Astorga, Spain

It was a long day of rolling hills until we finally reached Astorga. In Hospital de Orbigo the two Camino choices finally converged and the one route became crowded with pilgrims. We went over a big hill, then at a fork near a farm we veered right but lost track of the Camino markers. We were following a family with two children but soon began to doubt the way. We stopped and turned back meeting up with several travelers. We wound up shouting to a fieldworker who confirmed we were on the right road. There were few markers because the road was newly graded and hadn’t been marked yet, nor was it on our maps. In the end, we just had to trust we were headed for Astorga. At the top of the second big hill, we began to spot a few Camino markers. Then we came upon a roadside stand where a man and his partner were giving away fresh fruit, and juice. Norm had a slice of watermelon but I just had apple juice. It was called Cantina de la Casa de Los Dioses. We wondered how one could create a life based on greeting passing pilgrims, but were grateful nevertheless. We were ever so happy to finally spot Astorga and slowly descend. We had to walk through most of the town, though it was charming. The sign posts clearly got us to our hotel where our packs were waiting. Of course, now that we are sending our bags ahead, we have a new arrival procedure. We must reserve our next hotel the night before so we can submit our pack shuttle order to Jacotrans. Here’s where I made a serendipitous tech discovery! We can make cheap calls in Spain from my very own Iphone using Skype. All we needed was a wifi signal. So I called our next hotel, Posada de Gasper, reserved that room, then called Jacotrans for the luggage transport. All of our work was done, but we were almost too spent to go out. After baths, and a bit of a nap, we rallied and wandered around Astorga. We had arrived too late for sightseeing, but did find a wonderful place for dinner where we had a pilgrim meal for ten euros which included a lemony fish soup with shellfish, freshly made fries with meat, and lemon tarts for dessert. Norm had a beer but I enjoyed tinto de Verano which has just appeared on menus since it’s May. We slept early, but not so soundly. I accepted my nocturnal restlessness and found myself doing my foot and calf exercises at three a.m.