Changes

CAMINO FRANCÉS – Day 23: Thursday 1 May 2025 – ASTORGA to FONCEBADÓN (26 [+0] kilometres)

I left Astorga this morning a bit later than planned as, to be honest, I overslept! On this Camino trek I have not set an alarm, but I usually awake about 6.30-ish, then pack and hit the trail within the hour. But today, with the blinds fully closed, I awoke at 8.30 am, after a straight nine hours of sleep, and so I guess that some form of cumulative fatigue must have overtaken me. I decided to forgo breakfast at my lodgings, possibly run by the most begrudging of hosts that I have encountered on any trek, and opted for a later stop on the track up to the hills.

So that is the downbeat part of today’s post covered. The path from Astorga follows a level track as far as the village of Murias de Rechivaldo, before rising, gradually at first and then unerringly, to Santa Catalina. This change of altitude, just a hundred metres of vertical height, crosses the 1,000 metre contour, and as it does so the landscape changes; from the marginal farmland of barley and pinewoods on the sandy soils, to the more rocky scrubland of the páramo, interspersed with stands of mixed woodland. Entering Santa Catalina in the cool air, with its dry stone walls and relaxed vibe, had the welcome feel of a return to the mountains, at last. Spirits raised, coffee in hand, I joined a happy group outside the café – with the new month comes change, and after many days on the flatlands of the Meseta we are finally in the hills: this is now the Camino that we came to walk.

After our climb we are all now settled in Foncebadón at just over 1,400 metres of elevation. And what a beautiful place this is – cool air, stone buildings, and views back over huge swathes of the Meseta and forward to the high peaks that still hold pockets of snow. The albergue here, Monte Irago, has everything that last night’s hostal lacked; the welcome, the views, the camaraderie, and the fine three-course dinner – a place as fabulous as it is convivial. It is fair to say that we have all retreated to bed on a high.

Today was certainly a day of change, positive change, and so the song that sprang to mind for my Blog heading, ‘Changes’, was self-evident. David Bowie wrote and recorded the song in 1971, and it was included on his album ‘Hunky Dory’, and released as a single early the following year. At the time of writing Bowie had experimented with various genres of music without breaking through, and his frustrations are evident in the lyrics of the first verse. The piece features a piano riff by Rick Wakeman and musical accompaniment from the band who would come to be know as ‘the Spiders from Mars’. The song is now acknowledged as one of Bowie’s most iconic numbers; it featured regularly in his performances and was the last number that he performed in public before his untimely passing in 2016. I have included the lyrics here, as they seem as prescient now as when they were penned over half a century ago.

Still don’t know what I was waitin’ for
And my time was runnin’ wild
A million dead end streets and
Every time I thought I’d got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
How the others must see the faker
I’m much too fast to take that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
Don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
There’s gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time

I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re goin’ through

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
Don’t tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
Where’s your shame?
You’ve left us up to our necks in it
Time may change me
But you can’t trace time

Strange fascinations fascinate me 
Ah, changes are taking
The pace I’m goin’ through

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
Ooh, look out, you rock ‘n’ rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
Pretty soon now you’re gonna get older
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can’t trace time