No more highways!

Each night before I blog, I look through my pictures to remember my day. You'd think it wouldn't be too hard to remember the past eight hours, but a lot gets crammed in there!

This morning was spent walking along the highway. I felt some other pilgrims coming up behind, so I stopped to let them pass and lo and behold it was the Englishman I had met the first few days of my journey with an American. I spent most of the day walking with them. 

At a point, we could choose to continue along the road or take the scenic route through towns. Being that the scenic route was only 1k more, we opted for that. And that was the better choice, I am sure. We went through farmland and had a delightful walk. We met David, who owns a plot of land and has an oasis for pilgrims, "paradise" as he calls it. It was nice to relax on a hammock and enjoy some juice before continuing the trek.

Soon enough we were at Astorga, a much bigger city than I had imagined. I checked into the alburgue, showered, did my laundry and connected with other pilgrims.

Two other chocolate lovers and I went to the chocolate museum. We were in and out in just ten minutes, since we were really only there for the free tasting!

Keeping with my pledge to step outside myself on this trip, I tried octopus this evening. I shant be ordering my own dish, but I can say that I tried it!

The albergue is nice. It is pretty full, with a mix of familiar and new faces. Not sure where I will end up tomorrow, but it was a good day today!