El Camino de Santiago, Spain : Week 3
Articles I have written for TheTrek.co about my Camino Frances pilgrimage hike:
April 28: Itero de la Vega to Carrión de los Condes : 21.6 miles
Longest mileage day yet. Another cold day. Most of the day I was walking on a gravel path parallel to the road. My feet and body were hurting by the time I got into town. I got a private room at the monastery cause I didn't know if I would be coughing so much like I did the day before. Did some overdue laundry and had a nice meal in town.
Monastery albergue where I stayed
April 29: Carrión de los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios : 16.7 miles
Today there was a long stretch (17km) without going through towns or anything, but surprisingly the time passed quickly. Stayed at a massive albergue and had dinner with 3 men from Austin, Texas (one happened to be a rowing coach). Reached halfway to Santiago today.
Fellow pilgrim from France I´ve seen on the camino since day 2
Typical albergue bunkroom
April 30: Terradillos de los Templarios to Sahagún : 8.7 miles
Woke up with an upset stomach and a nose bleed. Started walking in strong wind and off and on sideways rain. By the time I reached Sahagún I decided to call it a day. I was just getting over a cold and didn't think it wise to walk in wind/rain in 40 degree weather, plus it'd be miserable. I stopped in a bar to wait till the albergue opened and my upset stomach started hurting worse. I ended up puking in the bathroom there. I got a private room at the monastery albergue and spent the rest of the day in bed freezing and every hour in the bathroom. I either got food poisoning or some stomach bug at the previous albergue. I felt really awful; being sick and alone in a foreign country is hard.
Rainy and windy day on the Camino
May 1: Zero day in Sahagún
Spent the majority of the day in bed resting (because that was the warmest place to be- I was in my sleeping bag with 3 blankets on top. They never turned the heat on and it was so cold). I ventured out to get some light food for when I could stomach it. I figured I wouldn't be 100% to walk the next day so I decided to take the train to Leon to take another rest day (and stay in a room with heat).
Sick and cold
May 2: Train to Leon. Zero day
Took the 8:30 train to Leon (skipping ~30miles of the camino), went to a local library (biblioteca), and checked into a hostal. I rested and didn't leave the room besides getting some groceries for dinner.
Train station
May 3: León to Villar de Mazarife: 13.8 miles
I debated whether to leave or not due to not feeling 100% and not having had a real meal in 3 days. I decided to go and I walked to the León cathedral and slowly walked the city sidewalks out of town. I took the alternative route, the recommended route in my guidebook. Hot day (75) and fatiguing. Made my own small dinner because I still couldn't stomach a full meal.
streets of León
León cathedral
May 4: Villar de Mazarife to Astorga : 19.4 miles
Today I crossed one of the longest medieval bridges in Spain. I also passed a famous area for jousting tournaments. I arrived in Astorga after a long day. I ran into Maddy whom I had met a week or so ago and joined her and two other women (Julie from Texas and Anna from Germany) for dinner, celebrating Anna's birthday.
Storks are found on every bell tower or cathedral
Puente de Órbigo
Puente de Órbigo
Lunch break
Awesome water fountain along the way
Pilgrim monument outside of Astorga albergue
Next: Week 4
