Camino Pilgrim

The first few kilometers into Palacios de Valderluna village in the dark were very confusing. The trail did many small turn and I could not find any markers an hour before sunrise. Luckily my phone can still use flashlight and GPS trail map functions.

After passing the first village I felt like I was experiencing all that Via de la Plata had to offer one last time: long nature walk in solitude, wild animals, Roman road and bridge. The only thing new was that in the last village before Astorga an unleashed dog tried to attack me. There were many loose dogs in the the past three weeks but this is the first one to even bark at me.

The walk into Astorga was also a bit ruined by garbage being tossed on both sides of the trail. The last highway underpass seemed like grill festival area with lots of empty beer cans. Still I felt good about completing my minimum goal for this Camino – walk at least 700+km into Astorga.

I skipped Astorga old town and just walked up the city from the west end until I caught the Camino Frances trail. Immediately I saw two pilgrims. That is the total amount I have seen in the last two days on the Via de la Plata. Almost everyone went onto Sanabres earlier.

Here on the Frances I quickly adjusted to the tempo of walking fast to the next village, hop into shade and have a cold drink. It is very simple to get long distances done like this in a Spring heatwave like +28°C is currently for Astorga region. It will cool down now fast.

This one hour to next break system is very good for the feet. I will spend less total time walking in the day and I get to cool down my feet and letting the socks breathe a bit. I saw that I had rubbed off some skin between toes recently on my good foot. Must be the heatwave combined with long walks.

I am not so sure what distances I will be walking here day to day. Since its only like an hour to the next rest area, I just go until I feel like stopping for the day. I do not plan to book anything until I reach Santiago.