We had a nice breakfast at Albergue Verde and set off around 9. We decided to not continue on the road route, as this is noisy and a bit boring. We headed off through two villages, hoping that the second one, Santaibánez de Valdeglesias would have an open bar to get some café and OJ, but nothing was open. The landscape was beautiful although there was a lot of mud. (Note that Leonese fall mud is not near as bad as Navarran spring mud).

We had a snack to serve as lunch at the Cruz de Valle.

We continued up a down into the “Home of the gods”, Casa de Los Dioses area.

While having a much needed snack at a “cantina” maintained by a pilgrim support group, we were greeted by Franco, the Argentine pilgrim, responsible for last nights pizza, walking his Camino barefoot. I guess I forgot to mention that he is studying massage and specializes in foot therapies. Last night at the Albergue he was frequently seen massaging his feet.

As we finished our walk we passes the Cruz de Santo Toribio, a fifth century bishop who was banned from Astorga and fell to his knees at this spot when leaving We also got a great view of the mountains ahead. Tomorrow we will spend some quality time in Astorga (PRS-64) and not hike as far.

I forgot to mention 8.7 miles with mud and hills. Stayed in a private room in
Hostal Juli.

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I didn’t write after dinner because we went to bed, but wow! Dinner was mostly vegan although the pizza was merely vegetarian, having goat and sheep cheeses. From the beginning it was great. After the soup was served, noodles and spinach, the hospitaleros sang and played guitar as our “grace”. I took a video of it but can’t seem to place it here. Here is the youtube link

After the soup, I had two helpings, we had the main courses. There was a delightful vegetarian pizza, with lots of veggies and whole wheat crust, and a curried rice dish. Again, I had two helpings. Dessert was a cake. Normally the hospitalera cooks everything, but this night we had a special guest pilgrim cook. Franco, an Argentine perigrino, was relaxing a few days and offered to cook. He is seen serving soup below. More on him in the next entry.

The dinner was magical with talk from interesting folks from US, Canada, Denmark and Spain.

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