Camino Francis, Day 21

 Day 21, May 10th, 6:55am out the door on a chilly morning, but at least it’s not rain YET!!! On my 2nd small cup of coffee, this Albergue has a coffee vending machine, went w/ the cappuccino👍🏻. And away we go!!.

Astorga is a very cute little town. It is also some kind of a famous chocolate town. There are literally a chocolate store on every corner. I’ll have to do a little research on that and see what it’s that’s all about. This town has many different sleeping options for pilgrims, from Albergues to fancy hotels, just depends on what you are looking for. to stay at there was just three in the. For dinner last night, I went to this little Mom and Pop pizza place. It was so small, it had only 1 small bar height table, where I sat. The only other sitting was at the bar, and that only sat about 4 people. They had 2 tables that were stacked on top of each other, but there  was no room for those to be set up anywhere. I went with the margarita pizza, my go to pizza. The pizza’s herein Europe, for the most part, are all thin crust, so I can eat the entire pizza w/out wasting any of it, and I was able to get my all important stamp!!

My Albergue, San Javier, was a very nice place. It has  multiple floors. You enter at ground level, check in desk, and then you went down three or four steps that will lead you to the backyard courtyard, where they had W/D plus sinks for hand washing cloths, cloths lines, two vending machines and the rack where you put all your shoes. This place also had this drop down seating area w/ inclosed fire place, was the most popular spot. Second floor was, shared showers, bathroom, and sinks,  all separate rooms, with 4 or 5 single rooms. 3rd floor was the dorm floor, where I stayed, (28 single beds). I took the bed right next to a power outlet so I could plug all my stuff. In a lot of these  Most Albergues, they give you pillowcases and a sheet that will fit over your bed and they’re all disposable. They usually provide a blanket for each bed. After I got back from dinner, I just kinda hung out in my bed, finished the blog and & texted with Maryann, after she arrived in Porto. 

7:30sm, It’s 42° mostly cloudy, but the sun over my right shoulder is trying to peek through the clouds. Come on sun do your job and warm things up. Over my left shoulder, in the distance, the clouds look pretty dark😡. I am going with the rain jacket today, but the poncho is strap right on top of my pack and I still have my pack cover on. I think today will be going through a lot of the local foothills. I can see them up ahead of me, so I know I go up and over those. The Meset is done, back to the climbing. Now entering Junata Castilla y Leon. 

I don’t see myself doing any more big days now. I will be passing through more villages in the upcoming days, w/ plenty of places to stay the night. Right now I’m just gonna basically stick to my original schedule. I’ll be averaging 15-18 miles per day, that puts me in Santiago in 10 days or so. Sidenote, regarding my poles. I found a little piece of yellow ribbon, so now I tie that around my poles when I have to put them in a bin with all the other pilgrims poles. I also took a yellow highlighter marker and colored the top of my poles. So hopefully that will keep someone mistaking there polls for mine. I’m still not booking places to stay in- advance, until I get near Saria. Then I’ll start booking one two days in advance. Today I’m going to, Foncebadon, and they have 4 or 5 Albergues, so I am sure I’ll find a place to sleep. Just passed a Camino distance marker, doing the math, I have about 162 miles to go. The miles are clicking by fast.

07:53am, entering Murias de Rechivaldo. Nothing was open to get a coffee so I’ll just keep on moving.

8:48am entering Sta. Catalina de Somoza. Stopped at a little café called Susanna‘s had the best breakfast, I’ve had so far on the Camino. It was an açaí bowl with yogurt, nuts, muesli, bananas, kiwi fruit, topped w/ a drizzle of honey on top. So good!!!. Of course I had my cafe con Leche with it. I sat with the mother & daughter from Pittsburg. Currently at 5.8 miles and just starting to feel light sprinkles and it looks dark in front of me so it’s coming. Still walking up this light gradual incline pretty much been doing this all morning. One thing I can definitely tell is that the temperature has dropped, now at 44°. Passing a lot of cows grazing in the fields. Lots of mama cows w/ young calf’s. 

10:26am, entering El Ganso, not a lot going on here, that’s for sure.

11:30am, I am at 11.5 miles almost 4 1/2 hours in currently walking through this very pretty section of a forest. Walking by all these moss covered trees with an array of pink flowers everywhere, very pretty. So far the rain has held off and I’m about ready to take this jacket off, but you know as soon as I take it off it’s gonna start raining. This area of the forest, will be really be pretty in another month or so when all these trees have their full leaves on them. Oh, five minutes later, I’m out of the forest and I’m back on the road 🤣, that’s how fast things change on this trail.

11:45am, entering Rabanal del Camino, another very popular pilgrim stopping point. Stopped at a little store, bought me an orange, banana & Coke Zero. I took off my pack and my back was just soaking wet from the sweat caused by wearing my rain jacket all day.😡. So far the rain is holding off🤞🏻

12:15pm, I spoke too soon. The rain is now started poncho goes on. We’ll see how long this last.

1:05pm, 48°, 15.2 miles, 6 hours. Ever since I left Randol Del Camino, it has been an uphill climb w/ off & on rain. Not heavy rain but just enough to keep my poncho on. The trail is very muddy in places, that you have to be very careful getting around. It’s also very rocky, and the rocks are slippery.

 It’s been one a heck of climb, that's for sure. I looked at my HR, 138 b/min. Basically this whole day it’s  been uphill all day. It started out mostly gradual with a couple of mild uphill climbs, but this last hour has been no joke. It’s a workout for sure. The Meseta has made me soft🤣🤣

13:20pm, I reached Foncebadon, and it really starting to come down now. I go to the first Albergue I come to, but they have no open beds, Luckily the second Albergue I go to, does have open beds, YES!!! I get checked in, and taken to my 3 bunk bed room, 6 total beds. My room mate, is an Italian woman w/ her 5 yr daughter. She is bicycling from Leon to Santiago. She has a covered carriage attached to her bike that the daughter rides in. Then shorty, another older Italian man joins us. I am out number at this point. My first chore is to take all my cloths to the W/D, no washing them in the sink today, it’s just too cold. Next chore is to shower and get my bed set up. 

My Camino chores are completed or getting complete. It’s time to go relax and grad a drink. I face time w/ Maryann for a long time, all the while I proceeded to eat to spicy hotdogs. They call them Mexican hotdogs because they are spicy. But in reality, all it is, are two spicy pickles sliced and placed between the bun and dog🤣🤣, but they were good!!! They do offer a pilgrim meal, 3 course, but as soon as I saw the word hotdog on the menu, I was all over that. Cheap dinner!!!

It’s cold outside, temp says 47, but it feels colder than that. I am sitting on my bed under my blanket working on this blog. Tomorrow, another Camino, highlight will be happening, but I’ll leave that for tomorrow’s blog. 

Tomorrow’s weather shows rain w/lightning, jeepers, enough already. Oh well it is what it is. I can control something’s but the weather is not one of them.

Ok, I think I have rambled on long enough. 

As Alex Trebek would say, leading off is the category STATS, Stage 21, Astorga to Foncebadon

Alex I’ll take miles for $500- How many miles did Randy walk today?- correct answer is 16

Alex I’ll take Duration for $800- How long did Randy walk today? - correct answer 6hrs26 min

Alex, I’ll take Elevation for $2000, DAILY DOUBLE, how many ft did Randy climb today- correct answer 1,926ft💰💰

Temp- low 40’s to mid 50’s, cloudy with periods of rain

Song- Simple Things,  Teddy Swims,  Not Camino related, but I just like this song, give it a listen.

Tomorrow takes my to Ponferrada , 16.5-17 miles

As always thanks for reading !!!!!