I was excited to start the section of the walk through the elevated farmland known as the meseta. From the guidebooks it sounded like a vast plain where you could find some sort of spiritual enlightenment. In reality it is a series of small villages that, with a few exceptions, are getting smaller and whose demise would be accelerated without the hundreds of walkers/pilgrims who pass through each day. Some great highlights and we enjoyed most day’s walks but today we walked back into country where the roads turn, go up and down and take us through varying hinterland!
The late rising sun makes the mornings special and it was a wonderful walk out of Hospital with the sun at our backs with a vista in front of us that included hills! The first village of Villares de Órbigo came upon us fairly quickly and we passed through without stopping, thinking we could stop at the next one.
Santibáñez de Valdeiglesia also came up quickly but none of the cafes were open, so we pressed on. Just outside of the village the road turned to a wide brown track made up of fairly large stones, which always make the going tough. Added to the pain from below was the smell of a very active diary farm – talk about conflicting feelings! Walk fast and risk hurting our feet or walk slow and put up with the smell!
After a while the path settled down a bit and we made our way through oak and other trees. It is 8km between villages in this section but the time passed quickly and, after a rest at one of the peaks, we passed the Cruceiro Santo Toribio, and descended into San Justo de la Vega where we finally got our first coffee of the morning.
Only 4km later, we found ourselves in the lovely town of Astorga, gateway to the Montes de León and an ancient crossroads town.
17km journey today, all before lunch, and 490km so far. Many more turns in the video here.
steelewalking 