Still in Grace but lost the Bliss....

I am in Rabinal del Camino tonight. This old, small 50 person town that has like 4 Albrergue and two small hotels. It is a traditional resting place in between bigger towns on the Camino. It is near the top of a 3,000' pass and I'm quite sure there must be 150 Pilgrims staying here tonight to the 50 residents of mostly older people. The young ones have left for the cities. I am staying in a small, quaint one-star hotel across from the small church. I rode 25 miles to Astorga, this really nice 1,000 person town where they were having an open air market in the town square. I was wishing I had booked here instead of Rabinal, but possibility of rain on the next day(s) pushed me on to do as much as I could beforehand.

I got here mid-afternoon after a really tough 12 mile section from Astorga where I had lunch. It was only slightly uphill riding like 300' rise, but there was 20-25mph headwinds that just wouldn't stop and completely wore me out. It's almost like the Camino reminds you that just when you think it should be easy, it's not.

I checked in and dropped my bags. I wandered across to the church and found a Refugio, a traditional Catholic refuge for Pilgrims. I poked my head in and was welcomed in where a group was having afternoon tea around a big table outdoors. It was so sweet to join in for about an hour with others doing the Camino some staying there, some not. It's now supported and run by the Society of St. James in England and two volunteers , John and Maggie from London were there volunteering for two weeks running it. It is totally supported by donations from people that stay and from the Society. They have beds for 40 Pilgrims and was so nice to be included in the community. Just the experience I was looking for. Turns out they had run out of PG Tips English tea and I had brought some with me for my breakfasts that I haven't used, so they were thrilled for my donation ;-)

Anyway, it turned out that Rabinal was the place for me tonight.... Grace.

dave