Puente de Orbigo.

8:30 A.M. and I am the last to leave the refugio at Villar de

Mazarife. It is a perfect day and after four hours of walking I

arrive at Puente de Orbigo and the famous bridge over the river

Orbigo. I cross the bridge and after looking down the main street

of Hospital de Orbigo which runs straight through town, I decide

to retrace my steps a few meters to the bar situated immediately

over the bridge. The bar looks quite fancy and expensive, but I am

tired and decided to have a cafe solo and brandy anyway. The

bartender does not seem pleased to see a smelly and dirty pilgrim

in his fine establishment, and fortunately, there are no other

customers. I take the best seat in the house, a leather couch

immediately in front of double glass doors leading out to a patio

and with a magnificent view of the bridge.

Bar at the end of the bridge.

The bridge is famous for an incident in 1434 when a Leonese

knight, Don Suero de Quinones, challenged any other knights who

wanted to cross the bridge for a period of about a month. Don

Suero declared that he was imprisoned by his love for a lady and

vowed to break 300 lances as ransom to escape his prison.

Afterwards he went to Santiago de Compostela and offered a

bracelet of his lady's as thanks. Presumably his tactic worked and

he escaped his prison of love. When I had finished my drinks, I

paid my bill, hoisted my pack onto my back and left. I walked down

the main street of what seemed a very clean and well organized

town until I came to the refugio.

As soon as I entered I realized that this was a very special

place. I felt comfortable immediately, and the host had a large

warm smile to welcome pilgrims. I looked around the courtyard a

bit, noticing the showers and multiple sleeping quarters at the

rear. The refugio was spotlessly clean and decorated with plants

everywhere.

Courtyard of the refugio at Hopital de Orbigo.

Since it was the middle of the day, I really didn't want to stop

here so I asked the proprietor if I could just have lunch and rest

for a while before continuing. He agreed, and proceeded to show me

the sleeping quarters. There was a male and female bedroom

separated by a walkway with tents set up in the yard at the far

end. This is the only time I encountered separate quarters for men

and women. Curiously, in the walkway several wild birds had taken

to hanging out. They would fly in boldly and sit on the clothes

lines that were strung up and sing happily. They seemed to have no

fear of pilgrims and to enjoy their role as entertainers. I sat at

a table in the courtyard and ate my lunch of fruit, bread and

cheese, and then rested for about an hour on one of the bunks in

the sleeping quarters. Before leaving I stopped in the office to

thank the host and get my passport stamped. There I encountered

Alexandro the biologist and his friend who were just checking in.

Towards Astorga.

We greeted each other and spoke for a while before I put on my

pack and started off. At the end of the long straight cobbled

street I stopped and turned to look back for a moment and caught a

glimpse of Win, the woman I had walked with the day before to

Villar de Mazarife, just going into the refugio. Small world this,

el camino de Santiago. I arrived in Astorga at about 7:30 that

evening after a hellish walk mostly on highways. I must have taken

a wrong turn somewhere since my guidebook describes a much more

interesting walk through fields and forests. In any case, after

climbing a steep stair I reached the top of the hill on which

Astorga is situated, and checked into the very crowded refugio.

After selecting the only available bunk in a large room crowded

with double decker bunks, I went out to look around and get the

feel of the city. Astorga was brimming with life. Residents and

tourists were walking the streets and enjoying the bars. There is

a beautiful promenade park just behind the refugio which is

essentially built on top of the city walls. From there you can

Promenade park.

look out and see far into the distance toward Rabinal del Camino

and the highest point of the camino on Monte Irago where the iron

cross, Cruz de Ferro, is situated. Astorga is at 873 meters

elevation and within a day's and a half's walk I would be at the

Cross which is at 1,515 meters and 33 km away. Admittedly, I was a

bit apprehensive about the steep upward climb and decided at about

this point, as I looked out at the mountains I had to cross, to

stay an extra night in Astorga and rest up a bit. After Cruz de

Ferro the road drops even more steeply than it rose: down to 486

meters at Cacabelos 35 km further on, only to rise steeply again

to 1,300 meters at O Cebreiro 35 km later. Definitely cause for

some additional rest I reasoned.

