The day Dame Bocadillo Butt met the Grey Knight…

Oh what a wonderful weekend was had at Hospital de Orbigo this past weekend at their annual Medieval Festival! It had it all – handsome knights on their fiery steeds, jousting, edge of your seat excitement as the soap opera drama unfolded in front of us – the knights all fought each other off until there was only one left standing, the Townsfolk dressed in their medieval finery, and food and wine fit for a King! The reenactment of the legend of Don Suero – a tale of unrequited love and misadventure was celebrated in this weekend long event.

(Oh look-the Grey Knight!)

We left Mazarife expecting to arrive in Astorga that day, but 15km down the road walked into Hospital de Orbigo to a village that was transforming itself back to the Middle Ages. Always a sucker for a good dress-up opportunity (and the promise of meeting handsome knights) staying for the weekend was fast becoming a foregone conclusion. We stayed at albergue San Miguel – one of the most beautiful albergues so far on the Camino, run by a Venezuelan couple Arturo and Piera, who have created a space of hospitality and beauty. Pilgrims are invited to paint a picture (easle and paint supplied!) of their Camino experience to leave at the Albergue to eventually be displayed on the walls. (I declined this however as my artistic ability is woefully lacking!). They told us about the weekend activities and insisted we don their spare costumes so we could sit in the stadium seats to watch the jousting (and not stand on the bridge with all the other peasants!).

(Oh look-the Grey Knight again!)

One of the highlights was the fire torch procession and following fireworks that happened at about 2am on Sunday morning. Yes, that’s right- this pilgrim stayed up until the wee hours of the morning! Only other pilgrims will understand the magnitude of that last sentence.