Saturday 1st May 2010 (Astorga to Rabanal del Camino – total distance to date 471.21km)

To those of you who have seen the picture of my latest “acquisition”, please do not worry, I have learnt how to attend to blisters and dry them up quickly. For this I have to thank my dear friend Leroy McCully. He taught me to use superglue and they seem to work perfectly for me. Just burst the blister, get all the water out, clean it up and put superglue on it. Repeat it daily until it is completely dried up. I hope there is someone out there who can teach me how to stop a toe nail from falling off. I have two toe nails that I think are victims of my walk, they look rather bruised and I think will fall off eventually. Other than that my feet look quite ok – perhaps gone a size up! Thank you Olivia, for offering to do manicure and pedicure for me when I return. Any offers for a good massage? Joy liked Astorga and was a little reluctant to have to leave this morning. Astorga is steeped with history, from Gaudi Palace to the Chocolate Museum. We did not have time to see all the sights, we never have time for much sightseeing really as we only spend a night at each destination. It all depends on what time of the day we get in. This morning we started our climb up to the highest point on this Camino. We are using three reference books and all three are giving us different versions of which are the highest point. I will let you know in my blog tomorrow once I have sought clarifications. Of course we are not attempting to reach the highest point in one day. We are stopped at Rabanal del Camino for the night so that we are closer to Cruz de Ferro (a famous landmark on the Camino originally to help pilgrims find their way across the mountain). It is better to make the climb to Cruz de Ferro in the morning after a good night’s rest as opposed to doing it after one has already walked for several hours. So that’s our highlight tomorrow. Today we experienced a drastic change in weather. From the heat that we have been moaning about all week, we now have strong cold winds and the sun shining bright. The type of weather that I have been longing for. 10km into our walk we arrived at the village of Santa Catalina de Somoza. The sight as we left the village was breathtaking. Rolling hills, snow-capped mountains, and low stone walls running by the side of the roads and also as boundary markers. For a moment I thought I was in the Lake District or Wales. Our climb today is only up to 1162m. The ascent is rather gradual so it was relatively easy. Rabanal is a small village but boasts very nice accommodation. We have a lovely room with twin beds and a nice big day bed at La Posada de Gaspar. I have chosen to sleep on the day bed (kinda cool!). Oh I forgot to mention that on our walk here, when we were trekking through the wilderness, I was confronted by a baby python, new born baby python? I froze. It was not the baby python I was concerned about. I was wondering if Mummy python was lurking around. Hey, I was told about wild dogs, even wolves, but no one warned me about snakes. Thank God it slithered away quickly so I dashed on. Joy was about 300m behind so she missed the fun. Our dinner tonight was at the hostel’s restaurant. Fish and chips and garlic soup for me; Fish and chips and seafood soup for Joy. Every dish was superb. Doesn’t sound like a very Spanish meal does it? In passing I must mention that Joy must be the only pilgrim on the Camino who greets everyone with “hi”. She simply refuses to say “Hola” or “Buen Camino” – says it is too difficult   We have to be really good tonight. It is 8.30pm now and lights out in 10 minutes. Have to be fighting fit for tomorrow and the next few days to conquer the mountains!!