Day 23 - Astorga to Foncebadon

What a day! Sadly after such a full day yesterday, Mitch's feet needed a rest, so we set off without him. We had breakfast in Astorga, before heading out of the city. We saw a beautiful modern church before visiting a lovely small Ermita on the edge of town where we got our first stamp of the day.





The Wise Pilgrim app splits the Frances route into three sections. From St Jean Pied de Port to Burgos is Body - where your body is challenged. From Burgos to Astorga is Mind - where your mind is opened, and fron Astorga to Santiago is Soul - where your soul is lifted. 

Our souls were lifted a bit today as we left the Meseta behind and walked through woodlands and over hills.

The sculptures continue to be amazing as we reached Murias de Rechivaldo and then onto Santa Catalina de Somoza where we stopped for a drink.




When we reached El Ganso we stopped for lunch in the cowboy bar





It was 8km then to Rabanal del Camino,


This is the end of the stage in the book, but we were going on, so we stopped for a drink and then headed up, and up, and up..... 




Finally we arrived in Foncebadon, we were delighted that during the climb the heat had dropped and we had some cloud cover so we managed fine.8




Today's route...




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Long travel day (T -2)

Image
We have arrived in Bayonne, which is beautiful!! Pictures to follow.   For Mitch and I it was a 3.45am alarm call and then a lift to the airport from Finlay at 4am for a 6am flight to Stanstead. We met Fiona and Martin and took a flight to Biarritz in the afternoon. Martin and I weren't told about the dress code! We spotted the Pyrenees as we landed, they look very high to be crossing them on the first days walk. It was a quick and easy bus journey from the airport to our hotel in Bayonne (Okko Hotel). After a quick shower and a drink in the hotel we headed into Bayonne for dinner, and walked along the river back to the hotel.  So far it feels like a lovely holiday as we keep trying to forget the upcoming walking!!!
Read more

Almost ready... (T -5)

Image
Started to lay out all our things for the trip. Figured out what was missing and then a quick shopping trip. Home to watch The Way. We have seen it before, it was probably part of the inspiration for us to walk it.  Watching it again is more poignant with only 3 days till we fly to France.
Read more

Arriving in St. Jean Pied de Port (T -1)

Image
After a coffee in the Okko Hotel we checked out and headed back along the river to the centre of Bayonne and over the bridge towards the station. A quick breakfast which was suitably French and we reached the station, ready for the last leg of the journey to get to the starting point of the walk!! An hour on an impressively clean and comfortable train and we are finally in St Jean PdP! Our first camino route marker!! The starting point in St Jean PdP Picturesque St Jean PdP Lunch wasn't too shabby!! After lunch we went to the Pilgrim's office to collect our Pilgrim Credential and our first stamp!! It is all very real now!! 😲 And then a final meal before bed! 
Read more