Buen Camino

 And what a journey it has been so far!

I ended the week at school having taken my observed lesson (which seemed to go well), spent time with the Trinity and Cambridge students, and having played ‘Two truths and one lie’ with the 2nd year Bach which the teacher liked so much the class played it for the whole lesson. 

The Leon gang met up for drinks and tapas Friday night and then went on out out dancing. Iain and I left after the first bar but it was great fun to shake a few moves!

Carnival started for real on the Saturday and the streets were thronged with people, many whole families dressed up. We saw chickens, firemen, Star Wars, aliens, and animals. After having mixed success with finding a bar to watch the six nations it was time to get back out onto the streets to watch the procession. It was a lovely noisy hour or two, they had put so much effort into the costumes. As we walked home we passed where everyone had congregated at the start and the area was covered in multi-coloured feathers!

It had been a long-standing ambition of mine to walk the Camino, and even though it passes through Leon, that part is not particularly pleasant for walking. So on the recommendation of one of the teachers Iain and I took the bus early on Sunday to Astorga to start two days walking, with just water, a sandwich, a toothbrush and a change of underwear. 

Day 1 we walked from Astorga with its magnificent cathedral to Rabanal del Camino a small village at the start of the mountains. We passed through some beautiful villages and very quiet countryside. At one village we were serenaded by an old man with a guitar singing about the Camino who tried to tap us up for  foreign coins.

Day 2 saw us climbing up into the mountains. The views opened out and the air had that nip of freshness. I loved it, my happy place. The villages were more alpine and we stopped for coffee in Foncebadon in a cafe that had a decidedly hippy feel. We passed over the top at the Cruz to Ferro which marks the highest point then dropped down through forests and scrub to Acebo where we had arranged to be picked up by taxi to be taken to Ponferrada to catch the bus back. On the second day we would keep crossing paths with an Italian man walking with his huge strong friendly bull dog who was carrying on to Santiago.

Over the course of the two days we walked the best part of 30 miles, so I’m sat in bed this morning nursing a blister on my little toe feeling decidedly weary. It’s going to be a day of catching up on writing and lessons, house cleaning, laundry, and hopefully meeting everyone later for a catch up and the last of the festival processions.