At the terminal in León, we took the first westbound coach and very soon we reached village Valverde de la Virgen. It is important to say here, that in León one can choose two variants of the Way of St James – the Historic Way or the Way via village Villar de Mazarife. The latter variant is slightly longer, but we opted for the first one and in the place we had chosen we settled at a private pilgrims’ albergue with a wonderful garden.
Garden in the albergue in village Valverde de la Virgen
The day was rather hot and it felt good that we could sit, as well as lie down outside and in the shade.
As soon as I had a new text for the day ready, I posted it:
Day 23: “Trio La Kampanela”
Back at the beginning of our friendship, while we were still together within the informal “Aragonese group,” when I realised Francesco and Gabriel walked together, I asked them how they communicated at all. Angela jumped in at once with the ready answer: “Gabriel is silent all the time and Francesco talks all the time.” Needless to say, we all burst into laughter, for it is indeed like that.
And not only that, but Francesco speaks only Italian and Gabriel only French. (Still, here and there they both understand a word in the other Romanic languages). Of course, in this linguistically motley group, I am like some kind of glue. Let me explain – I mix up Spanish and Italian a lot, and my French is the poorest of the three. As if that has anything to do with communication?! From time to time I become fully aware that I have just used all three languages in a single sentence, but that does not matter at all.
Francesco and Gabriel still communicate like in the beginning, Francesco talks incessantly, Gabriel utters a word or two only occasionally and when he wants to tease Francesco he says in Spanish, with a heavy French accent: “I don’t understand” (No comprendo!) and his shoulders start to shake with his cute giggle.
On the other hand, Francesco talks even when there’s nobody else around, for instance, while he’s digging through his backpack (“Where have I put my denture?,” etc.). He becomes particularly talkative when he encounters his co-nationals. Still, while the three of us are together, if there is something important he has on his mind, he just says: “Translate!” (Traduci!) Like any obedient child I do as I’m told and it’s good that Gabriel has finally started to understand my version of French. Admittedly, at some point I apologised to him for massacring French and that was easy, because “massacre” is a word of French origin, so he understood me easily.
When I have to rest my brain from time to time, I tell them I will have to start charging them, for after all interpreting is my profession, but, actually, since I like them so much I say that I will do this for free, for I am on the Way, and we have jointly concluded that therefore in my enterprise I have the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
All in all, we are getting along perfectly. It was just yesterday that I told them that I couldn’t have wished for a better company. The two of them are the first to leave the hostels in the morning and I just go along. We often make jokes and laugh. When Gabriel gets “carried away,” Francesco asks me: “Are you going to kick him or shall I?” And today in León I taught Francesco how to solve Sudoku.
Along the way, Francesco has said a couple of times that we were like the Fellowship of the Ring and the other day when we met Angela we said we were like three musketeers and Angela was like d’Artagnan. Still, three people who create laughter and good mood always seem to me like “Trio La Kampanela” (the name of a travelling music band from a Yugoslav TV series from the 1970’s).
And let there be no confusion, for today Trio La Kampanela walked almost 19 km to León. At the entrance into the city, we were awaited by a metal sign depicting a cute little lion („león” in Spanish) dressed in traditional pilgrim’s garment. León is a beautiful city and we even did some minor sightseeing, but then we caught a coach and skipped some 11 km of a rather boring section. Namely, in the surroundings of larger settlements, the entrances into and the exit from them are very unattractive with a bunch of industrial facilities and/or big stores, one walks mostly near the main road and it takes time. We were lucky to have decided to stay today at a wonderful albergue that has a fantastic lawn, excellent shade, sunloungers, as well as food and drinks. Enough for one to relax, refresh and get ready for the next day.
In front of me: 311 km
Behind me: 556 km
Later that afternoon I was thinking that it actually did not matter at all what we would be called. The important thing was that regardless of our differences, we also shared some very similar human traits and a very important interest – walking.
I lazed around the whole afternoon and I tried to rest as much as I could. The massage in Terradillos de los Templarios was exceptionally good, but my left leg, i.e., a tendon in it still hurt frequently and every day I had to apply different anti-inflammatory creams and ointments, and I also took painkillers. This all helped me sufficiently to be able to keep going.
