Day 22: Astorga to Foncebadon
- sarezend
- May 9, 2025
- 3 min read
Day 22 promises to be a long day of 25kms with a climb from 900 meters from Astorga to 1400 meters to the mountain top town of Foncebadon. It’s the first day I’m walking alone. It’s also May 9th, my moms birthday. She would have been 95 today. Hard to believe she has been gone 14 years. Happy Birthday Mom!
I say goodbye to Jimmy at 6:30am anticipating the return of rain for a few hours in the morning and colder temperatures at the mountain pass. The hotel offers me a coffee for the road and I take it happily. It’s dark but the arrows leading out of town are easy to locate and I’m outside of Astorga’s in no time. Only one other pilgrims I can see in front of me, a woman named Merriam from the Netherlands and my alone time goes away as soon as it started. It’s still dark and somewhat rainy so we decide to walk together until the town of Santa Catalina where we both stop for breakfast but at different cafes. She had a lot of questions about the USA and Trump. Oh well, no peace here either.
As I finish my coffee and croissant I see Merriam, thank her for her time, and offer her a Buen Camino, a good journey. I’ve already walked 11kms and it’s only 9:15am. The time passes in company but there is still 500 meters of climbing and 14-15kms to go. The trail is suddenly crowded as the light of day enters, but I do not recognize anyone I’ve met over the past 3 weeks. León marks a starting location for many pilgrims and it seems many have joined the Camino.
The trail turns rocky and muddy before I enter the last town to rest, Rabanal, a small town but with a large Benedictine monastery. I dip into a small chapel for a final rest. I sit inside, take my shoes off and change to a pair of dry socks for the last 7 KMs of walking. From Rabanal, it’s up and the trail becomes even more muddy, slick, with rocky slippery shale. Water pours down the trail like a small stream as I make my way to Foncebadon at the top of the mountain, arriving at 1:30pm.
This is my third time staying here and really it hasn’t changed in the last 10 years. It’s cold and starts to rain. Everything looks and feels the same. I check into my Albergue, La Posada de Druida. The woman who checks me in asks several questions in rapid fire Spanish. I somehow understand it, respond, in Spanish, she doesn’t laugh, so I must have said the right thing, and feel confused for a moment and silently pat my back. She shows me to my room, tells me to eat when I want but the kitchen and bar close at 8:30pm.
Today is laundry day, I had no more clean close to wear. She shows me to the laundry room, explains how to use the washer and dryer, but this time, all I understand is it $4 euro to wash and $4 euro to dry. No matter, I’ve used them before, how hard could it be.
After placing my laundry in the washer, I order lunch, lentil soup, but instead I receive spaghetti with a red sauce. I don’t really care because it looks good and I eat it before she realizes her mistake. After eating I finish my laundry chore and run into Rob from New Jersey who just arrived and was eating some lunch with another pilgrim. I say hello and agree to meet for a beer later. Rob was the first person I recognized today whom I had met several times over the past week or so after Burgos. Admittedly, it’s nice to see a friendly face when alone. Please enjoy the pictures of the day:
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