Hospital D'Orbigo - 9th June

Last night we invited Jurgen, a pilgrim from Hamburg who is also staying at the Hostal Central, to join our table at dinner. During the conversation he told us that he walked to La Virgin del Camino then later on got a bus back to Leon. He spent some time there and was going to wait for one of the afternoon buses but decided to take a taxi instead. (He was also overcharged but queried it and the taxi driver relented and charged him €20)
"But there are no buses during the day on a Sunday", I said, fresh and confident from my internet search of the ALSA website.  "There were many buses," he said, "many going both ways".
We had a lovely meal and found we'd met many of the same people on the way. We discussed them as though they were old mutual friends. There is also the "Camino grape-vine and word goes up and down about different pilgrims. I have met pilgrims who have said, "so, you are the lady who broke her arm. We heard about you last week. " Then someone says, "Pete has had to go ahead - he hurt his leg and had to rest a couple of days so now he is playing catch-up".
Back in the room I checked the ALSA website for the bus time table today and guess what? On Monday there are only evening buses from 20h30 onwards.  On Tuesday they start from 6am and run almost hourly.
I wanted to post another box to Santiago and found that the Correos was in a road parallel to the main road. I posted a copy of my book to Isa and a box of stuff to Santiago. Then I decided to wait at tbe bus stop across the road for Tuesday's 9h40 bus to Hospital.

Hallelujah - the bus was on time, not completo, I bought a ticket on the bus for €1.90 and 20 min later I was deposited on the main road outside Hospital D'Orbigo.  It took about 10 min to walk to the famous bridge and once on it, I saw the Albergue La Encina in a side road about halfway along the bridge. As I walked along the bridge I recognized Pete, striding along the cobblestone bridge. He wasn't staying here but just passing through.

It was too early to check in so I took a walk into the old part of the village, had a drink at the Hostal bar at the start of the bridge and met up with a few pilgrims I've seen regularly along the way.  Dan asked if he could take a photograph of me and I asked if I should smile or look sad? "We haven't seen you without a smile" said his wife, Esther. So I smiled and he took a photo of me and my broken arm.
I went back to La Encina and could check in.  This is the most spacious room I've had to date, large enough to fit 4 beds if needed.
Kathy arrived at 2pm. The lady who checked her in thought she was checking in with a man who had arrived with her at the same time. When I told Kathy she said, "Oh NO, gracias, no hombre!" I suggested to the woman that perhaps she had found Kathy a man and should offer them a matrimonial bed!
It had been a long walk for her, 30km according to her GPS watch.  Much too far for our amaWalkers pilgrims to walk. There are 2 routes to here,  one mostly alongside the road and the other (longer route) with less next-to-the-road walking. We might have to let them decide which they prefer to do.

After a rest we walked accross the long bridge to see if there was another way out for me in the moring. I'm going to have to roll the pink bag along the stony bridge and onto the main road (about 15min) to town to reach the bus stop. There are 4 storks nests on the church tower, all with large babies in them. We watched as a stork swooped over the river, probably looking for frogs.

We had drinks at the Hostal overlooking the bridge and we visited the two albergues in town (the parochial albergue still has the waterfall and forest mural on the wall in the courtyard that I first saw in 2002) and the San Miguel albergue where I met Marcelo the hospitalero from Brazil.
Cathy bought a few provisions at the tienda and we went back to Albergue Encina for a pilgrim menu.  I couldnt get the blind to come down in my room so had bright daylight until after 10pm. I should've kept the eye masks that Qatar airline gave us.