Into The Mountains

The next 2 days - the 7 and 8 December - took me into the mountains and up to the highest point of the Camino: the Cruz de Ferro (The Iron Cross) at 1505m above sea level. The hills of Leon ranged far and wide - the Castilian plain a distant memory.

I climbed gently from Astorga through half-deserted mountain villages to Rabanal del Camino, where I spent the night at the Albergue del Pilar with its most attractive arched doorway and central courtyard. Not for the first time I imagined how this place would be teeming with pilgrims in the summer. For my part I much preferred these quieter, off-season months. Here I met up again with my Japanese friend, Hiroshi, and befriended 2 more pilgrims from Spain - who were a restaurant manager and a Basque theatre director in 'real life'.

The photo shows sunrise in Rabanal.

Astorga

I loved Astorga. It's where the Via de la Plata from Seville joins the Camino Francés. At one time there were 20 pilgrim hostels at this spiritual intersection. I stayed at the Albergue San Javier, which was one of my favourite refuges along the whole route. A welcoming man dressed in dazzling multi-coloured clothing and with a beard and a bicycle pointed me there. It's in an old part of town in the shadow of the cathedral (1st pic) and Gaudi's Episcopal Palace (2nd pic). It was some sort of feast day - I forget which one - so the streets were brimming with life. The albergue - a beautifully restored old building - was warm and friendly, with a kitchen and log fire. I recalled what this area used to be like in the 8th century: a battleground between the Moors and the Spanish king Alfonso I of Asturias.

Despite the cathedral's magnificence, what lingers most in my memory is the Museum of Ham (Museo del Jamon) shown in the 3rd pic.

Season Of Mists

In Leon my travelling companion Laurent branched north to Oviedo. This was a variation on the usual pilgrim route to Santiago - longer, wilder and more arduous. He had always planned to do this. I set off westwards and alone through the suburbs of Leon in the direction of Astorga.

It took me 3 days to walk the 54 km to Astorga. I didn't rush. The countryside gradually turned slightly less cultivated, slightly hillier, slightly more wooded. I passed sepulchral groves of holm oak and fir. In one village I ate the luscious red fruits of a madrone tree which were scattered liberally over the pavement.

A highlight of these 3 days was the bridge over the rio Órbigo (1st pic) - one of the longest and oldest medieval bridges in Spain.

The imaginative economy of the nesting stork is clearly demonstrated in the 2nd pic...

... and my 3rd pic shows one of the many pilgrim resting places or relaxation areas which are to be found all along the Camino. This one was very unusual, though...

From the Cruceiro de Santo Toribio (4th pic) you can see, I'm told, on a clear day, the lovely old Roman city of Astorga and the fertile plain before it...