled up and  followed beside us as we walked.  Then he drove away and stopped a few blocks down the road.  When we got to him again he told us to turn right and then turn left half way across the bridge.  What?!!  Were we supposed to jump in the water???

But just like he had told us, there was a little road that went left part way across the bridge.  Dick was waiting for us at that point and told us how to get to the Albergue where he had booked private rooms for us.  He even told us which way to turn once we walked in the door.  At that point Lesley came up with the perfect name for Dick.  From now on we would refer to him as our “CAMINO CONCIERGE.”

We booked into the La Encina Albergue.  We had a private room downstairs and Leslie had one going through another locked door but up on the 3rd floor.  It wasn’t until we were actually in the room that I realized I was totally wet from the outside in.  My rain coat, fleece coat, pants, shirt, fanny pack, under pants, bra, and shoes and socks were all saturated!  The room was really cold but I quickly stripped out of everything.  As I stood there naked I said to Dick, “Where are my things?”  He said he left them all in the car.  And did I want him to get them?  Duh! So I stood there naked and shivering while he went back out in the rain to get everything.  Some Concierge he was!

I hung my wet clothes all over the room plus emptied everything out of my sopping wet fanny pack and spread it out to dry.  After a nice hot shower I got dressed in dry clothes and thankfully I had a rain poncho to put on over everything.  Dick told me I should throw the raincoat away!  We didn’t know which room Lesley was in or even how to get in touch with her but just before we each checked into our rooms I handed her my Pilgrim business card that Dick had made especially for the Camino.  It had my email address on it.

We headed out to find something to eat but the rain was so miserable that we kept going around the block and back to the bar at our Albergue.  The first thing we did was ask the hospitalero (manager) if we could get some heat in our room.  They normally don’t turn heat on until nighttime, if at all.  But all Dick had to do was put his ice cold hands on her cheeks (her face cheeks that is) and she knew our room needed heat.

It was toastie warm inside the bar and the food was fantastic.  As we were sitting there I got an email from Lesley telling us about her fabulous “suite” upstairs and asking us what our plans were.  I emailed her and told her we were downstairs in the bar.  A few minutes later she joined us.  She told us she had a great studio apartment upstairs with a living room, kitchen, bedroom, microwave and a space heater.  WOW. All we had was a cold room with two twin beds, a desk and a bathroom!  And we were paying more for our room than she was for hers!  It was so nice of Camino Concierge Dick to book that room for her!!!

When we got back to the room it was beginning to warm up because they had actually turned the radiators on.  I took a bunch of stuff like my fanny pack and socks and draped them over the radiators to dry.  I couldn’t believe the efficiency of those radiators.  It was great.

At six o”clock we met Leslie in the bar again and we all shared a dinner of Calamari, Patatas Bravas. French Fries and of course lots of wine.  When we were finished eating, the bar tender brought over some tiny glasses of a yellow liquor.  Whew, was it strong.  But the kind that would make me fall into dreamland as soon as I got back to the room.

 

 

LEON to MAZARIFE — 14 miles

During the middle of the night I was so cold even though I was under a warm down comforter.  My body was warm on the outside but it felt so cold inside.  Finally about 3am I took an Ibuprofen and was able to go back to sleep.  

When I was ready to leave I wasn’t sure how to get back on the Camino.  So when we checked out of the hotel I asked the desk clerk where the Camino was.  He said, “Do you want the long way or the direct way?”  And I told him I wanted the direct way.  He then got out a map and showed me both routes.  The regular route (how it showed to go in Brierley’s book) went North, circled around, then wound through little streets before heading West.  The direct route headed directly West.  That was a no brainier.  We had cafe con leche and a pastry and I headed off, passing this beautiful Parador (the one where Martin Sheen stayed in the movie “The Way).

The path was not well marked and I was walking through the busy streets of Leon, with lots of noise and traffic.  So I decided to slow down, not pass anyone and just follow the other Trekkers.  We were walking single file along the sidewalk.

I ran into that guy who pulled his things in a cart.  He was stopped on a street corner and was explaining to other curious Trekkers how the cart was attached to the harness around his waist.

It was 2 or 3 miles of a gradual incline and several hills before we were able to get away from the sounds of the city.

