I have been negligent in keeping up with my blog this week. After leaving Leone it was a very very long walk across the Messeta . This is The breadbasket of Spain. The walks are long, the vistas are flat, and the towns are sparse.

The best thing to do is to get yourself across it as quickly as possible. although many people found it boring and felt they had an opportunity to plug headphones in and walk to some music, I found it fascinating. In general, it looked similar to many areas near Fresno in California.

In Leon, I had met a woman from California, who had just returned from a three year stint in Australia. we had a very nice time touring around Leon. The next day she decided to leave earlier to get Hóspital de Órbigo by the end of the day. I needed to stay a little bit later to exchange a shirt at a sporting good shop. Although I left three hours later, I arrived at ahead of her because of my fast walking.

I decided to stay at a Rural Casa, because I had heard the alburgue had no heat and no hot water. Amy stayed there and confirmed the next morning that yes there was no heat and there was no hot water. where I stayed, was very nice and inexpensive. The woman who owned the place, asked if I wanted heat and as it was less than 10° I said yes! The next morning I met Amy for coffee, and we traded experiences. I think I made the right choice.

After coffee we headed out to Astorga. We took the rural route, and ended up getting there about just about lunch time. Of course as we walked over the hill and through the forests, I saw many mushrooms and ended up lagging behind Amy about 30 minutes.

Outside of Astorga about 5 km was a donativario run by a Spanish man who offered free coffee and snacks, as well as a conversation about life in general and the Camino providing for all. Everyone who stopped and chatted got a big hug on the way out. The walk into Astorga was lovely.

For lunch we stopped at a very nice restaurant with a very special type of food called Marengo. The dish was made by boiling several types meet together with garbanzos and cabbage it was a bit like Chaucroute. They served it in three courses with the meat first which included a type of dumpling, pigs ears, pork belly, pigs feet, a type of salted beef, and chorizo. The garbanzos and cabbage came next. And then the broth that it was all Cookton was the last course. It was absolutely delicious and on a cold day a very good thing to eat.

After lunch we found a nice pension name, and checked in. I went up to my room and took a very long bath and relaxed. About 8:30 pm, I felt a bit of hunger, so I walked to the main square and was able to have a light dinner at one of the small cervesaria which is a beer bar.

The next morning we both headed out to climb the next hill. We walked on the road for about 5 km and then once the road ended and the trail began for the hot long hike up, I took off by myself as my walking pace is much faster.