I left San Martino de Camino after breakfast and my first lay in, If you call getting up at 7 a lay in. My shin was still causing me great discomfort, but hey ho it’s better than a trip to the dentist. I walked into the town of Hospital de Orbigo and stopped to buy some supplies. This town is great with it’s long and narrow medieval bridge with it’s flags displaying different Coates of arms. Legend has it that a knight for the love of a woman stood on this bridge and laid a challenge to fight all knights for a month after this he went on a pilgrimage to Santiago. Hospital De Orbigo as the name suggests was a rest stop for pilgrims run by the hospitallers of the order of the Knights of St John, who took over caring for pilgrims after the Templar Knights were outlawed by the king of France and the pope who was under his control.
After getting my suppliers I stopped by a water fountain to replenish my two water bottles after filling one I noticed that the water was cloudy so I tipped it out. I carried on with just 200mil of water left in the other bottle, oh well looks like I’m gonna be thirsty. I stuck with the original route which still followed the road, the other route had plenty of stopping points and watering holes, but longer. I found an old hut with what resembled a bench outside it was narrow but if I was careful and laid on my side I could have rest, so I took my boots and socks of and went to sleep, I was past caring what other people might think. After about an hours rest I moved on still following the road which was flanked each side by woodland. There was a garage the other side of carriageway and I managed to buy some water, and a couple of chocolate bars. I strolled into Astorga (ok I limped) late in the afternoon and looked up the steep hillside road, I could see the Dutchman I had given the knee support to he was standing at the very top by a viewing area next to the church and waving frantically at me. He pointed me in the right direction for the albergue. After finding my bed and having a shower one of hospitallers treated my leg, I was skeptical at first as all he did was drape my leg over his knee and put pressure on the swelling around my shin (I know some of you are thinking where is he going with this, and your wrong and you should be ashamed of yourself) anyway it worked so there. I was there for about an hour and went to do some shopping and had returned and was sat on the edge of my bed when I heard a familiar voice say” I recognize those sandals “ it was Juliet, I thought I was way behind her. Half an hour later in walked the Americans and to cap it all Maurice was there as well but I didn’t see him. So this morning I set off from the albergue. No lay in this morning, at 6:30 they play Gregorian chants as the alarm call, what a great way to wake up.
On my way out of Astorga I stopped at a cafe and had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and coffee. After walking about 5 km to the next village, I saw outside a cafe bar, a rucksack I knew was Maurice’s, I stuck my head in the door and said “how did I know I would find you in the first bar I come to” he jumped up shouted my name and shook my hand till I thought it would fall off. We walked and joked together for most of the day, I told him it would be nice to get to Foncebadon, he looked doubtful, so I said we’ll see how we feel at Rabanal. Before we got to Rabanal he sat down by a tree to rest, I stayed with him a while shared some chocolate with him and left. I am now in Foncebadon a little deserted village in the mountains in an Albergue just about to have dinner with other pilgrims.
Life is good
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