Roadside tramping – Day 18
March 6th, 2008 Posted in Spain, To Be A Pilgrim
It’s sad to leave Astorga, and a few miles north we look from a plateau back to see the town bathed in the dawn light. Pleasant walking through wheat fields bring us to Hospital de Orbigo, which has a fabulous long pilgrim bridge with no fewer than twenty arches. It was built in the eleventh century for what was clearly then a much larger river, before a giant irrigation dam robbed it of life. It is known as the Bridge of Paso Honroso after a jousting tournament, one of the most famous of the Middle Ages, was held here in 1434. Lasting a month, three hundred lances were broken by seventy eight knights, and one knight was killed. The ten victors, of Leon, continued to Santiago, and placed a gilt silver collar on a processional statue of St James which is still there today.
Beyond the bridge is a familiar campervan. John says he’s here to cheer up pilgrims who have just completed a long road stretch, which is bad news for us as this is what we have to come. It’s busy with traffic and straight as an arrow for mile after mile, becoming mind-numbingly tedious in the heat. When approaching a village the road is so straight that it seems much nearer than it is, and it never feels like we’re making any progress. Even when reached, the villages are dusty, characterless ribbons along the road. By 3 o’clock the temperature has reached 1000F, and we stop at a hostel in an old schoolhouse, with mattresses on the floor.
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