Late Start and „cheating“ a bit

Today I am giving my tortured legs a bit of a rest. I’ll be taking a bus past the industrial outskirts of Leon, which is essentially just a cat and mouse game against trucks and speeding cars on the freeway, and I pre-booked my bunk bed in an albergue to have a little more time to get there and see the town.

Yesterday’s 25 kilometers along the freeway, my boots pounding asphalt more than any other surface, led to slightly more discomfort than I am willing to admit (Mikka is getting old). If I want to make it to Astorga on the 4th and Foncebaddon on the 6th, it’s maybe not a bad idea to start fresher tomorrow.

With Leon I am slowly leaving the Meseta for the hilly final 250 kilometers towards Sarria. O Cebreiro and the Cruz de Ferro lie ahead, both nice day-long inclines to the highest and second highest point of my journey respectively, The landscape will turn green again, oak trees at first, followed by eucalyptus forests as the climate goes from desert to mountainous and then ocean.

I’ll certainly miss the gruff landscape and its equally gruff inhabitants. On the other hand, I can do with a little more shade, temperatures are forecast to soar again.Read more