In the evening we had a very nice dinner prepared by our hosts and in a good mood we went to bed early.
Since the weather forecast for the following day said it would rain later in the morning, we agreed to leave even slightly earlier than usual. Francesco was regularly the first one to get up since he had his own problems with little toes and even had to take antibiotics, since the wound created from the blisters got to the flesh. Back in Burgos, when we met again, they told me that both of them had had to go to the doctor’s in the meantime on account of different problems with their feet. Gabriel’s feet had obviously calmed down, but Francesco still had a lot of problems. Thus, he would get up around 4 am every morning in order to dress and protect his toes. I was truly amazed by how stoically he walked every day without a single word of complaint, although it must have hurt him terribly.
Surprisingly, however, that morning Francesco did not wake up at his usual hour, while I woke up completely naturally at 5:30 when we should have already been on the road. So, I got up first this morning, woke up my friends, and then the three of us got ready as quietly as possible and soon we were walking again.
The Sun is rising behind our backs
Again there was a flat and straight section in front of us that followed an asphalt road all the time and this all led through fields with crops and along a canal made of concrete that was distributing water for irrigation. As we were moving westwards, the dark grey clouds were coming our way which meant were we set to encounter rain as it had been forecasted.
On our way towards rain
We comforted ourselves by the fact that there were several settlements in front of us before we got to the village in which we were to stop that day and we hoped that it would drizzle and we would be able to walk under such conditions.
And then we realised that it appeared we were entering underneath the low and very dark grey clouds and that was not good at all.
View at the east: we are already under the huge mass of storm clouds
Just as we were approaching village San Miguel del Camino, it started to rain and in less than a minute that turned into a deluge. And this was happening right at the moment when we were walking past an albergue. We rushed in quickly and there were also a restaurant and a small shop inside. In other words, everything one may want. So, we made an excellent and uncommonly long break, but the rain simply refused to cease. We realised that there was not too much point in waiting indefinitely there, so we asked the hosts to call us a taxi and thus we transferred to the next destination of the day and that was village Santibáñez de Valdeiglesias.
In this section it is also possible to choose between two versions of the Way and when selecting the place where we would stay we decided on a somewhat longer section (just for the record in case somebody thinks that we always opted for the shorter version), because it was more interesting. In any case, this concerns a rather short distance of less than 15 km.
We settled fine at the albergue and after the usual routine and fine lunch we could have a nice rest. For some reason, I mostly no longer took a nap in the afternoon, but I still liked lying in bed and keeping my eyes closed. Before that, however, I did post the latest text on Facebook:
Day 24: “Rain and the 21st-century pilgrims”
“Bunny, bunny from a ditch, it’s easy to hop in snow, after first one came the second, and he also made a show” (poetic translation of a well known Serbian nursery rhyme by Jovan Jovanović Zmaj). Thus, this morning we walked again along a path that followed the main road, while bunnies kept hopping in front of us. We saw them for the first time today. During the previous days, before León, we mostly came across huge quantities of snails. Of course, since I’m walking with an Italian and a Frenchman, they immediately spoke of food involving snail dishes and they also had the same association when we saw different little birds along the Way.
It is interesting that, as far as birds are concerned, in addition to allowing Italian hunters to shoot them in Serbia for trifle (if they kill them, which in itself is extremely problematic, they should at least pay dearly for the “privilege”), we Serbs actually do not bother about them and even less eat them. The same goes for snails which we, as far as I know, breed and export precisely to France and Italy where they adore them. No wonder. “Our” snails, Burgundy/Roman snails (Helix pomatia) are like Kong Kongs in comparison to those tiny little ones we were seeing along the way, and yet they inspired my co-pilgrims to think of food. I couldn’t help but wonder how come we have never developed the habit of eating snails in Serbia when they are already so big and have a lot of meat to them. As if we haven’t sufficiently starved throughout our history. Quite unusual.
