León to Molinaseca

Long catch up!

Left León at sunrise.  It was a beautiful day for the walk - sunshine but a little cooler. Our destination for the day was Hospital de Orbigo. Frogs, storks, more wheat, barley, corn fields, some chickpea and sunflower fields accompanied us. We dodged tractors and 'F1 drivers' (as Erica called them). This was the last part of the meseta.

We enter Hospital de Orbigo on a very long, very old stone bridge that brings you right into the old section of the town. We found our albergue and followed the same routine dropping off our packs, finding beer, showering, napping, etc. We splurged on dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town - and stuffed ourselves.

The walk to Astorga the next day was pretty special. As we walked into the small town just outside of Hospital de Orbigo, we saw and I remembered the Bar Arnol! We'd taken a photo with him last time because he was so nice to everyone who came into his bar. So we decided to stop and say hi. It was a sweet 'reunion'. The postcard guy was still collecting postcards and sharing food just down the street.

Just before Astorga, at the "hippie" rest stop we met a guy named Moses from Seattle playing the guitar. He lives about a mile from me! And Camino Joe is still selling his handmade jewelry and living out of his car. An emotional and happy day.

Astorga was fun - we had a great lunch, saw the church, bought chocolate (there's a chocolate factory here) and had pizza for dinner. We left Astorga after watching the most amazing sunrise, had lunch at a cowboy bar and on the way out of that cute little town encountered a man on the side of the trail selling Camino shell necklaces. Of course we stopped. Carlos speaks fluent Spanish so we spent a few minutes with him - found out he's 91 and does this because he loves talking to the pilgrims. The BEST surprise of the day was running into the "stamp guy" who we were disappointed to not see in an earlier town we'd seen him last time. I'd given him a postcard, and he remembered us! He still had the postcard in his van. He gave me a special stamp and we are all featured on his Instagram page! A few tears were shed. What a day!

We couldn't get lodging in Foncebedon, so we stayed in Rabanal, the town just before. What a difference that made for the last stretch up to Foncededon and Cruz de Ferro, which we did the next morning. It's kind of hard to believe, we've already come this far, when you look back over the terrain after you get to the top. Over three hundred miles. We only have about 130 left to go.

The way down from Cruz de Ferro, however, was grueling. I don't think I've ever been so hot! Last time we nearly froze, this time we roasted.Read more