My View From the Bottom Bunk

I took pictures of all the bunk beds I slept in during my journey except for the last one. It is very strange that I did not make time or get a chance to take a picture of the last one, because I actually slept in the same bunk for five whole days!

Number one – Leon – Sunday, August 30, 2015                                                            It was a series of rooms with many bunk beds – women and men separated. I had this huge beautiful window right beside my bed which helped my laundry to dry quickly until the loudest thunderstorm I have even heard rolled in. It sounded as if the world was ending! Yikes!

Number Two – Villar de Mazarife – Monday, August 31, 2015                                I walked 15 km on the first day and almost died. I made it to the town before this town called Chozas de Abajo and gave in and took my first Taxi the last 6 kms. I could not walk one more step and there were no Albergues in this town or I would have stayed put. The room had two bunk beds in it and I had the room to myself – Very unusual! Very Lucky! Shhhh…I slept part of the night on one side and then part of the night on the other side because it was closer to the window and it was really hot.

Number 3 – Astorga – Tuesday, September 1, 2015                                                      Choosing to walk shorter distances meant that I always got where I was going early enough to usually have first choice of the bed I wanted and therefore I never had any trouble getting the bottom bunk. This Albergue had two floors and I chose the last room down the hall on the first floor. There were 12 beds in this room. I ended up staying here for two days because I strained a tendon in my left leg and sore toe. Most Albergues will not allow you to stay more than one night unless you are injured. If they do allow you to stay you must leave in the morning during the time that they come in to clean and then return after they are done.

Number 4 – Santa Catalina de Somoza – Wed. September 2, 2015                     This was a shorter walk today because I wanted to make sure my leg was healing and I needed to take the time to build myself up to walking further and up the mountain the following day. You learn quickly when to push yourself and when to lay off. This day was definitely a…don’t push the limits day. There were only two or three other couples that stayed at this Albergue. It was virtually empty and I almost had the room to myself. September was definitely a good time to travel. Oh and a fellow trekker Dan who I met later on in Rabanel told me that bed bugs like wood beds and not metal…good to know! Never met a bed bug – Thank my lucky stars.

Number 5 – Rabanal del Camino – Thurs. September 3, 2015                                This day was a brutal test of my physical abilities with much of the day spent ascending the mountain and enduring chilly mountain weather. I was happy to fall face first in to my bed on this day. I took the one at the very back of the room on the right and the Hospitalero Ramon carried my bag for me. #Grateful!

Number 6 – Acebo – Friday, September 4, 2015                                                          If I thought yesterday was difficult I was pushed again to my limit as I climbed to the very top of the mountain – approx. 5000 ft. above sea level to the Cruze to Ferro and then down the other side. I made it a full 10 km to Manjarin(town of one) and then I could not walk another step and opted to take my second cab ride down the rest of the mountain to Acebo. I cried as I drove past my friends. It felt as if I was cheating, however I changed my thinking to focus on what a lovely ride I was having down the mountain and focused on the overwhelming beauty of the view. It is never cheating when it is your own Camino. It is whatever you need it to be. Whatever it wants to be. You must accept it and not fight against it.

Number 7 – Molinaseca – Saturday, September 5, 2015                                         I walked a short 8 km day today and landed tired and spent in Molinaseca. It appeared to be a town where natives of Spain come to vacation and was very Shi shi and posh. There was only one Municipal Albergue that did not appear to be open and all other inexpensive places were taken. With all the walking back and forth I did to find a place to stay, I could have made it the last 7 kms to Ponferrada, but I finally found the Santa Marina converted chapel as I walked to the outskirts of town. All rooms after the first one in Leon were coed. I found everyone I “spent the night with” to be respectful. The only difficulty with this place was that the bathroom was down on the second floor and the floors were hardwood and very slippery.

Number 8 – Ponferrada – Sunday, September 7, 2015                                             This was my very first Municipal Donativo (by donation) Albergue and one of the noisiest for snoring that I experienced during the whole 17 days away. It was a close second to my second night in Astorga with the three Irish guys that were in my room. They told me to elbow the guy who slept next to me if he started snoring and I said “no, that would be too much like we were married”. Turns out it was the woman from Copenhagen across the room that snored the loudest! It also bugged me that people got up to start walking at 4 am. It was very disruptive and I could not get back to sleep. Ponferrada ended up being the second last bunk bed I would sleep in on my journey.

Number 9 – Santiago – Monday September 8, 2015                                                  How did I get from Ponferrada to Santiago you ask? Well another one of those…it is my Camino…stories. In a nut shell…I could have walked for 4 more days to 4 more towns, but those towns were in the middle of nowhere and Ponferrada was/is a large city with a train and a bus station. Without much Spanish and knowledge of the region, I was worried that I might not make it back for my flight on September 12th. So…I jettisoned myself on the bus right to the end! I found a place to stay called Roots and Boots. When I arrived I was so exhausted and upset that I told the owners I would only be staying 1 night. It turned out to be a beautiful place and I ended up staying for 5 days. For some reason I did not take a picture with the view from my bunk bed. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to admit that I had to leave. Anyway…whatever the reason…here is a picture of one of the rooms from their website. This one is on the second floor facing the The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and mine was on the ground floor facing the garden. I said goodbye to my last bunk at 11 am on Saturday September 12, 2015 and headed off to the airport to begin my journey home to my own comfy bed.

All in all I had a great sleep in all the beds I met. After 6+ hours of walking or ??km, finding and claiming your bed is like staking claim for land during the gold rush. When you fall into it, it is like falling into a pillow top, triple layer, chocolate cake. I am lucky though because I am not one of those people who has to sleep in their own bed to get a good nights rest. This was an adventure on many levels and an adventure in sleep was just one part of the larger journey.

I hope you enjoyed the view from my bottom bunk.