There’s a fork in the road after Hospital de Obrigo. The one that goes straight is 15 km. to Astorga via the highway. The one that goes to the right is the scenic route but is one kilometer longer.

After choosing the highway route to get to Hopsital de Obrigo (over the green route), we decided to go with the scenic route this time around.

It was beautiful.

But the uphill climb was difficult, and I was signaling to Rosan for a rest when this oasis came into view.

We had seen donation-only rest stops before but nothing quite so extensive.

The place has been run by David for the past eight years.

He also lives on site.

I was touched by David’s kindness and generosity. I gave him a tight hug and called him my angel.

Before we left, Thomas and Seoin rocked up, together with Michael from Germany, who is on his fifth Camino. We met him at that country club hat served that amazing paella.

The stopover at David’s gave me my second wind to push on to Astorga.

As we neared our destination, a man by the roadside called out, “Buen Camino!”

I noticed him earlier watering plants. It was an odd thing to do for someone who rode over to this deserted place in car.

Jose said that he had planted over 200 trees here and watered them regularly. Before I left, he gave me a blessing and I cried.

It was an emotional morning.

In Astorga, Rosan and I had lunch at Serrano which we totally recommend if only for their carpaccio of boletus.

Which was recommended by this highly stylish man on the Camino:

We also went to see the Cathedral and the Palacio de Gaudi, both of which can be given a miss.

In he afternoon, we were finally reunited with Stephen and Raffy.

A lot of the people that we started out with were in town too, like Susana, Ann, and Bruce.

We were supposed to have dinner with a big group. But everyone wanted to stay indoors since it was windy and quite chilly. The five of us stubbornly stayed outside since most of us were smoking. (Yes, I finally bought a pack of my own.)

A lot of peregrinos that we met along the way came up to say hello. Then I noticed someone waving at me. I asked the others if they knew him because I certainly didn’t. He continued waving and, as he neared, we recognized him as David from the donation-based rest stop in the hills.

He was in town to buy more supplies for the peregrinos. He ended up having dinner with us.

Accommodation:

Albergue de Peregrinos Siervas de Maria

I can only recommend this albergue because of its location, which is right at the start of the town. So we were able to unload all our stuff before heading out to explore Astorga.

Otherwise, accommodations are basic (five euros for a bed), as are the shower facilities, which are mixed for men and women.