We walked about thirteen miles today; not too bad especially after two short days of ten miles.
Astorga is a large town, so it took nearly an hour just to get out of town.
We walked with a couple from North Carolina. Like us, he and his wife just retired, but they’re a bit more tied down than we are taking care of their elderly parents. Another three or four miles down the road, we came to the “Cowboy Bar” for a break. It’s rough and rustic, but entertaining. We’ve seen the mountains in the distance, but now they’re getting closer. Today we started climbing up to Rabanal del Camino.
So we were tired and glad to reach our destination in Rabanal. Like many of these small mountain villages, it has little more than the one main street running up the hill. Casa Indie was fine, a cute little albergue. Our room was pink with a mural on the wall.
We dropped off our stuff and took a short walk back down the hill for lunch at a little bar, where the background music was all Johnny Cash. We had gazpacho, spaghetti and sangria, with lovely custard for desert. These “Menu of the Day” meals are inexpensive and often quite good.
There is a working monastery in Rabanal, and they welcome pilgrims to vespers at 7:00. The service was very nice, with some inspiring words: that mutual respect and caring for others is the basis of love. That applies to personal relationships as well as in worldly relationships. There was also a good deal of Gregorian style singing, which Sara has come to really love. Although we were invited to return at 9:30 for a “Pilgrim’s Blessing,” we missed that one. These active days leave us a bit tired, so we’re generally in bed by then. Our blessing was to sleep well that night.
