Hospital de Órbigo

Today was travel day to Hospital de Órbigo, and bus booked for 3.45, so we spent the morning having last walks round León, and left the bags for transfer. That was a bit of a kerfuffle as they knew we were making our own way here, and we weren’t on the transfer list…but our vouchers said transfer and they sorted it out and delivered them…good for us, as otherwise we would have had to lug them to the bus station in León, and as it turned out, to our hotel at this end! Anyway, that’s a boring aside, but we had a quiet morning in León, still lovely weather but cold - maxed at about 16°, and quite a breeze, making it even colder…I wore all my layers, and Amr has taken over my down jacket - he hadn’t anticipated these temperatures!

A funny thing happened when we were sitting in the plaza outside the Gaudi house in León…we were sitting in the seat, which has a statue of Gaudi sitting there, and we were beside him. Well, an Italian group with a guide suddenly surrounded us, and we realised they wanted photos (but not with us in them!) so of course we moved with our backpacks etc - by now we were checked out of the hotel - and the guide was very grateful and we were presented as peregrinos, and asked how far we walked each day, and from Australia was a great hit…we were celebrities for a minute…fun…and I found I could understand the Italian guide talking about León and the camino so much better than the Spanish guide of yesterday…my Spanish has gone so fluffy..

We had lunch at a bar we had sighted, and it was excellent..Amr had morcilla - blood sausage mixture, a specialty of León, and I had equivalent of sashimi cod on orange and some magic sauce, both on toast and both magnificent…Amr helped me with mine, still having small amounts.

Anyway, we set off to the bus station - it is in a state of renovation which we knew from arrival, bit chaotic, but we got our bus on time, about half an hour to here. This was walking that Amr was missing, but actually quite boring, especially leaving León through endless industrial areas and suburbs, then even the countryside was not cultivated much or interesting, so I didn’t feel too bad. Tomorrow he will stride out and can have his full dose of exercise!!

The bus driver knew we were going to Hospital de Órbigo (not its final destination) and when he said this was our stop we got out in bewilderment! Walking in we have always come from the countryside and walked over the very long bridge to our hotel - on the camino. We found ourselves in a village, rather desolate, no sign of river or bridge…Amr turned on Google and we found it was a fairly short walk to the hotel, so we followed directions, through little streets, all shuttered, very little sign of life, till it said your hotel is very close, and there it was - we approached from the opposite direction - the bridge isn’t a vehicle bridge - and at first we’re totally disoriented…but there was the bridge, and we settled in, our bags were here! Phew.

We had a walk over the bridge, just for the sake of it , and a bit of a wander, but this town has nothing really to offer sightseeing wise, so we are now showered, done our washing and relaxing in the bar - Amr with a vino Tinto, and I have a “limonada” which looks and tastes like sangria! Dinner in about half an hour.Les mer