Day 25, Leon to Villar de Mazarife

So, today we were on the road again and it felt like a Monday morning as we set off. We passed Leon’s rather wonderful Parador and then gradually left the splendour of the city behind us as we moved into the suburbs. We stopped for breakfast at a place called La Virgien del Camino which reminded me of Tolworth, with its high street dissected by a dual carriage. I suspected it had been built at a similar time when the car was still a marvellous novelty. We stopped at its parish church, a brutalist building which was surprisingly serene inside and austerely beautiful outside. Its baroque altarpiece really worked in an otherwise plain interior.
From there we took an alternative route which got us away from the road. The landscape was still flat, confirming that we haven’t yet left the Meseta, but at times looked a bit more like England with oak trees scattered through heathland.
The most notable feature of today’s walk was the weather. Our usual mix of cloud and sun had been replaced with full and relentless sunshine. From about 10am it was quite hot and made a relatively easy walk feel harder.
Among the few diversions were a series of ‘hobbit houses’, dwellings built into the hillside to guarantee a cool interior in the baking heat. They are hard to photograph because most of the house is below ground but you can see their chimneys poking up behind the front door. It’s difficult to be sure if anyone is still using them but they certainly don’t look abandoned.
We made good time to our destination, a nice albergue where we have our own room (shared bathroom) and have the promise of a vegetarian meal tonight. After a welcome beer we washed some clothes, found the supermarket and had a lovely hour-long nap. Happy days!
Dinner was veggie paradise - a salad, soup, vegetarian paella and a crepe with strawberries and cream for dessert. All much appreciated. We spoke to a Spanish artist who was travelling from Leon to Finisterre with his 24 year old son, an Australian couple and a Canadian family - a man with his 11 year old daughter, 14 year old son and his brother. It was a very nice evening but I wish I understood Spanish because much of tonight’s conversation was out of my range.Read more