September 15 – 17: Various

My server was down for 3 days. Sorry. This will be a combined post.

Yay. Hälf way ? Not. They say it is but we are well past half way. As I said before there is the camino kilometer and then the real world kilometer. Road to Leon was boring as can be. 28 klicks today but mainly through the industrial area of the city. But then we were rewarded with this:

 

There are no words to describe the beauty of this place. The city was alive. Fantastic architecture, wonderful food, beer was refreshing and the wine plentiful and cheap. Spaniards are super friendly but one should know that nobody speaks English…no body. Not that they should but just a warning for future travelers. The larger cities do not seem to have a homeless problem like we do. If they do it is hidden. And,i heaven forbid, they clean their streets in the early morning hours. I love this country.

What is truely amazing is that the Spaniards put a great deal of detail to the facades of their buildings. Fantastic.

16 September.

Walk out of Leon was tough and slow and lots of hills. The landscape was flat and non descript. Clear skies and hot. Headed to Villadangos, which resembled  a truck stop. Passed a school and yes moms were waiting outside for their children, just like us. We ended up in a religious residential school where we only had to pay a donation. The place looked very clean but on closer inspection the place was lacking on planned maintenance. Plumbing was bad, light fixtures didn’t work, dryer was broken. Oh well. It did remind me of our roundtable the óther night about why we do the Camino. So I asked Jerry about that and did he feel there was an out of this world, out of body existential feeling about the Camino. He looked at me kind of funny like with his head slightly askew: “ you mean this walk?” he says. “None of that shyte. Its a great way to lose weight!!”

And there you have it.

17 September.

Walked to Astrioga. About 27 klicks. It was a hard slog. We did not follow valleys but crossed them. Up and down, up and down. Getting hilly again. Y,know the hills are okay. Going down is hard on the knees. We have started the hill climbing now.

 

Yes Jerry. Life is good.

A Jerryism

Jerry has a tendency to belch and pass wind a great deal in the morning. So I said to him:

“Gee Jerry,one of those farts are going to have lumps in them.”

” No worries,” he says “If yer ankles aren,t brown then your ok mate.”

And there you have it. Astrioga:

Astrioga – the chocolate capital of Spain. Yummy.

A hard slog but worth it. Hard core thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. Loved it. I love this country.

A hard slog tomorrow.

Read ya tomorrow.

Cheers.