Camino 2013 - Day 20 - 13 December 2013

What a day this turned out to be. With no one else in the albergue we left in the dark at 7:30 under a cloudy sky and due to light rain, in mild temperatures. The first 10km we walked pretty much alone through flat farmland and plodded into Villavante after 2 hours for our first coffee. The next stop for an early lunch was historical Hospital del Orbigo. By now the day was warming up and outer layers of clothing were removed. The path at this stage was quite tough going because all the dirt roads were covered in egg to fist size stones and every stepped had to be watched for fear of damaging ankles or feet. In the hills outside Astorga there is a hippy who runs a little self help cafe and you pay by donation. When I told him I'd been there 3 years ago he gave me a hug and bowl of very tasty lentil soup. The final suburban slog into Astorga , Roman Asturias, is all uphill. We are staying in the communal albergue with 4 other pilgrims. This afternoon we visited the Gaudie bishops palace, the cathedral and museum and the chocolate museum because Astorga is the chocolate city of Spain, and yes we also bought some. Covered 32 km today and saw no more then 20 Spaniards in all; where are all the people in this place, they can't all be having siestas. My bite on the left leg seems to be getting worse and could be fleas or bed bugs, the Camino is polluted with them at the moment, we've all been bitten at one point or another. Tomorrow the mountains!