El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 21: Astorga to Rabanal del Camino

Michelle wrote:
27 Sept. Wednesday

Leaving Astorga.  Our packs are
lighter than the pilgrim behind us.

We left the albergue in Astorga around 7:30 am and had a chilly walk through town, past the stores and cathedral and out through the newer suburbs.  Astorga was an interesting town with a lot of history - it was and is still a crossroads town.  Roman roads, pilgrim routes, market routes, all met in Astorga.  The walls are impressive, too. 

The walk was pretty easy even though we climbed from 900m to 1155m.  I was dreading that, but it turned out to be very easy.  We walked through scrub oaks and pines again, but they are bigger then on the meseta.  We finally saw and heard sheep!  We could see them going into some trees and heard the bells and we could also hear the shepherd whistling for the dog.  It was nice to see and watch some animals.  They’ve been scarce along the camino since Navarra.

Curtis’s toe was hurting again and the blister on my right foot was sore, so we took our time walking to Rabanal del Camino.  Rabanal is a nice village up on the mountain.  It was hot (72 deg) and we were tired, so we went straight to our albergue, Nuestra Senora del Pilar at 2 pm.  We had a beautiful private room in a separate building that appears to be a private house. They have rented out 3 bedrooms and one bathroom.  We have to do any cooking or laundry at the main albergue.  There were a lot of people sitting around in the courtyard of the albergue, so we were happy to be over in the house where it was nice and quiet.  

We had a frustrating afternoon trying to buy train tickets online to take us from A Coruna to Madrid.  The website was confusing, the customer support wasn’t terribly helpful and the wifi was better at the albergue than at the house.  So we sat outside near the bar for a couple of hours trying to get the tickets.  After a while we took a break and came back to the house because we were getting cold.  Curtis was finally successful in getting the train tickets for Monday, October 2nd!  That was a huge relief!  We always underestimate how difficult it is to get tickets and we wait too long to get them.  We need to remember this for next year!

We went to a nice cozy restaurant in the village and had a nice, simple dinner.  I had a salad and Curtis had soup.  It was just the right amount of food and it tasted good, too!  We saw our Canadian friends, the Yamkowys there. 

Curtis writes:
We left in the dark again, anticipating a challenging walk up the mountain to Rabanal del Camino.
As we were leaving town, we came across this mural that we had not noticed in our earlier ramblings.

On an earlier day, the wall looked like this.  You can check it out at on Google Maps, here.

The spires of La Catedral de Santa Maria de Astorga can be seen in the image below if you look carefully a little to the left of the trail (a dark protrusion just below the horizon).  The horizon is where we were yesterday around 10:30 a.m., taking a picture where the spires of the cathedral could barely be seen through the trees.

Astorga in the rear view mirror

On this days' trek we came across something we had not seen on the Camino to date.  In the village of El Ganso, parked along the trail was a nice van with a logo: Butterfield & Robinson.  Along with the van there were about 8 bikes like the one in the picture below.

I like the computer, the soft seat and most of all:
the electric motor (see the battery on the bar
just behind the front wheel).

At Butterfield.com I learned that they have tours all over the world.  The tour from Leon to Santiago de Compostela takes 6 days and 5 nights with the cost being around $4k.  Gotta pass on that.

The church in El Ganson has the common problem
of stork nests on the belfry

The umbrella shown here is designed to
be attached to the backpack.  I LIKE it:
Hands Free!

Finally: walking in the shade of trees.

 The last part of the trail that I remember going through the woods was before the meseta, before Burgos... between Villafranca Montes de Oca and Atapuerca.  Love the trees.

Here is where we thought we would spend the night.... but no.

Overall, the hike uphill to Rabanal del Camino was not painful.  We thoroughly enjoyed the change of scenery.  When we arrived at our albergue, we were greeted by a college age girl who spoke English perfectly and after processing our passport and fees, guided us to our room in a different building.  In fact our room was in a new home around the corner.

Home SWEET home in Rabanal del Camino

A very comfortable Normal bed

 We got a great deal, because I don't remember the cost of this place.  Had it been substantial, I would have looked for a different place.  You win some and you loose some.  This one was certainly a winner.

Michelle entering our room in Rabanal del Camino

The room was in a private home that seemed to be no older than 2 years.  The bathroom was very nicely furnished - and the bedrooms too.  We shared the bathroom with the guests who stayed in the bedroom across the hall.  Our schedules did not coincide, so we never met them.
We were late to dinner that day and missed the mass where the monks sang.  (We'll catch that next time).  But as we were entering the restaurant at Hostal El Refugio, we met the Yamkowys from Northern Canada.  We had first been introduced to them by the Sweenys while eating dinner in the plaza in Carrion de los Condes.  (See Day 12).  They were staying at El Refugio.  It was fun to talk with them and get their recommendations for the menu.

Dinner at El Refugio in Rabanal del Camino

Happy boy at dinner time

Delicious Salad

I chose the soup - it was good.

A MOST EXCELLENT dessert

In conclusion, we really liked our stay at Rabanal del Camino.  We got a good nights sleep in eager anticipation of climbing over the mountain the next day and arriving in Ponferrada the day after.