Friday 30th April 2010 (San Martin del Camino to Astorga - total distance to date 448.23km)
Walking to Astorga today was another day of trekking on hard asphalt. It is difficult to imagine how hard it is on the feet unless you move from asphalt to paths and tracks where the ground is earth and stones and definitely softer. Today I realised that walking on stones is rather therapeutic (akin to having reflexology) but one has to be very careful not to slip on those bigger rocks. Today's journey was 24.46km. Not much scenery given that we were still walking alongside the main A-road. We miss the paths and tracks - hopefully they will return by tomorrow. It is so peaceful when you are in the wilderness - silence broken only by birds singing, the sound of woodpeckers, water flowing through the streams and perhaps sheep dogs barking. Oh, I forgot to mention that when we were in Bercianos del Camino, I was kept awake most of the night by dogs barking because the wolves were howling. Thank God we never met any wolves during our walk - at least not yet! When we walked through Hospital de Orbigo today (7km from San Martin del Camino), the town was preparing for their weekly Battle of the Knights - a tradition that has been carried down since time in memorial. Apparently the Knights are all decked out in their armours and the entire battle in tournaments are conducted with utmost pomp and ceremony. Pity we were just a day too early. I am sure it would have been wonderful to watch. Talking about missing a great event, we missed another great event at the Leon Cathedral two evenings ago. Apparently the Spanish Orchestra was performing Strauss, Mozart and Beethoven at the Cathedral and pilgrims get to watch it for free. Let's hope we don't miss any more great events. Back to our walk today. Not particularly exciting as I was saying but we did have some long moderate to steep inclines. We have taken to putting 85% effort into our walks so that we do not feel totally exhausted by the time we get to our destination. This seems to be working well and we are both very happy with this strategy. Taking the slopes at a slower pace and stopping for short rests has also seen us arriving at the apex in much better shape (not panting away!!). When we got to the apex of today's climb, what greeted us was indeed a surprise. Astorga in the distance with the mountains behind it still pretty much snow-capped. A rather breathtaking scenery. We think that we would be walking towards those mountains in the days to come. Astorga is a pretty and quaint little town. Lots of nice shops, clearly indicating that it is a tourist attraction. Chicken deprived Joy found a restaurant serving roast chicken - of course that was what we had for dinner! Have to keep my physio happy. It is way past my bedtime now. Joy and I are extremely happy that we are now able to get to our destination between 1.00pm and 2.00pm. This gives us more time to relax, do our laundry, enjoy the destination, get supplies, etc. But it means diligently waking at 5.00am everyday so goodnight! Oh Joy just reminded me to mention a couple we met, who were walking in the opposite direction. The gentleman turned around to show us the placard mounted on his backpack which read "Santiago - Roma". They are walking from Santiago to Rome. A short chat with them revealed that they have been walking the various Caminos for the past one year and five months!! Amazing isn't it?
Walking to Astorga today was another day of trekking on hard asphalt. It is difficult to imagine how hard it is on the feet unless you move from asphalt to paths and tracks where the ground is earth and stones and definitely softer. Today I realised that walking on stones is rather therapeutic (akin to having reflexology) but one has to be very careful not to slip on those bigger rocks. Today's journey was 24.46km. Not much scenery given that we were still walking alongside the main A-road. We miss the paths and tracks - hopefully they will return by tomorrow. It is so peaceful when you are in the wilderness - silence broken only by birds singing, the sound of woodpeckers, water flowing through the streams and perhaps sheep dogs barking. Oh, I forgot to mention that when we were in Bercianos del Camino, I was kept awake most of the night by dogs barking because the wolves were howling. Thank God we never met any wolves during our walk - at least not yet! When we walked through Hospital de Orbigo today (7km from San Martin del Camino), the town was preparing for their weekly Battle of the Knights - a tradition that has been carried down since time in memorial. Apparently the Knights are all decked out in their armours and the entire battle in tournaments are conducted with utmost pomp and ceremony. Pity we were just a day too early. I am sure it would have been wonderful to watch. Talking about missing a great event, we missed another great event at the Leon Cathedral two evenings ago. Apparently the Spanish Orchestra was performing Strauss, Mozart and Beethoven at the Cathedral and pilgrims get to watch it for free. Let's hope we don't miss any more great events. Back to our walk today. Not particularly exciting as I was saying but we did have some long moderate to steep inclines. We have taken to putting 85% effort into our walks so that we do not feel totally exhausted by the time we get to our destination. This seems to be working well and we are both very happy with this strategy. Taking the slopes at a slower pace and stopping for short rests has also seen us arriving at the apex in much better shape (not panting away!!). When we got to the apex of today's climb, what greeted us was indeed a surprise. Astorga in the distance with the mountains behind it still pretty much snow-capped. A rather breathtaking scenery. We think that we would be walking towards those mountains in the days to come. Astorga is a pretty and quaint little town. Lots of nice shops, clearly indicating that it is a tourist attraction. Chicken deprived Joy found a restaurant serving roast chicken - of course that was what we had for dinner! Have to keep my physio happy. It is way past my bedtime now. Joy and I are extremely happy that we are now able to get to our destination between 1.00pm and 2.00pm. This gives us more time to relax, do our laundry, enjoy the destination, get supplies, etc. But it means diligently waking at 5.00am everyday so goodnight! Oh Joy just reminded me to mention a couple we met, who were walking in the opposite direction. The gentleman turned around to show us the placard mounted on his backpack which read "Santiago - Roma". They are walking from Santiago to Rome. A short chat with them revealed that they have been walking the various Caminos for the past one year and five months!! Amazing isn't it?
I remember we discussed that you should stroll, not do brisk walking, and you should rest 10mins after walking an hour. I too, want to walk more if I can, but I will need to retire first hahaha. Just clearing everything in the office now, packing in the next couple of days, and leaving on Monday. See you two real soon !!! By then, you will be such better walkers than us, and we will have lots to learn. Walking must be your vocation by now hahaha
ReplyDeleteHappy Labour Day!
ReplyDeleteDear Angie n Joy
ReplyDeletegreat to know that u two r back on your walking trail again. Have Fun.
Adious
LAM
I so sua koo. Posted something some days ago but didn't see it anywhere. Just discovered this box and now joining in. We're so glad that you're literally back on your feet. Ha ha. Weather's here so freaking hot and wet so we're quite envious about u getting some cool stuff where ur. We're mighty proud of you (Joy too) for making it this far. Just a while more and it will be journey's end. Seemed like a crazy thing to do at first but some of us actually now wish that we're there with you. God speed and Jia Yu. Liz and Kor
ReplyDeletehi liz, hi kor. the highlight of our walk is really on tuesday and wednesday. climbing up to El Cebreiro. it will be a very tough climb because we are going to take the difficult route - apparently it is very scenic and worth the climb. but we're going to take it easy and rest lots along the way. 9 more days of walking! big hugs to everyone!
ReplyDelete