STAGE TWENTY ONE: Leon to Hospital de Orbigo

Don't let that name of that town fool you, no hospital involved...but it might be named after an old pilgrim hospital.
I let Father, Tom and Mary walk on without me today, they get up so early and their pace is too much for me, I love their company dearly do our plan is to meet up on the way. Oddly their pace is better than mine (or different I should say as it is not a race) but I tend to want to push on slightly more than they do. I actually have caused the men a few times to push further than they would. I knew my plan was to end up in this town tonight, I was one of the last to leave this morning. and also wanted to stay behind and do a nice copy in the city up near the cathedral. I think it was about 8:30 when I went to the cathedral hoping to sit out there and people watch some. The street cleaners are busy in the streets in the morning...and it seems I hit all of the big cities on weekends. A few of us were canvassing the streets looking for coffee and thankfully passed a hotel that had gorgeous pastry, I enjoyed my usual cafe con leche, fresh squeezed orange juice and a pastry that when I first arrived would be shared with like three people, now it is common place and I inhale the whole thing. There is a young gal who has approached me enthusiastically a few times and this morning we'd actually exchange names...she is from Ukraine and it ends up lived five kilometers from where my youngest son is from.
I headed out for a long day... all routes are well marked with yellow arrows or shells (hence my blog name) but I got confused coming into Hospital de Orbigo when arrows pointed into different directions. I am not certain but it appears that a small town not on the Camino might be wanting some business and thus has pointed arrows directing you thru their town. If this is the case it is the first time I gave seen it, but a confident walk was ripped from me in that last hours questioning what I was following. I walked thru a sleepy town questioning what all the great things I heard about this town, then before me I saw a gorgeous bridge heading into a festive little town and knew instantly it was a charming place. There were two great auberges and I would not have gone wrong in either...but I saw R from Scotland in the streets and asked him which one was the parochial one and he said he was staying there and pointed me in its direction. A charming courtyard and gentleman greeted me and showed me to the room...there were about ten beds only two people in the room (though all beds were occupied) and it was Tom and Mary!!! I was not sure they were going to go that far so I was thrilled to see them. We all went out for dinner and R joined us, and I invited any pilgrim sitting alone to come join us...a Danish man took me up on the offer, we had a great night. R is a pastor in Scotland which I did know when I first met him in Grannon, we had great conversation tonight and he is one of the people that I felt some of the strongest true Camino friendships with. I am hanging with people about fifteen years older than I am and feel at total ease in thus crowd, an educated bunch with so much interesting talk. R's wife will be joining us in Santiago and I am so thrilled to meet her . He speaks so highly about her as they now have three kiddos out of the home and they enjoy hiking and you can just see him beam when he speaks of her coming out. R is the one who I shared the story about him turning around. Because something told him to turn around one day back up thru a pile of rocks and there was a memorial to a women who had died of cancer in his hometown, a women who his wife had worked with, and a women who his wife actually got promoted to her job after her death.
Tonight's dinner conversation meant the world to me...we would eat and return to our sweet auberge. I love the company I am with dearly but I also know our walking time together is coming to an end...they walk so quickly and more importantly get up so early in the morning. I so badly need to be in my own pace, to stop for coffee when I want to but if I could meet up everynight with this crew I would be thrilled.

STAGE TWENTY: Reliegos to the big city Leon

I woke up early,if I didn't Father, Tom and Mary would have had a huge start on me. I'm ok with that as we knew we were all heading to Leon and would be together but I did want to walk early even though it is not natural to me. It was dark when we got started and I was in the typical back spot when walking with these three. We typically like to get about an hour or two under our belt before stopping for coffee. Today we eager for it, the sun was just coming up and they were all in front of me searching for trail (yellow arrows). It was funny as a small road went uphill they were all looking off to the left I saw a yellow arrow going up hill and alerted them to it. You could see the church steeple up the hill...in the most angelic voice I could muster I said to the priest, " the trail always leads you to the church......Father". At which he smirked and said in his Irish voice, " I was getting there but in a roundabout way.....sister". I love this group!
We arrived to Leon and checked into the Benedictine Convent for the night. A great place to stay. I LOVE Leon, I saw many faces I had not seen on a while. C from Canada and U from Germany. We walked around the town, window shopped...ate and drank great vino. My night would be sent on a local bar watching soccer with friends.
At 9:15 we went to a church service put on by the nuns, it was precious. we feared we might not get a spot on this place for the night at which time I joked with father that he certainly must have some pull...wasn't there some badge he could show...I mean he was a priest after all!!!!! He is hilarious and said they wouldn't believe him, at which point I have started to joke with him how do we know he really is a priest. A good nights sleep would be had, women were in one room and men in another, I assumed that meant I might have a good sleep and no snorers but some of these women s ores with the best of them.

