Day 4 - Tuesday 3rd May - Villar de Mazarife to Hospital de Órbigo.


Last night we joined about 18 other hikers for the Pilgrims menu laid on by our Albergue. For a total of €12 each we were royally fed a wholesome 3  course meal that included half a bottle of red too! Well call me Mr Creosote if you wish, but it went down an absolute treat.

These meals, apart from being unbelievably good value, are a very special part of the Camino. Strangers from a league of nations coming together to share their walking experiences and broader lives. It is generally terrific, unless of course you end up sitting next to a stuffed shirt, or someone who doesn't "habla Inglés".

Cate and I ended up swapping places so she could chat with a 70+ year old English ex-nurse who had walked 500km from the French border. I ended up next to a portly German lady who also had walked solo across the same distance. By German standards her English was not too good, as opposed to me whose German, by English standards, was frankly superb! That obviously still meant her English was massively better than my Deutsch. Nevertheless, I tried to throw in a bit of German. (For the more juvenile elements at the back of the class; no, I did not mention the War or talk about Panzer's, Stuka's or beach towels! I did, however, refer to Cate as the Obergrüppenführer! Respect where it's due)

And so to today's walk. It's our shortest scheduled distance, of just 10 of your finest British miles. Apart from the last mile, it was again along a more quiet "green route". To be blunt, there was absolutely nothing but flat Meseta farmland and a very small smattering of Pellegrino's (pilgrim's).



The first village was Villavante, after 6 miles. Coffee time at last. But no; the café/bar on the edge of the village was busy, so I suggested pushing on to middle of the place "where I was sure there was somewhere else that I'd seen in the book". Sadly, it wasn't the case. What I'd seen was a Casa Rural....a kind of bed and breakfast joint - somewhere that didn't provide refreshments all through the day. By that time we were only 3 miles from our destination for the day, so it didn't matter. Fortunately, Cate doesn't enjoy bearing a grudge, so I got away with it.*

Just past the Casa Rural, which also turned out to be a Mill House, there was a nice little table and benches next to a river. And so there we rested. Now there are many who say "the Camino provides", which is something I'm not a great believer in! However, Cate had just started doing her Dua Lipa** thing and our German friend, Bärbel from Bielefeld arrived  and stopped to sit with us. Most unexpectedly she pulled out a paper bag and offered us chocolate biscuits that she had just bought from the local Panaderia. So maybe "the Camino provides" after all. Or perhaps it was fate rewarding me for being so helpful, and whatsapping to her, only a few minutes previously, details of a quieter route into Santiago from Ponferrada. Saint Nodge strikes again!



So we walked the final few kilometres with Bielefeld Bärb into Hospital de Órbigo, crossing its famous Bridge with 19 arches as we did. This terrific bridge dates back to Roman times, although there was no sign of Mr Abramovich himself! Hospital de Órbigo is a nice little place with a great history, and strong links to the Knights Templars and the order of St. John.



So, two days in, we're edging slowly nearer to Santiago, and getting into the swing  of the slower life. Just 295 kilometres to go (out of 800 from our original starting point in France.

I managed to wear my boots the whole way today, which is a great result. Til tomorrow, adios amigos!



*isn't bearing petty grudges such fun though? The more petty the better, in my opinion. Like my friend Steve who still cannot exorcise the upset of his penknife being broken by a friend nearly 50 years ago. The mere mention of it, or the culprit, sets him off into the most magnificent and entertaining diatribe.

** apparently it's really Duo Lingo - a language teaching App. All joking aside, I'm hugely impressed that Cate is giving it a go. Long may it continue.



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