Day 26 - Villadangos del Paramo to Astroga

Last night we had supper with the Canadian ladies and two gentlemen from England.  The discussion went on for some time and a good time was had by all.

After supper we had an hour long video chat with Kristjan and Kristine, interrupted for a time by a very intoxicated Aussie pilgrim who plopped himself at our outdoor table, lit an obnoxious cigarette, and began a totally incoherent conversation despite the fact we told him we were having a video call with the kids.  It sounds like all is going well at home but that Kristjan has eaten all the food and has to go shopping.  Kristine is on her weekend at home, and all seems to be going well there.  She is working on her last credit and thus will officially graduate from high school in a few weeks.

A day to remember!

Friday the 13th dawned bright and clear.  Actually it didn't dawn at all as our "day" started at 2:20am.  It was then that Russ noticed that he seemed to be itchier than usual.  Most of the hotels we have stayed in don't have air conditioning so you tend to be a bit damp and itchy when sleeping.  But something didn't register correctly.  Turning on a flashlight, he was greeted with a family of BED BUGS!!!!  Needless to say he freaked, waking up Lynn.  Of course, having never seen them before, right away Russ looks them up on the internet and then starts gathering a collection of them in the hotel plastic glass. Lynn was quite calm until she saw one crawling on her pillow and then, fully engaged in the drama, helped make the positive ID comparing what was in the cup to the picture on the Nexus! The instant reaction was to flee. We packed up in record time. Luckily our suitcase and other things were a distance away from the bed and basically packed. Everything that did come in contact with the bed was stuffed and tied in plastic bags and put in the knapsacks.

So there we were, homeless waifs wondering what to do and where to go.

We thought about hitting the Camino, lots of people set out in the morning in the dark, but Lynn was a bit scared at the thought of setting out that early and doing 28km in the dark. The lobby of the hotel was locked by a key. You needed to unlock the door from the inside and lock the door from the outside. If we just left, we couldn't lock the door. Also, Russ wanted to show the hotelier his bed bug collection.

We wanted to get out of that hostal. So we decided to go outside and sit on a bench.  That didn't last long as the bench had one broken slat and it was really uncomfortable to sit on. Then we noticed another bench at the other end of the block and we moved to it. That lasted for half an hour but was terminated by the cold, trucks whizzing by at 100km/hr (the hotel was right on the N-120 and why slow down to the posted speed limit of 50km/hr at 2:30am?), the stench of cow manure wafting down the street perpendicular to us, and the sound effects coming from a nearby house with a young couple loudly doing what young married people do (at least we think they had to be young judging from the music they were listening to).

So back to the hotel where we decided to camp out in the tiny hotel lobby in the dark.  At first we sat on the marbles stairs, but time was going by very slowly. Then we decided to take off our backpacks and just sit right down on the marble floor and lean against the wall. We both had our shorts on and that marble floor was very cold and very hard on the tailbone.  Time continued to go by slowly, and both of us even went up to the  dreaded room to use the bathroom, as there was no other bathroom available.

Lynn had thought the other group of Canadians were planning on leaving at 6am, so we thought we would tag along.  That proved to be wrong, as 6am came and went with no sign of the ladies.

At about 6:40am one of the British guys comes downstairs to read a book, remember we were in the dark.  To get light in the lobby there was a switch on a timer, which timed out in 45 seconds, so the fellow had no light. Lynn explained our situation and he carried on typing on his iPad.

But it gets better. At around 6:50am a fellow delivers bread and croissants to the hotel which he leaves on a ledge outside, knocking over Russ's bed bug collection. So Russ unlocked the door to go save his specimens. When he relocked the door coming in it jammed, and it wouldn't lock the door and it wouldn't come out. The major downside of that was that we lost access to our bathroom!

At almost 7am, the ladies started to make their appearance.  They were horrified, everyone else said they didn't have any bedbugs, and Natalie offered us her key so we could use their room to have a nap before we started.  We couldn't afford the time as it was a 28km day, and besides, we just wanted to be out of there.

But there is even more.  Lynn expressed the need to use a washroom and as the restaurant was locked, our key trapped in the door, they graciously offered us the key to their room to use the facilities.  Lynn went upstairs, used the facility, and guess what she found crawling on their beds? She didn't tell.

The hotelier showed up next and didn't even manage to look surprised about the bed bugs. She did pick up the cup, looked at it with the resign of recognition, and took the cup into the hotel.

So off were at 7am, in the dark, walking a trail marked by yellow arrows we couldn't see.  Luckily we saw flashlights bobbing in the distance, which we followed.  Shortly it became light enough for us to see the trail.

The rest of the day was luckily less eventful.  While we were still technically in the meseta, there were hills in the distance and the ground started to become hilly, with many more trees.

Just before getting to Hospital de Orbigo, we passed over the Puente de Orbigo.  Supposedly one of the longest and best preserved medieval bridges in Spain, it dates back to the 13th century and was built over an earlier Roman bridge.

The one thing we have noticed about the Camino as it goes through small towns is that they seem to make sure you walk every street in the town, whether of interest or not.

The remainder of the walk was much better than previous days.  We spent more time on undulating landscape and enjoyed both the view behind and the more varied vegetation.

When we finally crested the last hill, Astroga, and it's Bishop's Palace were spread out in front of us.

As we were walking into Astroga, we encountered a Spanish couple.  His English was good enough for a conversation.  We told him we were Canadians and much to our surprise, he pulls out his cellphone and calls up the Canadian national anthem.  A very touching gesture that made me want almost to cheer as the Montreal players took the ice :-)

The walk into Astroga was another long and as is often the case, but not always, well marked. This time we asked one of the colourfully dressed local police for assistance.

We arrived at the hotel weary, but not as bad as it might have been given the 4 hours of sleep. Much contemplation during the day was on how to eradicate the bed bugs. At lot of effort was expended - only time will tell if we will now be plagued by them. We learned you don't have to stay in albergues to get them, and although we are down hearted, we are not disillusioned. Lynn does have three bites on her arm which have badly swollen, so there must be a bit of an allergic reaction there.

Interestly, Brierley's inspirational thought for today says 'how easily do you fall and how quickly do you get up.' ... True greatness is not in ever falling, but in picking ourselves up every time we do.'

Summary - the day from hell, hopefully never to be repeated.

Distance today - 28km
Distance total - 531.5km