We woke early today, wanting to get a jump on the long walk to Astorga. We had nearly 20 kilometers to cover, and it was our goal that we would get to Astorga with enough time to do laundry and visit the chocolate museum.
Today’s path was much more scenic. We finally left the industrial outskirts of Leon behind and walked through quiet rural farmland. On one farm, we saw a rancher tending to his cattle, and he introduced Addie to a baby cow, letting her pet the calf.
The walk was undulating, with gentle ascents and descents. It was more of a workout than our walks recently, but nothing terrible.
We stopped at a little donation stand for some fruit and ran into our camino friends, Brenda and Dave. They are also from Canada, and we have run into them periodically ever since day one.
The owner of the stand heard that Addie was Canadian, and he gave her a shot of maple syrup. So, we’ve graduated from candy everywhere to pure liquid sugar. She loves Spain.
We were tired by the end of our walk, but we managed to walk the whole way. We checked in, finished laundry, and explored the town.
Sandra’s food challenges continue. After checking in, she tried to give Addie a pink heart-shaped lollipop that had been given to us a few nights ago. We’d thought it was a gummy candy, but it was hard, so Sandra took a big bite so it wouldn’t be a choking hazard. To her dismay, it was not candy; it was soap. Why our child was given candy-looking soap on a stick, I’m not sure, but thankfully Addie didn’t eat it.
We went to the chocolate museum to replace the taste of soap for Sandra. It was a very brief stop. A lot of history and not enough chocolate tasting. We took some chocolates to go, and Addie went to play at the playground next door.
Later, we wandered back to the main square. Addie bought a Canada flag at the pilgrim store, and she ran around the square with her flag until she found a group of children to play with.
We ran into Brenda and Dave again and had dinner with them outside our hotel while Addie played.
It was a laid back evening, the food was wonderful and so was the company.
We are fatigued from the Camino, both mentally and physically, but there is a sense now that we are in the final stretch. We’ve come all this way, surely we can finish.
Sorry about the soap, but so glad you finally got some good food! I love how blissed out Addie looks in these pictures.
Sounds like a good day on the camino. Food and extra chocolate really helps. If you could see the long black line on my map tracing you day by day, it is amazing how far you have come since you started way back when. The end is pretty darn close even though it probably does not seem like it in the day to day grind. You are getting there! And no more soap snacks Sandra!