I had not signed up for breakfast, which meant I had nothing to wait around for... I thought i'd get coffee along the way in town... again it was the noise of my fellow pilgrims that got me going.. I dont need alarm clocks here...I got out of there by six. I had hoped to find open place for coffee but following Camino signs I missed the bar turn off, so it would be a very long walk to next town with coffee... I have marveled repeatedly on this walk at how long I can go without coffee in the morning and still manage to walk 8 or sometimes even 24kms before my first cup.. I really thought I was too addicted to be able to do that, I felt very rugged. The stretch out of town. Dark flat and on tar road.. not nice, it felt endless.. It felt like a long 9.5kms to Villavante for first coffee. At the bar the woman only had plastic rapped baked goods, would it anyway ....but coffee was good!! ran into everyone from night before including swiss M and american guy.. We were all goaling for the town, Astorga. This was a long day for me. 32Kms. M and I fell into walking together for the day. She still recovering from her injury tendon inflammation. I had walked maybe half day alone and half day with her. It was such different company, there felt like I had more freedom, and the idea of absolutely having to walk the last ten days by myself seem to be forgotten... since it was apparently just a matter of the company I was keeping. Throughout the day we ran into the two spanish school teachers.. one looked overheated she had sunburn and to protect it she had put on the only long sleeve thing she seemed to have a wool sweater top... in this heat, pure masochism... .. Also the irish man also seemed to have heat struggles. For me the dry desert like heat was not a problem for most of the day.. at one point I had a craving, I really wished for juice and water ..at one point I came across this stand, outside a old barn, and what do you know, free juice, cookies and fruit, as per my mental request...ask the camino and it shall provide!.
.. it was totally donation based, very sweet .. the breaks were frequent and long. I was not surprised that the walk day stretched to three thirty. We stopped at outskirts of Astorga after a seeming 1 km walking across a ridiculously zigzag bridge over a rail line. That really did us in. we stopped at an auberge on the outskirts just to get a drink...this semi senile old lady then tried to guilt trip and pressure us to stay the night there., but it was too far on the outskirts we wanted into town... she was needling M to make us stay and saying negative things about foreigners,she seemed too old to realize perhaps that we were foreigners as well, in fact M had to translate for me.... . SA the Parisian woman, joined us here. We all walked up into the hill of Astorga. Past the first auberge and headed for the private one further in . It seemed clean and user friendly. Also we got a business card with pilgrim discount at the Gaudi restaurant. There was a a cathedral and next to it a Gaudi palace, across from it the Guadi hotel bar and restaurant. It was decided we are too late for siesta so I did shower, and laundry. Melanie went to explore the town and SA soaked her feet and wrote journal next to me..it was her last night as a pilgrim. She was now going on a beach holiday and perhaps we would see her in santiago. Around sevenish, we went to find a bar, I ordered an extra large beer which always seems to impress the bar geezers, here, they raise surprised brows as I walk out with my 2kilo mug. We sat around and b.s.'d till we thought the restaurant might open. When we got there it was still too early so we had another drink at the bar. Astorga seems to be the town of sweets, we passed a lot of shops like that. I did not have a chance to sample though... I did see weird things like pink and orange chocolate bars..
Dinner, it was in a pretty fancy place. My choice, salad and salmon..good portions and tasted good, not at all vegetarian but in spain that is very very hard. SA shared with us some of her multi return camino experiences and little wisdoms she gained.... she had just started out as a regular hiker who really did not know what she was doing (sounded familiar) Eventually her mind turned and she became a real pilgrim. She said the Camino has definitely changed her and here friends and family have noticed. Things flow more easily for her, she does not get stress out about little things as much. She's more free and relaxed. She said the Camino answered questions she did not know to ask. She works for a private company in diplomacy.... it sounds a bit mysterious and like she's over-simplifying what it really is... I feel I am forgetting some of the cool things she said. But she did mention the Camino is always was with her when she is not on it which sounds interesting. I think there is a special relationship that people who do the camino in stages over several years have.. some how i feel they integrate their camino experience into their life more by returning to it so often and in different stages of theri own minds and lives...I felt i had some of the best conversations with these kind of pilgrims...She also said... Camino taught her... if you are not struggling right now and enjoying things, really appreciate that because things can change in very few minutes...We had a great eve together. When we returned, auberge was completely full ..we had a bunch of young students and a large number of bicycle pilgrims... which would prove an issue in the morning with noise. I passed out before SA returned from the bathroom so I did not get to say a proper goodbye to her...
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