Chanting in Samos

Last night we stayed in the Monastry of the Blackfrairs. A wonderful sight to see as we came over the hill after walking 30kms. We arrived at 7pm, just in time to go on a tour and see the monks chanting in the monastry (as they do.)
Found out the showers were cold, so put if off for the moment. This is where travelling with a Spainish person comes in handy. for important intel. Elig was a font of information (more than Chris and he could speak better spanish!!!!) headed for the nearest bar and tonight no real effort needed to get vino tinto and pasta. 10.o0pm lockdown tonight..makes it very hard as eating doesnt start till 8.30 or 9pm!! just got back in time, managed to guzzle and gobble it all down. no time for a shower though, oh well always tomorrow..but it is official we are both on the nose!!!
here are some photos of different things, we are off for ...yes you guessed it VINO TINTO! and we in staying in our hotel tonight so no curfew! It is amazing just how many pilgrims you see in the hotels..not just us!

Leaving Leon...entering Glacia our last provence

We had a huge day, we were told this was our next big challange after the first day. AND it was..started the big climb at 4pm and arrived at 7pm in O Cebreiro a delightful little village high in the mountain range 1400mts. Stunning panoramic views..lost for words..needs showering but just had to go and drink first..opps we mean eat first. found a bar, patted ourselves on the back for not ordering the pilgrims meal. Sucessfully got Tapas and a local bottle of vino tinto..ahhh.
Wondered why the queso was a bit light on till a dish arrived after which was a cheesy desert..opps! oh well hoe in..its all food! we were joined during the night by 3 fellow pilgrims, 2 from Spain and one from Germany.

Sunny one day..Blizzard the next!

Remember yesterday here in Astrorga we saw the Gaudi building? Take note of the blue sky, beautiful day.
well the next morning we woke to rainy, cold weather. so we rugged up with all our stuff on except Chris just had to show off her BULGING calf muscles today, so she wore her shorts!
So off we went, we had a long climb up the mountain. We stopped for a coffee at Foncebadon and not far past that we saw the Iron Cross. . Here it is a pilgrim tradition to leave a pebble from home and say some prayers for your hopes troubles to lighten your spritual being.Chris had her pebble from home and Michele had hers from Brisbane airport (last minute!) lets see which one works.
Near the top of the mountain Michele was getting very concerned as Chris's legs were turning PINK! She did agree that fher flesh was frozen so agreed to put long pants on. So off with the backpack, boots, shorts, now semi naked in the middle of nowhere, she had to put long johns on then pants! Carried out with military precison with the help of Michele.
Arriving in Ponferrada for the evening, coming in to town saw the amazing sight of the Knights Templar Castle.. checked into our 2 star hotel to recover, refuel after another 30km plus day.
We both felt that this was our most challenging day of walking to date. We are machines!! amazing ourselves :)

Big day out 37kms

Waking up in our lovely albergue in Hospital de Orbigo we made a special note to selves...avoid when ever possible sharing a dorm with aging balding coughing burping stinky MEN!!!!! (who wear loose underwear!!!!!!!!!!!) It is enough to put you off your cafe con leche!!!!!!!!! Next morning, we met the "other" 2 Aussie girls we had heard so much about. Carol and Carol and also James we met on day 2. Here we are before leaving for our 37km day!!!
Its not all walking, eating , talking, meeting we have cultural imput as well. We can now spot a Gaudi building from 100 mts and also pastleire wont say which excites us most!!! except to say that the cake shop was open and the Gaudi building was not!
That afternoon we tried a new plan. at 25kms we stopped for a afternoon Vino Tinto.very pleasant. In fact so pleasant, we did it again at the next bar which was "CowboyBar" about 1hr later!
This plan worked very well as we still kept walking leaving fellow pilgrims behind us. We eventually arrived at Rabanal del camino at 8pm!
ONLY to find that we got the last 2 beds and therefore it was full .. So it was very necessary to get out earplugs and blindfolds! (see top of post!)

Bar Lorenzo

Lauren this is for you...your name pops up a few times in Spain :) xxx

No Primavera in Spain

Here we are huddled around a fire in http://www.alberguesanmiguel.com/

These photos are taken when we left Leon yesterday. Tonight we look a little different..we probably have chillblains on our noses!!!! IT WAS FRICKEN FREEZING and..very windy.

We walked about 26kms and every step of the way it was blowing in our faces..they are the 2 photos on the side with our faces in disguise!!

This is a wonderful place to stay..we cooked dinner chris made a salad and we washed that down with a 3 euro bottle of vino tinto!!!

Now just to set the record straight..we know we always talk about our vino tintos at night , but when we go out the glasses are not even half of one of ours back home..only about 30-40mls per glass!! and we have not had any hangovers at all..must be low alcohol wine or something over here!!!

Expecting more of the same weather tomorrow..then 4 days of sun!!! yahoooooooo!!!!!

Check out the Pilgrims

Ok we have finally done some photos for you. As we can´t look close enough at the photos to screen them before we put them on..we have no idea how glamorous we look...we can only imagine!! So please no harsh comments about us...remember we have snow burn, wind burn, sunburn, lack of sleep, lack of food and there is only so much you can do with, soap, moisturiser and deoderant!!!!!!

We have got photos on from our first blog..so look back from the beginning.

enjoy....we are off to do a bit of sight seeing in Leon...

xx