This area had a bunch of dwellings or cave like structures dug into the side of the hill.  

Just as I thought I was out of Leon I entered another town.  I was walking by a cute sidewalk cafe when I spotted Brian and Lesley.

They were just finishing their coffee so we all walked together until Lesley spotted this unusual looking building with huge bronze statues across the front facade.  It was actually a church, and the shrine of the “Virgin of the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela.”

The facade represents the mysteries of the Rosary.  The statues below are to the left of the door and have an actual rosary hanging around their necks.  And next to the building is one of the tallest crosses I’ve ever seen.

              

We went into the church and it was beautiful with stained glass windows and a stunning alter area.  There was also a priest inside who stamped our pilgrim passports.  

Back on the Camino we came to a choice — walk along the highway to Villadangos or through the countryside to Mazarife.  We chose Mazarife.  The terrain took us up and down hills, by beautiful fields and through mud, muck and water.  In one spot my left foot got fully emmersed in water because there was no place else to step.  When Brian spotted other Pilgrims he wanted to have his picture taken with all of them.

A little farther up the road Dick was waiting for me so we could have coffee but nothing was open in what seemed like a little ghost town.  Once again Brian (Mr. Congeniality) called to every Trekker passing by to come have their photo taken with us.  Dick was the photographer and every person there handed their camera or cell phone to him to get a picture of their own.

I decided I’d split from Lesley and Brian because I just wanted to walk, not stop to take so many photos, and I was good with walking alone.  The terrain went up and down with quite a few hills and crops of barley and the yellow plant that canola oil is made from.

I was hot and sweaty by the time I reached the town that I thought was Mazarife.  It seemed like a big enough place but as usual did not have any signs saying which town it was.  It was really old and had some historic looking buildings.

 

I was wondering where Dick was, he usually would come to meet me but I couldn’t find him anywhere.  I walked through town on the Camino path then got off the path and searched everywhere for him.  No Dick!  So I texted him and said, “Where am I???”  I was so deflated when he told me I was 3 miles away.  So I kept walking, and walking and got farther out of town but there were no Camino signs.  Then I came to a fork in the road — no Camino signs.  So I retraced my steps and found someone who told me the Camino was way back where I had first come into town.  So back I went, got on the right path and walked 3 more miles until I saw Dick walking towards me.  

Once we were at the hostel I flopped down on a lounge chair on the front lawn and stayed there for the next hour.  Dick had bought me a liter bottle of Nestea so I asked the manager for ice and a glass.  Well, all she heard was ice because a few minutes later she brought me a huge block of ice wrapped in a towel.   I started laughing and told her “ice in a glass.”  So she went back, chipped some off the huge slab and brought it in a glass.  After I had downed 4 glasses of Nestea I went in and showered and came back out to sit some more.

Walking around and exploring this little village we spotted some stork nests on top of the church tower.

We went into a bar to have a drink and spotted Brian and the 2 Brits on the patio.  Leslie showed up later and we all agreed to meet back at 7pm for dinner.  In the meantime we toured the inside of the 16th century church, gave a donation and a sweet lady tried to explain things to us in very broken English.

At 7pm we all met back at the bar for the “Menu Del Dia.”  We were joined by Rod from Sacramento and Carol from Australia, who was 75 years old and walking the Camino alone.  There were 9 of us in all and as we sat  in a covered part of the patio it started to rain.  None of us had brought rain gear to the bar.  Then out of the blue Brians eyes lit up and he said “Let’s photo bomb the bar!”  So we all got up and went in the restaurant part — made the people in there get up and we got this fabulous photo.

And here’s how we finished our get-together.  Leslie had borrowed my hat today because her ears were getting sunburned.  She loved the hat and said she needed to buy one like it.  Well I knew she wouldn’t be able to because we were in a bunch of small towns and they wouldn’t be selling that kind of hat.  Then Dick told me when he checked in they gave him some kind of package and he didn’t know what was in it.  So I went back in the room and opened it and there were 3 things inside.  A lanyard — no need for that.  A plastic case to put a passport in — too small, the passport won’t fit into it — no need for that.  And a hat — just like the one Leslie had borrowed from me.  OMG — I gave the hat to Lesley at dinner and she was thrilled.  She kept holding the hat and stroking it like it was the best gift anyone had ever given to her.  

