It was a cold, windy and rainy morning. The alburgue rule is that everyone must be out of the alburgue by 8:00 AM. This morning the alburgue staff had to practically kick people out of their beds to get them up and out of the alburgue.
This is me with my rain cover on the pack and wearing my rain jacket and rain pants.
The rain gear worked well and I stayed relatively warm and dry. However, it takes a great deal of effort to walk into a 20 MPH wind and driving rain. It didn’t really rain hard. But it rained hard enough to make the 15 kilometer moderately uphill and into the wind hike to Astorga a put your head down and take one step at a time slog. This is a picture of the trail. It is not a great picture because it is so cloudy.
This is another picture from the trail.
We stoped at this roadside bible verse and said a prayer for Anna.
The yellow arrow is a Camino trail marker. The Bible verse, Mark, Chapter 12 verses 28-34 reads generally as follows: ” Of all the Commandments which is the most important? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. The second is love your neighbor as yourself.”
A very good friend of mine, Tom Bissell, pointed out to me that the stones engraved with the references to verses from the Bible and the pictures of these engraved stones are almost meaningless unless I understand the Bible verses engraved on the stones. Tom is one of the most generous and wise men I know and he is absolutely correct. Knowing what the Bible verse says and contemplating how to incorporate the Bible verse as we proceed along the Way really makes the walk that much more meaningful. I can attest to the fact that I feel God’s presence along the Way and I have witnessed and have been on the receiving end of countless random magical acts of kindness. In that sense this verse from Mark’s gospel is especially meaningful to me.
As we were walking along the Way there was a roadside rest area where this pilgrim stands at attention, welcoming all weary pilgrims to sit, take off their boots and give their feet a rest.
There was a roadside donativo rest and refreshment stand that had its own labyrinth.
I grabbed a banana and left a buck in the donation box/mini labyrinth.
This is the cross at the top of the hill overlooking Astorga. We stopped and said a prayer for Anna.
We finally got to Astorga at about 2:00 PM and checked into the municipal alburgue, Servias de Maria. Tonight it will be a full house at this alburgue with 160 people in 20 rooms and no blankets. It is going to be cold tonight so I will be wearing all my clothes as I try to get some sleep. Brrr!
There is some kind of battle re-enactment going on in Astorga. Everyone is running around in period costumes with muskets and cartridge boxes.
I think this monument in the town square commemorates the battle they are re-enacting.
I hope everyone is having a restful Sunday.
Good evening from Astorga, Spain.
AbeAndMarkontheCamino 