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Published: August 14th 2012
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Storks taking off..... one of them looks liks stork on a stick on the tree - just a quirk of timing Sat. 28th April- after a fitful night's sleep in the Casa Rural ( the warm room which we so appreciated on arrival was stifling during the night !) we packed up , inserted into our pockets the 'man size' serviettes nicked from last night's dinner table (they become Tissues Del Dias - or toilet paper when we use the unsupplied toilets in a Bar) and we set off for Leon...... it was about an 18km walk to reach the town outskirts... many people - and the guide book even suggested it, catch a bus TO Leon from the last stop before as the walk is along the highway and a very tedious way in through airport/industrial area. But we didnt want to do that.... we ended up walking in and decided on once getting there that we didnt want to STAY.! Big cities were anathema to us all along the walk really - and we could see from the map that Leon itself was at least 5km to walk through.... and as we wanted to stay at La Virgin Del Camino - about 8km out the other side - we thought we'd catch a local bus through to the far side
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Diane coming back in from 'make the storks fly' duty of the city - save ourselves 3 km or so....welll that was the plan!
We bought food to carry for later from a BIG Supermercado ... cheese, ham, fruit, bread, yoghurt, biscuits, chocolate - then of course we had to CARRY it all .... I was intrigued by the Ham that was hanging in the Deli section of the supermarket....see pic.... the colouring of it reminded me - rather horribly- of that travelling exhibition I saw in Adelaide a couple of years ago...do you know of that strange Dr Gunther someone who plasticizes human corpses and then slices them/arranges/skins them for 'educational display' - which i guess it is - but he appeared to derive far too much pleasure from it when I saw him interviewed.. I dont know I just found him VERY weird ( see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_Worlds ).... but I digress - back to Leon.
We saw Craig and Rosie for the last time in Leon... though we didnt know it at the time - they were staying for a night or two...
We went and worked out from the map on the bus shelter WHICH bus to catch and WHERE we needed to go..... waited
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yes, yes I think THIS one exemplifies us ... well the hair anyway and waited and waited - for an hour - that we could have walked the 3km distance in and THEN we alighted at the other side of the city , in the wrong spot - and became LOST! Lost in leon...... it was irritating and annoying and tiring - but we eventually found ourselves back on the Way following (we must have walked about 4km ) along the river. We had lost sight of the arrows/shells/signs that had guided us for over 400km so to be without them suddenly was distressing .... WHEN we finally saw a yellow arrow on a street sign - OH the RELIEF - DIane and I hugged in joy - we were so happy ! We then began to walk the last 8 km..... again through industrial/dodgy looking area....Not so happy !
Felt pretty flat and tired as we walked - it was getting colder and the sky darker with looming rain , the surroundings were ugly - Then there was a middle aged woman across the road, a local just going about her daily business - she called out in such a cheery voice 'Buen Camino ' it was nice- she cheered me
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FINALLY ! a pic with chick ! up for at least a minute and a half :-)
We reached the Albergue which was a municpal Hostel, previously part of a Seminary, paid our 5 euro each for a bed and settled to the usual shower/change/washing/get something to eat routine....and just in time we were too - 10 mins after our arrival it started to rain and hail heavily outside ! It was a clean large place - there were many Germans who joined together and cooked their meal in the communal kitchen - all talking together in a loud, excluding kind of way ... Diane and I feasted on some of our supermarket goodies and accessed the internet - re Dubbined our boots ( had managed to find some in the supermarket !) and settled to an early night because the Albergue had a 'leave by 7-30am rule.... so we did .
We set off with freshly dubbined boots and walked 6km to breakfast - stopping at a bar and had the HUGEST serves of Tortilla patata, choc croissant and coffee..very reviving, luckily, because we ended up walking 29/30km that day. We walked past something I have HEARD of but never before seen - a
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Another style of arrow that appeared at Leon MURDER OF CROWS ! They had many many nests all built in a grove of trees and were quite noisy - not galah/cocky noisy but with that Faaaarrrk Faaark noise that aussie crows do too - but I have never seen them here living so... communally ... we were intrigued and taking pics and as we did we met James and Angie - two texans we saw quite a bit of right up to Santiago .
