Day 47: Camping near Astorga

September 27: Out of Hospital del Orbigo, the trail once again split into a choice between a busy road walk or a scenic alternative path away from busy roads, and once again, I chose the alternative. I saw a lot more pilgrims taking this alternative than I usually did, and I’m not sure why there was such a difference. Although this alternative path was well-marked at the junction—most of them were not. Perhaps that played a roll? Whatever the reason, it seemed like an unusually large percentage of pilgrims actually took the alternative path. Maybe not a majority, but a lot more than I normally would see.

 

The big town for today was Astorga, which I reached late in the morning. The path into Astorga passes over a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the town next to a giant cross where I stopped to rest and met two people from France who had scraped a giant “1000 km” into the dirt with a stick.

 

“We started in Figeac!” they told me in heavily accented English, excited. “We’ve now walked 1,000 kilometers!”

 

“Congratulations!” I told them. “That’s a long distance! And I know, because I started in Le Puy and walked through Figeac too!”

 

They seemed slightly taken aback by this revelation. “You started in Le Puy-en-Velay?”

 

“Yes,” I answered. “And walked right through Figeac along the way! So I know exactly where you started from!”

 

“But then you’ve already hiked more than 1,000 kilometers.”

 

“Yes,” I replied again. “I passed my 1,000 kilometer mark almost 300 kilometers ago.”

 

You could see the disappointment seeping through their faces, obviously feeling one-upped. I didn’t mean for that to happen—I wasn’t trying to brag that I had gone farther than they did—just that I understood what a big accomplishment it was to walk 1,000 kilometers. Of course, they could have had no idea that out of the thousands of people walking the trail, the first person they grab to celebrate their milestone wound up walking from an even longer distance away. In fact, I was more than a little surprised when I learned they had started so deep in France—I hadn’t met anyone who started before Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in weeks. Those of us who started deep into France were definitely a rarity on the trail.

 

I used their camera to take photos of them by their 1000 kilometer scratching in the dirt. That was the reason they first intercepted me—to ask if I would take a photo of them together by their dirt graffiti. I still felt a little bad for accidentally one-upping them, however, but they seemed to forgive me for the slight.

 

I decided to eat lunch in Astorga, in front of the cathedral which, from the exterior, looked absolutely beautiful. I also read my Kindle and killed some time before pushing onward, ever onward. Most of the other pilgrims I saw waking into town were in search of the alburgue, already planning to stop for the day. It was still too early for me to quit, though, so I kept going.

I stopped by the water facet in El Ganso to cook dinner. Originally, I didn’t plan to do this, but this would be the last water source until I planned to set up camp for the night and I wanted to fill up all of my bottles for the night so I had enough to cook dinner and eat breakfast in the morning. But when I looked for my plastic water bottle I’d carried all the way since Le Puy, I couldn’t find it. It was missing. If I had to guess, it probably rolled under the bed at my hotel room the night before and I missed it before I left. In any case, the maximum water capacity I could now carry was seriously compromised. I wouldn’t have enough water for both dinner and breakfast!

 

Which meant I quickly had to scramble to Plan B: I cooked dinner in El Ganso next to the water facet. Afterwards, I brushed my teeth. And now I only needed enough water for breakfast and to get me to the next town, which wasn’t particularly far. No problem! =)

On my map, it looked like the trail followed more-or-less close to a paved road, but it passed by a green area that usually meant lots of trees—which also meant it would likely be easy to find a private, out-of-the-way place to camp.

 

By now, a couple of hours before sunset, the trail was empty of pilgrims. They’d all stopped in alburgues already so I had the trail to myself. When I reached the trees, I kept my eyes open for good places to camp  The trees were pretty dense, though, and I couldn’t see very far into them.  I found a suitable place to camp and went about my business. 

 

Then I  wrote in my journal and read my Kindle for the rest of the night.

 

Kind of a creepy little pilgrim statue….

 

The little shack on the left is a small drink/snack stand for pilgrims
passing by.

 

Wonderful views from the cross overlooking Astorga!

 

These two had just walked 1,000 kilometers from
Figeac, deep in France, and they were pretty excited about
the milestone until they met me. =)

 

Wonderful views walking into Astorga. One thing to note in this photo
are all those mountains in the background. I’m definitely not
in the Meseta anymore!

 

A pedestrian overpass that crosses over some train tracks.
Sometimes you just feel like you’re waking in circles and not getting
anywhere. That’s what these bridges feel like. =)

 

A more modern-day kind of pilgrim statue.

 

A church in Astorga.

 

Who can’t just adore this little fellow? =)

 

I don’t remember what this building in Astorga was for.
But it sure is pretty!

 

The cathedral in Astorga.

 

A more modern-day church along the trail.

 

A small, wayside church along the route.

 

 

 

I like the addition of the rainbow! =)

 

Just in case you get tired of walking, there’s always a Plan B. =)