Like all short days, we underestimate the amount of effort involved. Surprisingly, we were the last ones up again. We went down to have breakfast in the bar with the thought that we’d be in Leon for lunch. We saw the couple next to us ship their luggage on ahead–no wonder they have energy to fool around, they ship their luggage.
After our croissant, juice, and coffee, we set out on a repeat journey of our “Pam is not happy with this Albergue” tour of the day before. Just as we got out of town next to the road we would be hiking next to all day, the couple that shipped their luggage actually ran by us. This was a new one. We’ve seen people switch to bikes. We’ve seen people catch busses. We’ve seen people call cabs. We’ve heard of people riding horses. This was our first “Runners of the Camino”.
Who would think a 12 mile walk next to a highway would be so hot and boring? We did stop for second breakfast in Villarente a mere 4 miles up the road. While we were walking through town, we saw some pilgrims head to the bus-stop and wait. I wanted to take a picture, but I was too embarrassed to do so. The jerk that wrote our guide book, John Brierly, actually suggested taking a bus into Leon rather than walking along the “busy” road. Why does he have qualms about busy roads now when we’ve been walking along busier roads for weeks? I think it’s a mistake to encourage people to “cheat” because after the first time, the excuses become easier to think up and justify.
When we finally made it into the city limits of Leon, we wished we had taken a bus, but we were proud of ourselves for staying pure no matter how stupid the trail becomes. This was a lot of concrete walking on a hot day. An air conditioned air bus with wifi started looking good. We tried to find a restaurant to sit down in to cool off a bit before heading into the old town.
Leon is sprawling. After a couple miles in the city, we noticed a police tent with signs all around, but since we don’t read or speak Spanish, we tried to avoid it. As soon as we walked past, a man comes running after us. It turned out to be a pilgrim welcoming tent where they hand out maps and assist you in finding accommodations if you haven’t already got them. The gentleman that helped us was great. He showed us exactly on the map where George had gotten a pension and our route through the city.
We still had 2 or 3 miles to go and we were hungry. As we were getting nearer to the old city, Pam started getting hypoglycemic and said we are stopping at the next restaurant we see no mater what it is. Next up was a KFC–we walked on. We eventually ended up in a tapas bar. We got a couple small snacks to hold off the hunger until we were settled in.
The old city is surrounded by a double wall perimeter which used to be quite formidable. Some of the buildings are now built directly into the wall. In some places, I got an “East Berlin” impression (even though I haven’t been there yet). We passed through Checkpoint Charlie and entered the old city. Like all the old city centers, the roads are narrow and winding with tall buildings lining both sides to keep the sun from baking the pavement. It’s very efficient at keeping the city center cool.
We followed the path up to where we thought we’d find George sitting with a beer waiting on us. No beer, no George. There must be an ice cream store near by that’s distracted him. We had no choice but follow the trail all the way down to the Cathedral in the hope of finding him.
When we got near The Basilica he appeared in our trail. He had been sitting with Shaun having a beer. We haven’t seen Shaun since Fromista when I got sick. We headed on to our room to drop packs and shower before exploring the city.
We had some definite things we wanted to get done in this town: 1) get a massage, and 2) drink some beer. Pam probably wanted to do some shopping, but I tried to narrow our focus to the top two priorities. We went to a massage therapy office and made appointments and then started exploring side streets to find a place to eat.
The first street we turned down, we found Bob, Paul, Chris, Edele, Adrian, and Shaun having drinks so we joined them. The mood of the party went from festive to quiet when I sat down, but I insisted on staying anyway. I know a few other people that they would like having around even less and I knew where they were hanging out, so I had blackmail potential on my side.
We eventually moved on to the Irish bar on the corner where we got the front seating area on the corner with a commanding view of three streets. This is where we managed to hang out until almost midnight forgetting supper (if popcorn doesn’t count as supper which I have turned in on several expense reports). This became our Camino family central.
The couple that ran the trail today turned up. Tim and Linn are not running the trail, but decided to take an easy day and run instead. They’ve been in town since 10 this morning (we didn’t get in until after 2). They are actually a pretty cool pair of newlyweds who are taking a year off to travel and see the world before settling down in Australia. Their favorite destination so far? Cuba! I was intrigued.
We also spent a lot of time with Adrian and Edele. Adrian is also an engineer (or was) until they tried to call his bluff for a year off work to travel. After his company had told him yes to a year, they tried to back down to 6 months thinking they had him over a barrel. He quit on the spot. I can only imagine the feeling of satisfaction. Adrian has similar views on the ornamentation of all the cathederals we have been going through. He refuses to give any more money to them because of the hypocrisy of the inquisition and colonialization which made all of this possible (my abbreviated stance and not to be attributed to Adrian’s views directly). Edele commanded us to stop talking politics, religion, and work so we were forced to pick up the drinking pace to compensate for lack of material to talk about.
Leon represents the completion of the Camino for Bob. He has now done the entire Trail from St Jean to Santiago on various trips. He is still going to continue walking with Chris to Santiago. Paul is calling it quits after today. Apparently he thinks he should walk with his wife the rest of the way to Santiago. Tonight became a goodbye and happy birthday to Paul (he will turn 60 later this month). To celebrate these momentous events, I did something special–I let Paul take a selfie of the group with my camera (which he promptly dropped–shock proof test to 15′ verified).
