San Martin del Camino to Astorga

Here's a secret: I'm writing this post after Camino.

And here's the reason: On day 23 we met Rasmus, and on day 24 we met Susanna and Sueon. These three treasures became part of our family and walked with us for the rest of our Camino adventure, so writing this with hindsight, I can tell you how amazing they are.

Today was a great day, because we met back up with Janne and Rick, who'd decided to walk on from Leon while we had a rest day a few days ago.

They waited for us and had a rest day themselves in Astorga, so today the band was getting back together AND Janne had spent all day making us pumpkin soup.

So far, so good. But then it got even better. We'd already met Rasmus (Danish) the night before (he started walking in Leon) and tonight we invited Camino newbie Susannah (Canadian) and solo walker Sueon (South Korean) to eat with us - and THANK GOD we did.

What incredible people!

Rasmus, 25, Danish aka The Viking

Love this dude. Bless his heart, he tried to keep up with Martine on one of his first walking days, God loves a try-er. Rasmus is super clever and is great for a good walk/debate on any topic you care to bring up. He has very liberal views on nudity and in his communal house they even have a double shower so friends can wash together in the morning. I'm afraid we'll never agree on appropriate levels of nakedness, however, we do agree that 2E Cava is awesome. Rasmus, you never did run round naked for me, did you?!

Sueon, 25, South Korea

How to describe the wonderful little pot of loveliness that is Sueon?! They say that 90% of communication is non-verbal, but with Sueon, as least 50% of communication is made using some kind of high pitched sound. I once asked her for the wifi password and she didn't use a word for 'dash', so much as a series of hand signals and beeping noises. I love her. One of the best things about Sueon? One day she got lost (standard Sueon, we later found) and on realising she'd gone 7k out of her way (on one the longest walking days we'd had so far), her reaction was to get down in a field and take a nap. What a legend.

Susannah, 39, Canada

What's to be said about this incredible woman? One of the most generous, funny, glorious people you could ever hope to meet, never mind walk a truck load of miles with. Susannah joined my, Davide, Tano, Manon and Ines' little walking crew and we were so the richer for it. This woman is a genuine spirit guide - but one who likes to sing in the shower and rock out to the Hamilton soundtrack on the trail. Her cup runneth over with wisdom, and we'd all seek her out for good counsel and advice, she's basically the world's most epic big sister. She was sent to us by a higher power - one that knew I needed someone to duet to Les Miserable with. I honestly could write an essay on how amazing this woman is, but it might look weird and stalkery, and I really want to see her again, so I'll end there!