There is a saying here that people use over and over again and that is:  “The Camino Always Provides,” and this was yet another example of that happening.  

Dick, Carol and I were delighted as we ran the 4 blocks back to our hostel in the pouring rain.

 

 

HORNILLOS to CASTROJEREZ — 13.6 Miles

Last night I slept until midnight and was then wide awake until 4a.m. I knew it was supposed to rain today and that made me nervous.  Around 2 a.m. I heard it start, rain falling steadily against the large skylight in the room.  Now I had something to worry about.  I’d have to get out all my rain gear, my shoes would get wet, I’d have to walk slowly, the path would be muddy and I’d get cold and wet.

By the time I woke up the rain had stopped, the sky was partly cloudy and it was 38 degrees.  OK, I could do this.  We went downstairs for breakfast and I was disappointed.  It was cafe con leche, 2 pieces of toast and two croissants, with butter and jam — not my kind of meal.  I had a few sips of coffee and some toast and was off.

It was so cold that I had to put on my fleece gloves and knitted headband.  Dick walked with me for the first couple of blocks and then returned to the warmth of the hotel.  The path started out with 3 miles of kind of steep uphill which was not good for me.  Downhill rules but uphill kills me.  The road was pretty muddy in parts but I was always able to walk around it.

Eventually the path leveled out, only to go downhill then uphill again.

I was walking at a pace that was way too fast and I knew I’d pay for it later.  The last few miles of the path leveled out and followed a highway with a couple of interesting sites along the way.

 

Finally I could see Castrojerez in the distance but knew it was still about 2 miles away.

I stopped to take a rest break — my first of the day — when I received a text from Dick wanting to know where I was.  He was still on the road, running some errands and I texted him that I would be in Castrojerez in about 30 minutes.  Then when I read the text which had been auto corrected it said I’d be in “Castro Harry’s” in 30 minutes.  I didn’t correct it because Castrojerez is pronounced “Castro Harry’s” in Spanish!  I stopped at the side of the road and had a good laugh about it.

Just as I entered town I knew I was lost in terms of finding our hotel.  This was a larger village with 900 inhabitants and it didn’t have just one main street.  I walked on a little farther and then just stood in the middle of the little one land road wondering what I should do.  A car was coming toward me so I moved off to the side and it started honking at me.  And then I realized it was Dick!  What perfect timing.  They say the Camino “always provides.”  I hopped in the car and we drove to the hotel which was only a couple of blocks away.

This place, the La Cachava Hotel was hundreds of years old and beautifully restored.  Our room was again on the 3rd floor with 4 beds and an upstairs.

As soon as we got into the room I knew I needed to sit down — all my muscles were hurting because I had walked too far, too fast.  And anyway Dick was eager to tell me about his adventures this morning.

And here’s what happened to Dick this morning after I left:  I had asked him to do one simple thing — buy me a pair of reading glasses because mine had broken.  Of course they didn’t have any in this little town so he planned to drive back to Burgos to get them.  And that’s when the problems began.  First of all he couldn’t find his car keys.  After searching the entire room and other parts of the hostel he emptied out his backpack and found them at the bottom.   Then he went out to the car and the battery was dead!  So he asked the proprietor if he had any jumper cables.  And of course he didn’t but he was kind enough to go up and down the street asking everyone in this 60 person town if they had any.  No one did.  Really?  Really??  So the only solution was to call a mechanic.  One and a half hours and 15 Euros later Dick was finally on his way to Burgos.  More problems — he didn’t know what kind of store would sell reading glasses in Spain.  He went to store after store, including pharmacies, but couldn’t find anyone who spoke English and he couldn’t speak Spanish.  He finally found his way to a Carrfour grocery store, bought the glasses and arrived back in Castrojerez (Castro Harry’s) just as I was lost and standing in the middle of the street.  He needed a couple glasses of wine after that one!

The good news about today was that it didn’t rain.  But my leg muscles were now so sore I could hardly move.  So I spent the afternoon showering and soaking in a nice warm tub.  I promised that tomorrow I’d treat myself like the Pampered Pilgrim I should be.  I’d eat, drink and take plenty of rest breaks.  Well, we’ll see what happens…