An eventful day - now in León

Today was our bus trip to León. We left at 10.30 and Amr thought it was a direct trip, and about 2 hours…well, it took about 4 hours till we got to the hotel here…but it was fun, and much more interesting than if we’d just zoomed through on the autovia. We did set of on the freeway, then fairly soon turned off and from then till Sahagún, we called in on small towns and picked up and dropped off passengers, often peregrinos who wanted a bus for some stages! And we called in on several towns on the Camino like Carrión de los Condes, Mansilla de las Mulas, Sahagún and Terradillos de los Templarios…so we felt quite close to the Camino, and sometimes the camino was on a path beside the road and we saw pilgrims walking…we loved that! And we now have seen the meseta in spring….we were looking forward to walking it, but we saw the green of the grain crops, and ploughed fields ready for sunflowers - so beautiful.

And now we are in León, a beautiful city, with a spectacular cathedral, for 2 nights. Apparently they talk about a heatwave here, but it is cold in the morning (sometimes single figures) and gets to the low to middle 20s in the heat of the day, and by 6pm people are putting on jackets, quite cold…we are in the same hotel as 2018…an old building in the centre, and our room is on the 3rd floor, the top and we have sloping beams and a skylight…very charming.

We walked round a bit at first, looking for somewhere to snack and drink as it was almost 3 which isn’t the time for that…siesta time, and even bars close quite often…anyway, we had a little and after a bit more wandering, I went for a little lie down while Amr had more walking. Revived when he returned and we had a pre dinner drink at a place we’d seen, and then had a lovely walk right round the walls of the city - huge, like all these cities…even adjoining the cathedral. Then we went back to the place we’d had the drink and had a meal…a great place, as you can have a huge meal, or choose as little as you want. And we each had a glass of wine: Amr a Ramon Bilbao, and I had an Alberiño, both happy. Amr had an enormous salad, and I had stuffed peppers, my favourite (after chiperones) …both happy again. I find I can only eat small amounts, and slowly…I think my stomach has shrunk with so long not eating! Learning how to manage. That is our day in a nutshell - now off to bed.Read more