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Published: June 13th 2006
Astorga Panorama
A view of the Astorga mountains - albeit on a misty overcast kind of dayHola Amigos
I´m seven days into my cycling and time just seems to have stopped. I now beat to the rhythm of the pilgrim. Wake up well before the of dawn (can´t help it - some of the other pilgrims are up and out by 5:00!!) but I try to stay in bed til at least 6:00am. I´m usually the last out the door - the Albergue closes at 8 & I´m gone between 7 - 8am.
I ride for an hour or so, stop off at a bar for a chocolate (cola cao) and a wee snackette of something bought from the paneteria the day before. Then back on the road again, stop for lunch - bread, cheese, pate, olives, a salami kind of thingy & chocolate (thanks Philippe for the tip on the pate). Hit the next Albergue, shower, wash stinky clothes, hang them to dry & try & get into town for some supplies before the siesta starts. I then consume about 3 litres of fluid in addition to what I´ve had on the ride, have a little siesta myself, then hit the local restaurant for ´Menu del dia´ (btw 8 - 10 €) then time
Roman Wall in Leon
One of the many Roman walls to be found throughout Espana - juxtaposed by a modern line our Espanol housing for bed - sadly it´s around 9:30pm - that´s when lights are out & I´m usually knackered anyway.
The Albergue (hostels) are fantastic - if you can cope with sleeping in a room with about 20-30 people in bunk beds. They´re as cheap as chips & have everything you need. They may not necessarily be that flash, but certainly serviceable. They range from 3 - 6 € or by donation. The last 4 places I stayed in were by donation only - they generally include your dinner & breakfast also - so I´ve been paying the ´market´price about 15€ all up! They are of varying quality also, some very new with all the mod cons & others extremely old - possibly ancient relics (see Calzada del Coto) which seemed to be standing up by toothpicks alone but what it lacked in mod cons it made up for in character - in buckets!
Some observations about the Albergue:
Snoring - old women snore just as much as old men - perhaps not as loud though.
Farting - people fart
Earplugs - essential (thanks Matt for the supplies)
Age - the average age is approx 65yo! Nearly everyone you see
Bendy trees
Geometrically planted trees seemed to find themselves outside of towns near a river - this is one of many - which happened to be next to the jousting arena. is a retiree on their 2nd or 3rd camino. The oldest I´ve seen is 85 & he´s done it about 30 times! The youngest was a little girl on her first trip - 4.5 yo. I´ve seen dogs & horses making the pilgramage too!
I really admire the walking pilgrims though. They nearly all walk between 25 - 35km per day. They have whopping big blisters on their feet that seem to be festering away for the entire trip - but they persist.
Some people have a buggy to carry their luggage around on - very hard work on the up bits - almost as hard as the bike!!
I´ve actually been trying to faithfully stick to the camino as much as possible. The roads just aren´t as scenic - especially coming into a big city, it gets ugly.
I had a cycling buddy for a couple of days - Philippe from Quebec (Hola Philippe - buen camino!!), but I realised I was cycling way too fast and needed to slow down. It was great to share the time on the road with someone, but he had a different schedule to me so I´ve slowed down considerably, almost to the point where I feel I´m barely riding at all!
If you go to the following website (it´s Spanish) and hit no 20 - that´s the stage that I´m at. http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/ I was going to stop at no 29, but I´m going to have heaps of time to make it to 32 hopefully & maybe even have a quick trip down into Portugal? Maybe - I´ll see?
Menu del dai.... this is brilliant! A 3 course meal including a bucket of wine to wash it all down with. Usually consists of ensalada, a main of either fish, pork or beef/veal & dessert of icecream or fruit.
Weather: It´s been really hot most days, just yesterday & today have been a bit cooler with showers here & there. Yesterday afternoon in Leon (as opposed to Lyon) there was a huge thunderstorm - so that put a stop to my sightseeing - so a sieta was had instead! Today it´s been showering again & only 22 degrees - almost cold!!
Well amigos, I´ve rambled on for some time now - I think the sun has come out again - so time for me to visit the Gaudi exhibition here in Astorgas.
Hope you are all well and that the ski season will produce some snow for the bunnies. Wear a beanie, scarf & coat for me - coz I don´t need them!!!
Adios - hasta luego!!
Cabra Loca xoxo 😊 😊
PS Taking lots of photos are but no facilities available to download - will have to do a post trip blog.
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Matt
non-member comment
NO USA
Hi Ange, I have not headed to the States, the project has been delayed due to the machine not meeting aproval standards, so I may have to fly direct from the UK to the North Carolina, but I will not know probably until I am half way through ourt holiday. Lead time on this project is pretty important as every week that goes by that we don't build is costing us approx one mil $$ in revenue, so my bose is pretty keen to keep the project moving. Off to see a specialist again about the elbow, started clunking occucasionly, hurts like a fu$ker. Would have been good to do the ride with you, souns great, 7 days left of work :-) and counting see you in a few weeks Cheers Matt