After a difficult night at the crowded refugio I was having cafe

solo at the Gaudi Hotel while waiting for a room to be ready. If I

hadn't checked with a very ordinary hotel off the plaza a bit

earlier, I would feel more guilty about the expense of the room at

the Gaudi. The Gaudi was actually less expensive, 5500 pts, and is

a very posh well managed place overlooking the plaza and Antonio

Gaudi's neo-gothic Bishop's Palace directly across from it, and

the Cathedral just to the left. It seemed like the Ritz of Astorga

and I really enjoyed the idea of first class service after

roughing it on the road. I had to wait for a room because I

insisted on one that was at the front of the building overlooking

the plaza, the Bishop's Palace and the Cathedral. I thought that

if I was going to go in style I should go all the way and get the

room with the view I wanted. When the room was ready settled in,

took a shower and shaved, and called the concierge to have a few

of my clothes cleaned stressing that it must be done very quickly

in order for me to leave the following morning. I was also

determined to mail the additional weight I was carrying on to

Santiago since the highest points of the camino were coming up.

After carefully sorting out and separating the items I needed from

those I would send ahead, I went down to the front desk and asked

for an empty box, string and wrapping paper. Of the three items I

was able to get only the box, but it was a start, so I packed the

box and would wait until tomorrow when the post-office opens to

conjure up some wrapping paper and string in order to mail the package.

View of the Bishop's Palace from my hotel window.

Later as I sit in the park with the view of tomorrow's walk I pray

that my leg holds up. I must learn to open my heart and just BE,

and decide to visit the small church next to the cathedral before

dinner. In the church of Santa Maria there is a service taking

place which I experienced from the rear of the church along with a

magnificent Christ in one of the side alters. As I leave the

church I encountered a Frenchman using a copper dosing wand as he

searched for energy fields around the exterior of the church. Very

strange and he was the object of much curiosity from the people on

the street. I walked a few meters into the plaza and stopped into

a shop selling pastries, the mantecadas (butter buns) for which

Astorga is famous, and asked for a piece of wrapping paper and

some string which the clerk very graciously gave me. I was

psyched! Finally, I had all the necessary elements to mail this

package of heavy items I didn't need, but the final test would be

in the post office tomorrow.

Christ figure in the Diocesan Museum.

There is a wonderful Diocesan Museum containing paintings and

sculpture located on the left side of the cathedral and since I

still had time before any restaurants were open, I decided to

visit it. As it turns out it was well worth the price of admission

and I spent about an hour soaking in the magnificent works. As I

left, I ran into a young woman who had the keys to the museum, and

I asked her she would allow me to photograph them since I am

always interested in tools of any sort. She enthusiastically

agreed and as I set about making a few photographs, an older man

who apparently had something to do with the museum objected

strenuously. I suppose he was worried that I intended to make a

counterfeit set of keys and rob the place. In the end, the young

woman basically told him to shut up and stop obstructing what was

obviously a fine art mission in itself. Luckily for me, she was a

far better judge of character than her associate. So much for the

wisdom of age.

Keys to the Diocesan Museum.

Having breakfast at the hotel at 8:00. Like everything else about

the Goudi Hotel the restaurant is beautifully put together with an

air of substance. After eating, I made my way over to the post

office and after much going back and forth with the clerk, he

finally communicated which forms needed to be filled out and what

the address should be for general delivery in Santiago. I paid the

postage and was free of 3.74 kilos, almost 8 pounds, and felt very

grateful for it. That much weight will have a significant impact

on the feel of my pack which at this point is about half the

weight it was on the day I started. After visiting Banco de

Castilla and getting ripped off in the amount of 1000 pts for a

commission to exchange my American Express travelers checks (this

despite a prominent sign claiming no commission), I headed over to

the cathedral for one last visit. While in the cathedral I

remembered the unique scent when the priests walked by me the day

before. Quite rare really, and at the time I thought that it was

the smell of divinity since it seemed to be coming from the

priests and I had never experienced anything like it before. I

liked Astorga but I had to continue. I had shed a considerable

amount of weight both physically and spiritually having realized

how much fear had permeated my life, and was glad to be on the

road again.

A corner of the Astorga Cathedral.