León, Astorga, Rabanal and Molinaseca

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On Wednesday (7.10.09) we woke up in the monastary in León at 5.45am as everyone was getting up early! No chance of a sleep in. I stayed in bed as long as possible, the only motivation for getting up being the 7am breakfast. It was raining lightly and we prepared ourselves for that, but soon enough came the thunder and heavy rain! We had meant to have a look around town, at the cathedral and so on but it was so rainy that Angi decided to get walking. I was planning a rest day so we said goodbye, hopefully to catch up with each other soon enough. I found a café and hung out there until the rain eased, before going for a look around town. The cathedral was impressive; the highest roof I´ve seen yet, and I also found a nice bar for lunch where I ran into some familiar faces from previous days. I then decided to catch a bus to Astorga, skipping 2 days of seemingly boring hiking, through industrial sprawl and small towns along the highway.

I met a friendly french lady on the bus, who was soaking from the rain, and together we easily found the hostel in Astorga. It was a nice hostel, right near the cathedral and ¨Gaudi House¨- a stunning Gaudi-designed castle-like house, in which many of Gaudi´s paintings and statues are held - closed by the time I arrived. There was also a room holding pilgrim-related pieces. I went for a walk around town and stumbled across a medical office. At first I didn´t think I´d go in but I decided that I may as well, as my legs were giving me such trouble. In fact, I had stumbled across the back entrance into the Physiotherapist without knowing! The man bandaged up my sore leg so well that I couldn´t feel the pain any more! It was such a fortunate event. I then went with the french lady for a beer, where I also met another australian, Peter, who had the same problem as me, so I sent him and his spanish-speaking german friend Hans off to the physio too. The 4 of us had dinner at a nice local hotel on recommendation from our ¨hospitelero¨, or hostel volunteer, where even the 1cm thick steak (as is the norm here) was cooked to perfection.

The bus to Astorga had got me 2 days ahead so the next day, Thursday, I slept in as long as possible. I went for breakfast with the french lady and had to wait for the Gaudi house to open at 11am so we went shopping and also found a natural medicine shop, which was lucky as I now had a well developed cold! I bought a bottle of pure garlic oil capsules then headed over to the Gaudi house which was well worth the €2.50 entry fee. I then met another australian who was planning to catch a bus to Rabanal, the next planned destination for me, so we went together to the bus station. However there was no bus that day; a sign I thought! So I decided to walk the 20km to Rabanal and left at 1.30pm. I was walking quite slowly but without pain thank goodness, and soon met another German who was good to talk to as we walked. Before I knew it we only had 5km to go! We caught Hans, who had developed bad heel pain, and the three of us walked together into Rabanal, arriving around 6.30pm. Unfortunately out of 4 hostels and 2 hotels, the only beds left in town were in the municipal hostel, which wasn´t great, but sufficient. After dinner at a local hotel, and luckily some hand-me-down pseudoephedrine from a fellow pilgrim, I was really ready for bed!

On Friday I woke up late (after a great sleep due to the drugs), and had breakfast at the same local hotel. I began walking with Peter and Hans around 9am, looking forward to the day as today we crossed a gentle mountain range, on the top of which stood the ¨Cruz de Ferro¨, a cross at the highest point on the Camino. The walk was amazing; it rained for the first little while but that kept us cool as we ascended. As we got higher the rain stopped and we had some wonderful views back over the valley from which we had walked over the last 2 days. We reached the Cruz, which was a smallish steel cross on the top of a huge wooden pole, at the bottom of which was a cairn of stones left by pilgrims over the centuries. I placed a gem that my mother had given me in Australia here, after a slight connundrum because I had instructions from mum to place it in Santiago. However it was the tradition to place the stones here, at the closest place to the heavens on the way of Saint James, so I thought it was the best thing to do. At the Cruz, Hans pulled out a flute and played a little tune, which, with the sun now shining and a cold mountain breeze blowing, created quite a surreal and peaceful moment!

We then began the decent into El Acebo, where I was hoping to stay the night. The going was tough; not just because of the gradient but also the stoney path. The views were absolutely spectacular, but I was happy to get into El Acebo. When we arrived, the albergue was already full so Peter and I (Hans had fallen behind) opted to take a taxi with two other pilgrims to the next town, Molinaseca. We skipped a good 9km of steep, stoney decent through a valley, which I have no regrets for whatsoever! In Molinaseca we found a great hostel, newly built, where I did a good load of washing and enjoyed looking around town. It was a seemingly new and wealthy town for the most part, so it was very nice!

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Comments

[Patricia Hueneke]

Mum's Gem
Thanks so much Luci for placing the gem stone I gave you at that lovely Iron Cross of St.James on your pilgrimage walk. It was just perfect for you to place it there. I hope your legs are feeling better.... Love Mum Patricia