Day 27 – Astorga to Foncebadon
26k – 560k to date
I need to tell you about our afternoon friends that show up without fail and travel with us until we reach our home for the evening. The Spanish National Animal Control Board has developed a system to release 13 flies per day to accompany each pilgrim to their final daily destination. This was started to make sure that afternoon hikers are never alone. The flies have very strict rules, they can never start accompanying anyone before 11:00am. They cannot follow pilgrims into intermediate towns, this allows pilgrims to stop at outdoor bars and stores to spend money in their country and finally they are not allowed to enter the town of the final destination. The Spanish government was very generous to allow a bakers dozen every day, as with most things on the trek, much is given to the pilgrim.
I did notice one fault in my group of accompanying flies today, once I got into the hard climbs, about 9 of the flies took off early. I thought I should report this to the board, but these flies work hard, so I will let it slide.
Today was a good day as I moved from the nice city of Astorga into the Cantabrian mountains. I am in the bowl of a pass tonight and about 1,500 meters high (5,000′), not high by our standards, but high for Spain. The climate is still very semi arid even this high, but on the other side of this mountain, I am supposed to enter a valley with a great microclimate that is known for growing grapes for award winning wines.
Astorga was a good town, I spent about 2 hours in the main town plaza last night and it was very active with affluent locals. Also, in Astorga, there are three Catholic Churchs, as I passed the first one coming into town, on the back of a truck was a glass enclosed statue of the Jesus crucifixion being moved somewhere. It was a strange sight and they were moving off before I could get a good picture.
The trail after Astorga took a steady incline upwards, nothing really difficult until the last 7k, but we knew we were going up all day. It was a standard day, passing through several small towns. As I approached my final destination, the views became great again. It is amazing what a little altitude does for the view. Tonight, I am in a town with a population of 13. It is solely here to serve pilgrims traveling.
On the road today, there were quite a few familiar faces showing up again. I had breakfast number 2 with Peiter from Denmark and his brother Eric from Switzerland, they are an interesting pair. They started their Camino in 2009 and take one week each year and hike parts. They should have finished by now, but like today, they only went 15k, so they are moving slowly. I think they just use this as an excuse to spend one week together away from the wives, but it works for them. They also travel first class, with hotels and good meals when available. Also saw several first week friends and when you see them, it is like a reunion. I think this community helps make the experience something special.
Moving slowly from village to village.
Isaiah 7:18