An hour before dawn we were all awake, and along with our fellow pilgrims in the cramped, bunk bedded accommodation…fumbling for our clothes as we got dressed. Rucksacks packed , we headed off to Astorga some 32km away – nostrils flaring and Ponchos flapping , we weren’t going to let a bit of Galician rain dampen our spirits.
Two hours later, completely wet through we arrived at a bar and graciously accepted their simple breakfast fare…. Hot milky Coffee and a sickly sweet cake.
Refreshed and back on the trail, I noticed my soaked trousers had changed from their usual Grey colour to dark Green … Well that’s what I first thought – then realised the dry part was also Green – “…MY camino trousers are Grey” I shouted.
Then, quick as a flash Richard said “You idiot Mark, you’ve put on someone else’s trousers !”
Feeling incredibly guilty for a moment I realised that in the rush to get going in the morning I had swiped some poor souls leg wear – Oh dear, they must be missing a crucial part of their camino clobber…
A moment later , glancing across to my Camino buddy all became clear:
“Hang on a minute Richard – YOU have got MY trousers on!”
After much raucous laughter and back slapping , we finally got going again and headed for the historic medieval village of Obrigo , it has the longest bridge of the camino with a total of 19 arches.
The bridge is famous for the story of ‘El Paso Honroso’ … a Knight in armour promised his lady he would protect her and guard the bridge , in 39 days he faced 166 opponents and defeated them all apparently…
Quite amazing when you come to think about it – the things we chaps are prepared to do for the one we love!
Bedbugs and Blisters 
Good luck with it chaps…if it is any consolation it is just as wet and soggy here in Thanet!
Thanks for the encouragement and support – can’t believe how well sue and Helen did on Sunat with their walk in the UK
Thanks Gordon – the thing is that our Ponchos were not waterproof – so we got soaked through anyway…Geoff and I have both binned the Ponchos now!
Mark you don’t surprise me ! Maybe Richard should have sold them some light bulbs so you could see what you were doing !
…what surprised me was that we both now have exactly the same size trousers Sue!
Richards is on this 5-2 diet and has lost 2 stone – quite amazing.
great, just great! Can’t wait to read more…
Thank you Jolanda – I was up quite early writing the blog most mornings – great fun and really pleased you enjoyed it. I hope everything is still going well for at Siemens.
Best Wishes…