Drinking a cup of health (despite looking slightly like a chemo patient)

 Astorga to Rabanal del Camino, 20km

If I haven’t talked much about the food on the camino, it is probably because this most definitely isn’t a gastronomic tour of Spain.  Yes, the occasional drop of wine I have is fantastic (I never want to drink anything other than Rioja again!) but for the most part, the food is chosen for either portability or proximity. 

I have got into a bit of a routine of leaving relatively early on an empty stomach and then stopping for breakfast an hour or two down the track. This is usually some combination of bread, tortilla espanol (potato omelette), fresh squeezed orange juice and green tea (stocked by a surprising number of backwater bars) and usually sets me up nicely for the rest of the day’s walk to be finished on fruit, nuts and the occasional row of dark chocolate. Oddly enough, this is a whole lot less than I would be eating sitting in an office for the afternoon, but seems to be all I need. 

For dinner, if I am cooking (most albergues have a very basic kitchen) it will be something very basic like pasta and a tin of sardines in tomato sauce (go those omega threes).  But for the most part, I have been taking advantage of the pilgrims menus on offer just about everywhere. These offer outrageous value for money – usually three courses with wine, water and bread  for €10!  They tend to include a choice of two or three starters (usually rice, pasta or salad), two or three mains based on whatever meats are available and usually a fairly basic desert which, believe it or not, I have taken to passing on most nights.  

So while I am consuming the calories I need to get by, for the most part it is pretty simple, basic food and not much to get overly excited about.  There have been a couple of exceptions – the hamburger I had with Silvana in Burgos that had us groaning in delight, the chocolate con churros that I had with Dominic in Leon that will probably go down as my most intense chocolate fix of all time … and now the green smoothie I had for breakfast in a small town called Murias de Rechivaldo, just outside of Astorga. 

From the outside, the cafeteria looks more or less like any of the slightly more modern ones I have come across along the way, with the exception of the small sign explaining that they cook food direct from the farm.  Once inside though, the smell and warmth of the place – not to mention the outstanding display of tortillas, sandwiches and pastries – takes you to another world. The lady that runs it has walked the Camino five times and is intent on nourishing not just the stomachs, but also the souls of everyone who enters. She has a very direct, motherly gaze that instantly makes you feel like she is your new best friend and fairy godmother all rolled into one. I don’t think there are any recipes going on, but she did throw together the most amazing green smoothie for whoever aanted some while I was there. I am sure there were about twenty ingredients went into a supersized blender, which are going to sound ridiculous when I list just a few of them out, but trust me, the combined impact was stupendous: apple, kiwi, avocado, mango, flax seeds, raisins, almonds, frozen cherries, fresh peas, ginger, radish, almond milk, a dash of ‘fresh water straight from the mountains’ and a herb I haven’t heard of, but which is called lion’s teeth in Spanish, and which is apparently good for the kidneys.  So very, very good. 

The walk from then on was relatively straightforward, pretty short and quite lovely. The sun was out again (in full force) and the path went across a very flat, barren plain (still with bright orange soil) with sweeping views up to some pretty special snow-capped mountains. The last hour or so onvolved a pretty decent climb which is set to continue up through the mountains tomorrow morning. 

I stopped pretty early today as I am – very excitingly – meeting Ian and his dad for a day’s walking tomorrow (their Camino-ette as Ian has been calling it!) As a result, I have booked us into a relatively posh hostal – by which I mean we have our own rooms (didn’t think they were ready for the albergue bunk beds) and have had a chilled couple of hours waiting for them to arrive … by which I actually mean having an outrageously long shower and an equally impressive nanna nap. I had planned on a bit of primping and preening before seeing my boyfriend again, but realised that with the girlie tools in my bag, this amounts to bringing my hair wash forward a day and lashing out with the last of my pawpaw cream (reinforcements on the way) to try and get rid of the slight sandpaper feel from the parts of my back that my pack sits on. Am sure he will be suitably impressed. 

Am quite touched at the effort they have gone to to track me down in the middle of nowhere just for the weekend, so here’s hoping the Camino lives up to their expectations.