We were walking the last 10km or so and approached by a young woman on a pushbike who gave us slips of paper advertising an Albergue in the next village we were stopping at- Puente de Orbigo.... This was something we would see more and more in the second half of our Camino - active advertising of albergues.
As we walked in over the bridge we read in the guide book about it "The longest and oldest medieval bridges in Spain dating from the 13th century and built over an earlier Roman bridge which formed one of the great historical landmarks. Its myriad arches carry us across the Rio Orbigo via the passage of honour Paso Honroso, so called because of the
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The 'Jamon' ... looks grisly really doesnt it...as vegetarians have been pointing out for years.... famous jousting tournament that took place here in the Holy Year 1434."
As we came across two other pilgrims also were a few steps behind us and I turned to do a pretend joust - as per the legend we had read about - THEY looked a bit startled and pretended to elbow past .. I THINK........maybe they thought I was trying to stop them so we could get a bed first in albergue or something.... anyway.... it was a joke lost in translation
:-)
Unfortunately we couldnt find the albergue the woman on bike had spruked ( spruiked?) to us - so called in to the second one we saw. It was a good choice - San Miguel - run by a lovely friendly guy...it has 80 beds though we were in a room of 16 - see pic. It was very warm and colourful - there were art materials around and those who wished could paint something to leave behind. We showered etc etc - then set off for a little walk. ( YES I know... after walking 30 km in the day....) wanting to take a few local pics etc - We ended up
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God/Gods/Universal Power - whoever, wherever you are ... THANK YOU! going in to the hotel at the end of the bridge and attempted to write in journals - had a red wine, took pics - watched other pilgrims walk in to the town, had a couple of reds,forgot about journals- took more competitive pics - Diane always believes hers are better - and this time I agree . We also chatted there with Tony - he and Clare were staying in the hotel for the night... Clare was resting after some tough days physically , it was good to catch up again. We walked back to the Albergue for an hour or so and then came back again to a bar called Los Angeles ! for a pilgrim menu meal. The menu described the 'curses' - all in English ! and I tried Russian salad for the very first time ( I think) it was kind of like potato salad, but with more vegetables and tuna... Diane and I shared a bottle of red... as you do.... and after the meal had a brisk bloody freezing walk back to the albergue.... there had been mention earlier that we would maybe try to do night pics of the famous bridge lit
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OH FRABJUOUS day Caloo Callay ! up ... but all artistic goals or yearnings were frozen and forgotten when we stepped outside.
We settled in to our bunks, carefully arranging within reach all that might be needed in the night - drink of water, tissues, Ibuprophen (!), cough lozenge, ear plugs - and of course bum bag with all passports/money/credential etc always close in reach - sometimes it was difficult to find somewhere to place things - at least using the bottom bunk I always had the floor -when I used a top bunk (less than 1/2 doz times) it was more difficult . So.... settled in to sleep, yearned for rest...... to no avail ! We were in the company of a SONIC SNORER .... he actually had Apnoea - honestly it was SO bad.... laying there, adjusting ear plugs, trying the arm over one ear thing ( despite the cold) .Yet even with my ear plugs in I could hear his horrendous gurgling, rasping snorting cacophany .... interspersed with periods of what seemed like 90 secs when I would think... surely , surely he is dead now... and with a big explosive intake of air, like a walrus snorting jelly, he would be
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Going to the light.... again off again... I could hear the restlessness of everyone else in the room, low mutterings (in German mainly) , heavy sighs ... When the light of day dawned and we were released from the auditory prison the room had become everyone in the room looked VERY ragged..... I dont think Mr Sonic Snorer hung around for breakfast , poor bugger just avoided eye contact with all - and left quickly.
We breakfasted on shared disgruntlement - no-one in our room had slept well - had cafe con leche et toastados - and set off along the Way to Astorga.
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