Day24 - San Martín to Astorga

Wednesday 15th June 2022

It was going up to 34°C today so we left again at about 0530.Ruth decided on using a head torch. Luckily it was dark and there was nobody around, or it could have been embarrassing.

We came upon a heap of irrigation channels as we left town. They may be upgrading or replacing some of them.

This great water tower is where another Camino joins the Camino de Santiago. I think it's the Camino Andaluces. The path then goes down to Hospital de Orbigo where there is a huge bridge crossing the flood plain - Puente Viejo.

We also found a 4 stork nest church. I think that should be the end of stork related photos.

These are the types of brick used in building here. They vary in size but most seem to be hollow or honeycombed inside. This would make them light to work with. They would have low thermal mass which means they would warm up and cool down fast. Also it should make it easy to run cables through them, if oriented correctly. But you can huff and puff and blow the house down, judging by the number of damaged bricks and holes in walls I have seen.

Ruth liked this style of gate. But I'm not sure how they'd look in Wokingham.

It was then a walk through fields, looking at irrigation systems, maize fields, potatoes and cereals. We saw guys hoeing between crop rows by hand, as well as giant tractors working the fields. There was also a woman growing vegetables in a defunct drainage channel. She was walking barefoot in the current drainage ditch pouring water around her plants.

We passed a tiny Albergue and asked if they were doing coffee. Yes, so we had coffee (me) and coca cola (Ruth) in a lovely courtyard garden.

It was a great stop and the woman was so pleased that we'd stopped by.

It was then a long slog, climbing steadily through plantation forest until we came upon this place

This was David's place - an oasis in the wilderness. There was fruit, cheese, chorizo, orange juice, lemonade. It was a donation table, so we had some watermelon, grabbed a boiled egg, left a few euro and were off again. More climbing and then we could see down to Astorga in the distance.

The road down to Astorga was enlivened by a 'guitarist', whose repertoire consisted of singing, in loud Spanish, a verse containing the words 'Pelligrina, Pelligrino, Santiago and Astorga' whilst strumming a few chords. He then spun his guitar and repeated the verse. We thought he deserved a euro just for his nerve.

We actually saw him 'off duty' in Astorga. Obviously he wants to keep them hungry for more.

JUst random photos from the day.

This gives you an idea of the actual walk into Astorga. It was hot, dry with light industry to the left and scrubby fields to the left for maybe 3k. Then we hit the bridge over the railway.

This was an amazing contraption of ramps designed to allow cyclists to cross the railway without dismounting. But for us, a set of steps might have been good enough.

Talking of steps, it was a long climb into Astorga, crowned by this flight of steps. Be careful what you wish for! Luckily there was a bar at the top, where we stopped for much needed beery refreshments. Then into the main square and the hotel.

This building was at one end of the square. It is some kind of local government building. But often, it is just a fancy facade covering more workaday offices. A bit 'mutton dressed as lamb'.

The hotel was nice. We got checked in early, which was great, as we could wash off the 34° heat in a decent shower.

Then we tried to update blogs, or in my case, fell asleep for a while. The guide says that the cathedral and the Gaudí building are wonderful. But I think that compared to León's cathedral and Gaudí building, they are decidedly second division.

The cathedral seems to be a museum of churchy stuff but displayed and explained in a very academic way.

The text above gives you an idea of what I mean. Having said that, Astorga was a cross roads for many trade, Pilgrim and drovers roads. The cathedral was at the centre of Christianity in the area and had schools, monasteries, and hospitals (lodging for Pilgrims and travellers).

I will include a few pictures to show that I actually went inside.

The Gaudí building was more interesting, but not much more. Gaudí was asked to design it as he was friends with the Bishop of Astorga. But there were arguments with the money men, the plans were revised and the Bishop died. Gaudí did not have his usual team of people helping the build, fell out with the 'committee' and refused to have anything to do with it. They then had several different contractors work on it and it was never used as a Bishop's Palace. It is interesting enough to look at, and tries to sell itself as a Gaudí masterpiece, but it isn't.

The bar across the road was nice. But Astorga doesn't seem to take tapas seriously. We walked back to the hotel and tried to find somewhere to eat. All the best places were only open 1300 to 1600. And the rest didn't serve food until 2000. So it was back to the hotel bar for drinks, crisps and then bed as we're getting up again at 0500.