September 11, 2013
Rabanal: The hills begin
Today we left the plains and the hills began. Our aim was to get to Rabanal which is half way up to the Iron Cross. May be half way but I am sure it is the easiest half. The ride from Villadago to Astorga was again on the N120 and once more it really was quite busy but has the saving grace of that wonderful wide hard shoulder. We called in at Hospital de Orbigo as both of us remembered it so clearly from last time, then on to Astorga where we had coffee.
After Astorga we were glad to leave the N120 and to get on a tiny road going up into the hills. The few little villages we passed through were charming and given over almost completely to the service of the pilgrims. The churches were open and they too were tiny. What an amazing trail of pilgrims going up the hill and I am sure that they would all be stopping at Rabanal which is the last place with accommodation before the summit.
Pilgrims come in all shapes and sizes and with very different motivations for doing this. Some are deeply religious and are doing it in the spirit of many of the pilgrims of old. One lady I was talking to for a while was doing it in adoration of the Virgin Mary and told me she said the Rosary as she walked along (that was when she wasn’t talking to me). Another, from Colerado was in full priests gear and was bemoaning the fact that the churches in Spain are not as powerful as they were. Others have come to some crisis in their life and often do it alone in an effort to sort out the rest of their lives. Then there are those fascinated by the history of the whole pilgrimage, there are the those hunting adventure or just knocking it off as something on their bucket list. These are the walkers some stoically and with great commitment walk every inch of the way and carry all their own baggage, staying the whole way in Alberques. There is a very good bus infrastructure along the way so a suprising number hop on the bus for part of the way, the thing that intruiged me about them was that they all said to me “Of course I have nothing to prove so I take the bus”. A pilgrim who has just started is pale, with lovely clean new gear and is light of step. As the days mount up they look decidedly weather beaten. Foot problems are the most common affliction and you see couples along the side of the road with one of the couple tenderly trying to fix the feet of the other. Bad blisters certainly are a good reason to get a bus. Many have their route mapped out the whole way and Hotels booked with their luggage carried from one to the other so they just carry a day pack. Then there are those on a guided tour who go by private bus and are just let out to walk the more interesting bits.
Then there are the cyclists. This is an entirely different experience, not nearly as intense as that of the walkers. Most of the cyclists are fit young guys who are usually Spanish and seem to be proving their superior athletic ability. Then there are the Dutch who as natural cyclists are doing the Camino in much the same way as walkers. Cyclists have a separate route on roads usually close to the walkers route but they are kept off the walking route so they don’t drive the walkers crazy. However the young guns spurn the roads and on their lightly laden mountain bikes ride the walking route. As this is part of a much longer route for us we are rather different, our bikes are heavily laden and we keep to the roads. As I have mentioned before we have absolutely perfect maps which lock in together and are making this a really special experience. What is our motivation and what do we look like now. I think that we are motivated by a love of adventure, an interest in history and a touch of religion. Ken looks fit and lean. I am beginning to look more and more like an old grandmother monkey with a weather beaten, brown wrinkled face and claw like brown hands.
Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 2,486 km (1,544 miles)
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