Still, the main event of today was the forecasted rain. As far as we could see, it was supposed to start around 11 am and so we left before 6 am in order to reach the destination of the day before the rain. But, there was an error in the forecast and already before 9 am we started to go underneath clouds or they were getting above us. Be as it may, just as we were entering village San Miguel del Camino, it started to rain and we entered a pilgrims’ hostel we were walking by, fully aware that we were incredibly lucky that we happened to be there and then, because downpour was just beginning. We had nice breakfast at the hostel, rested a bit, there was a good internet connection and then we agreed, since there was no direct bus, that we could take a taxi in order to get to the final destination of the day which was some 10 km away. That’s what it means to come across rain and walk with the 21st-century pilgrims, especially if they are wise enough, which comes with the best age. Rain is a nice phenomenon, but it is nicest when looked at from a dry space.
At the albergue we have chosen for today, I met Ivana, a girl from Croatia and we giggled at the idea that we were the one ones from the “region” – neither of us has met anybody else from our countries. Admittedly, yesterday I shared the hostel with a girl from Hungary, but generally speaking the European territory east of Italy is poorly represented.
But, let me go back to the Way of St James. Regardless of the creative ways of moving forward, we did walk quite nicely today as well – around 14 km. Still, this day will mostly be dedicated to resting and preparing for tomorrow. And that is not bad at all. I have the time to deal with my feet. The left big toe, the one that made me go urgently to see a doctor some incredibly distant 18 days ago, is quite fine now. There was no pain in the ankle today at all, but a new blister has appeared on a small toe. If it’s not one thing, then it’s another. Still, as a good connoisseur of the blister issues, I handled it immediately and now, lying in bed, with my feet up on a blanket folded several times, I’m waiting to feel sleepy. It should happen because I can hear the rhythmical drizzle of the rain through the window.
In front of me: 284 km
Behind me: 583 km
A little later in the afternoon, the rain finally stopped and since this was a rather small place, all three of us went for a short walk. I found some of the houses to be very interesting. The houses we had been passing by along the Way of Sat James in the previous weeks were mostly made of stone, but here there were some plastered with soil. It was particularly interesting to see those with brightly coloured doors and windows.
A house in Santibáñez de Valdeiglesias
That evening I did not join my friends for communal dinner. Namely, back at home I never have late dinner, for I’ve lost the habit long ago, so I don’t like it when I eat a lot just before going to bed. This day I decided to be more in line with my usual habits, so I had a nice big sandwich when I first got to the albergue. Then in the evening it was enough for me to eat just a piece of cake.
The following morning we left in pitch dark and right after leaving the village we moved onto a dirt road and it was good that Gabriel had his headlamp on, while Francesco and I followed him carefully, for there was going up and down and it was important for us to gauge well where to step.
When we got close to San Justo de la Vega, it was already day and as the place is approached from an elevation, we could see that it was partially covered in mist. Namely, since it rained heavily the previous day, all that water was evaporating and in a fresh morning in the valley this was quite visible in places.
A bridge at the exit from San Justo de la Vega
Less than 5 km farther, we reached the town of Astorga the beautiful centre of which stood on an elevation in front of us.
The arrows and markings show which way to go in order to reach the centre of Astorga
Cathedral of Astorga
Still, before getting to the centre, the three of us had a job to do. Namely, as we were approaching our goal and that also meant the dates we had set for it, Francesco had to buy some train tickets for his return home. When we were considering the options using internet, we both agreed that we better go to a railway station in order to get some additional clarifications and then he could buy the tickets directly there. As there is a train station in Astorga, we asked Gabriel if he wanted to come with us and since he did, we first went to that side. We even passed by the Museum of Chocolate, but it was too early and it was still closed. At the station, I interpreted for Francesco and the tickets were soon bought.
From the railway station to the centre of Astorga, there is an almost direct street, but I did like very much the idea of entering Astorga following the route of the Way, so out of love for me, Francesco and Gabriel agreed to accompany me. For this reason, we had to go back to the Way and after a while we entered the centre of town.
View at the centre of Astorga from the foot of the elevation