Day 5 - The Change Was Worth It

So I skipped 30 km, and according to my GPS walking app, I will make that up easily because I walk around the towns around my various stopping points.

Highlights of today.

Pre-blister on a toe is hopefully averted with a topical bandaid-like strip known as Compeed.

The oldest and longest Roman bridge is over the Orbigo and it's amazing to think Caesar and St Francis walked over these arches.

Looks deceive. An older tiny man using two walking sticks zoomed past me. He paused to take off his jacket and I passed him up. Then going up a long hill, he works his way past me again. I was going 5.5kph today so he had to have been at 6+kph.

After a hike up the hills, it meant much to see the Cruz de San Roribio as it loomed over the Astorga. Reading his bio, he seems a snooty bishop to me, and the cross remembering his journey to Astorga for refuge from invading Celts seems over the top. But it looks over the valley so powerfully, it's hard not to admire.

Met Peter from Ireland. He's a professor of philosophy and lived in Phoenix for a few years. He was interested in my personal discernment. We went to the evening rosary and mass together. Surprisingly the bishop and his entourage served. It's a virgin feast day that I don't recall. Paul didn't care much for the extravagance, but I enjoyed the high mass much. 

I stopped by my first tourist shop and finally bought the symbolic scallop shell for my day bag. Hope it stays. Perfectly marvelous talk with the shop lady, who was from the UK but moved here 30 years ago after high school. Economic times are hard but the government is too busy trying to keep a kingdom of different nations together than to solve real problems.

I ate dinner picnic-style at the gardens of the lovely Gaudi "Palacio Episcopal". My picnic was: fresh bread, cheese, salami, potato chips, fruit, and gas water. Chose to avoid wine because I'm really dehydrated and ate gluten because I couldn't resist any more.

Lastly, my albergue is 50 people or more in my room but I got here early enough to pick a non-bunk bed closest to power outlets. Talkative German young women are gabbing all afternoon during my nap. I did laundry and almost lost my wedding ring into the sink.

Overall, I am certain that I did the right thing and change my plans. I got to see a mass held by a bishop and stay in a town that was much more interesting than other options.

Today's insights : 

Living your life can take you to other lands, physical or otherwise. And it doesn't have to be permanent . Go where you are called and be thankful