Camino de Santiago Day One

After an early breakfast we were away on the bikes soon after nine am. Our luggage would be taken by minivan between hotels on the route, so we travel light with, for me, a small rucksack containing water, first aid kit, small toolkit, and a lightweight rain jacket. It was surprisingly cold in the early morning shade of Leon, and our first stop was in the centre with a visit to the Cathedral. This was huge and fairly spectacular, but I did hope that this wasn’t to be the pattern for the whole week. I mean cathedrals are all very well, but I was there for the cycling!


There was quite a long stint alongside the roads on the way out of Leon, but the countryside soon appeared and it turned into a beautiful day of rural cycling along small roads and farm tracks. The group seemed to keep together fairly well, with no major problems with fast cyclists and slow ones. The most spectacular part of the journey was the entry to Orbigo over a long stone bridge of Roman origin, following which we lunched. Most of the restaurants along the way did “Pilgrim” menus which were three course meals with wine/water for a fixed price. It was much needed on this first day after cycling 35km, but I was slightly concerned that I might go home having put on weight should this pattern be repeated each day!


After lunch was a leisurely (thankfully, given my full stomach) ride to Astorga. Along the way was a drinks stop in the middle of nowhere at a building which turned out to be a bit of a commune. I found myself quite challenged by one young English girl there, who had been walking the Camino but had stopped there for three weeks – when I wasn’t particularly interested in seeing round the living quarters in this commune she had a bit of a go at me for not embracing the pilgrimage and seeing “the simple life”. Obviously at her age, she was on a significant personal journey, but she walked off before I could challenge her assumptions... I mean, I’ve done the whole long journey alone thing (climbing Kilimanjaro), and I’ve done the whole living simply thing (in rural Uganda), so it would be entirely appropriate at my age to enjoy a simple cycling holiday without being judged for it! However, the brief conversation did stay with me for several days, so I guess she was successful in making me think about what I was up to!


In Astorga we settled into another hotel before exploring the old town. The main architectural feature was a very Disney-esque palace designed by Gaudi from the 19th Century. If I’m not mistaken, the castles in Disneyland/world/etc were based on this design! Dinner, after evening drinks, was in a local restaurant notable for a delightful young waitress who had the biggest smile I’ve seen outside of Uganda, even if she spoke no English!