STAGE NINETEEN: Sahagun to Reliegos

I think I had shared that I got up late (by pilgrims standards) this morning, it was nice staying in a hotel and getting to take my time. Two Spanish guys that I have stayed on my same schedule were also at my place last night, though we never exchanged names we have found ourselves at the same table one night for dinner and last night we sat around the lobby talking. They call me " Super Mama" for the kilometer coverage I have been making. Yesterday was my longest trek to date. So I walk out of my hotel (a Benedictine monk parochial establishment) and I come around the corner and there popping out of the church door is Father (Irish priest), M and T... I was so excited, these guys start early and had left their auberge a good hour or so ago, we were only catching up because they had gone into the church. We had a great day walking together, they walk so fast which is the only reason we ever aerated to begin with...I adore these three as much as anyone I could possibly be with. We would stop in a neat little area called Reliegos. There was a bar that appeared to be a little famous, newspaper articles on the wall and graffiti everywhere. The owner and the gal behind the bar were famous and I would order three fresh squeezed orange juices over about two hours and each would come with a free piece of tapas, it was wonderful. Upon arrival to our auberge (new and not on the charts) I saw my French mom and dad from my second night in Orrisson. I'm not sure I referenced them before but they had a son with them for their first night and I really enjoyed talking to him...I was so excited to see them.

A funny to share...this word recognition on this pad is driving me crazy, I always have little time to blog and r re read but I just noticed the above reference to " the gal behind the bar" was changed by this iPad to read " the girl bashing the bat", friends beside me chuckled over this.

STAGE EIGHTEEN: Carrion to Sahagun

I was the last in my room this morning when I finally left, I enjoyed it, I packed up slowly and had my sights set on a distance that is not common...about forty two kilometers. I had several reasons for this, I was determined to not really walk alone as much as to set my pace...I pulled over to get coffee before hand and the place I went into gave you a pastry, cafe con leche and orange juice for 2.50 euros a perfect way to start the day. In my pack I had a pack of cured ham, mozzarella , baguette and yoghurt. I felt stocked and way better off than yesterday. I walked alone with my sights pretty high. I stopped at one point to get something from my pack a guy in shorts passed me, hands in pockets as casual as can be. I was freezing cold so his shorts caught my attention but he seemed so at peace with his steps and just looked kind of like a poster boy for an REI ad and a casual outdoor life. We walked the exact pace for about two hours and I was totally fine walking on.

My own not certain I wanted to change it... I was curious how many steps apart we were from walking together and figured it out to be forty eight steps difference at the exact pace. I guess two hours into it my pace must have increased and we ended up side by side and would walk together and take a nice lunch break. J from Canada is in his early fifties and he and his wife sound really outdoorsy, no children and I enjoyed our conversation. He started kilometers ahead of me and I would say bye to him as he picked a small auberge in a very small town...I kept going for what would be my longest walk today's, a length almost unheard of of forty two or so kilometers. I was so happy to walk into Sahagun, to a Benedictine convent where I would get a single room for twenty Euros. I found the local grocery store and boy

Bought enough to tie me over, a nice slice of green melon and shaved carpaccio for dinner, and I took the longest hot bath that was the greatest feeling in the World. I tried to talk to Steve tonight on the phone but I was so tired I couldn't even speak. I slept so well, I would try to sleep in but the rule is to be out by eight thirty (Kate by pilgrims standards) and I would push it to close to nine. My plan is to take advantage of all great weather after my two cold days and walk a nice length in a comfortable pace.