day 43 – draft Wednesday, 18 October 2017 Leon to Hospital de Orbigo

day 43  – draft
Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Leon to Hospital de Orbigo
36 km today - 507 km on Camino Frances – 1,242 km from Le Puy - 277 to Santiago

I rise about 07h30 and cajole the sole receptionist to give me access to the microwave in the kitchen: I would like to cook some porridge. Breakfast is at 08h and I eat only cereals and drink only fruit juice.  It is still dark and I do not want to miss anything on leaving Leon, so I wander around the block for a short while.  Then, as there is a slight drizzle, put on my wet weather gear. This is no more than a poncho (also the ground sheet for my tent) and set off.

The footpaths, gutters and walls at ground level have a never ending set of arrows: I have never felt so confident on leaving any place (except, maybe, for Logrono last year).  After about 100 minutes I pass through La Virgen del Camino and a new cafe bar opposite beckons for loo stop and purchase (so I can use the ‘servicios”.  The weather seems to be clearing, but I keep my poncho on.  And just as well, for not too far down the road the rain becomes quite heavy.  My poncho certainly keeps my upper body dry but extends to just above the knees: so the lower 100 mm (4 inches) of the kilt are wet through and (jumping from one extreme to another) I start to think of hypothermia and isn’t good there are so many around to see me fall.

The 22 km mark comes up about 12h30 and so does another ubiquitous cafe / bar.   Off again about 13h and into good weather.  My kilt is made of thin polyester (but multiple layers) and dried in no time.

I have been walking on the N-120 that started way back in Logrono and has large red distance markers every 10 km from that city.  Today I pass the 310 km and 320 km marks that I see.  I pass through several villages, none remarkable, and through countryside that is hard to distinguish from much which has gone before.

About 16h I detour off towards my destination for today.  The eastern end is not remarkable.  But then ahead I see a bridge. It must be about 100 metres long: the story passed down (as I recall it when writing this) is that a relatively wealthy man was keen to wed a certain local lady.  To show his ardour he built the western end of the bridge over the stream.  No result, so he continues the bridge eastwards.  Alas and alack, still no result.  Oh well, the town got a bridge that was needed.

The first albergue I pass happens to be operated by the Parish, so E 5 for the night.  I go to the supermercado (think two generous bedrooms, while a tienda would be the size of one generous bedroom and stock a much smaller range) and get some food for dinner to cook in the albergue kitchen.  During the meal I meet a young American.  He is widening his experiences in Spain because food and accommodation is cheap, he says.

And so to bed

day 43 bis – draft Tuesday, 17 October 2017 Leon stay put

day 43 bis – draft
Tuesday, 17 October 2017
Leon stay put
00 km today - 471 km on Camino Frances – 1,216 km from Le Puy - 313 to Santiago

About 02h my stomach complains about last nights meal.  And not long after an attack of Delhi Belly takes hold.  The resulting shambles is, luckily, confined to the bathroom.  I breakfast late and lightly and things are reasonably ship shape before I head off about 11h.

I first head to the Cathedral.  For me this is a remarkable structure.  The notes say it was designed and built by French artisans in the French style, started about 1200 and finished (apart from a tower) before 1400.  For me the outside was marginally more pleasant than the inside: I could easily see the flying buttresses (which counteract the outward pressure of the roof from collapsing the massive columns holding the roof up).  Inside the width of the Cathedral was significant but distance (or bays) between the massive columns from back to front seemed relatively puny by comparison.  There were but six bays from the west door to the start of the Sanctuary at the east end.  The Choir occupied the middle two bays and dominates all the visual lines.  But the glory of Leon Cathedral is not the building but the glass.  It is mainly original, surviving  from the 1500s and is marvellous. I am there on an overcast day so the amount of light coming from behind enhances rather than blinds out the colours.  It is just a riot from the first floor level and the next. And as I am at floor level, my puny skills and camera will not do ten justice. You can only experience it for yourself: if you can do book a trip.

In my wanderings I encounter an outdoors shop operated by a man who speaks English and knows his products.  I mislaid some socks way back so buy two pair from him.

Next is the Museum of Leon.  Entrance is E 1 (yes 1).  Over four levels there is pre history, Roman occupation and through to the middle ages and includes  a small segment on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Back to my room to prepare for leaving on Wednesday morning as no further calamities have struck.  I put all my clothes (bar two) in a large outside pocket to make easy access during a stop.  They are well pushed down and will not fall out accidently.  But I cannot find either of my two short sleeved merino tops.  From all viewpoints wearing the only long sleeve merino top for the next fortnight will not work.  So back yo the outdoor shop (just two narrow blocks away) and I get two synthetic replacements.

I do not trust myself to dinner.

And so to bed

day 42 – draft Monday, 16 October 2017 Reliegos to Leon

day 42 – draft
Monday, 16 October 2017
Reliegos to Leon
26 km today - 471 km on Camino Frances – 1,216 km from Le Puy - 313 to Santiago

Again activity starts about 06h.  There was talk last night by some of getting a bus from the village about 6 km further on into Leon.  As I am awake I get up, do my toilette, get dressed, put stuff in my pack and sit on a couch in a nearby common area to catch up on the days news: I want to get away about 07h30, still an hour before sunrise.

I am off just after 07h30 walking on the road, rather than the close by “official” path, and arrive at Mansilla de las Mulas just before 09h.  This is not long after sunrise and, while lots of cars are coming and going it seems the town is still in a somnolent state.  I, too, have decided to catch the bus for the 20 km to Leon.  This will use up the 20 km credit left over from walking the 30 km Burgos to Hontanas once last year and once this year.  (I used 10 km when I bused from Viana to Logrono in the first week).  The streets of the town are narrow and no shop are open and get as far as the bridge out of town towards Leon.  Under a portico I see a solitary man and think he is waiting for a ride: I do not see a bus stop.  I return up another narrow street and notice some activity in the distant interior: a door yields and I go inside.  It is a ubiquitous cafe / bar.  “No hablo Espanol.  Estacion autobus” I say to the woman behind the counter.   Back comes, delivered pleasantly enough I can see, a fast torrent of words. I shrug incomprehension and deploy my tablet and open a translatiion app.  She writes “near bridge”, again with a fast torrent of words, and “9.15”.  It is just after 09h10, so I finish my coffee Americano and get moving.  By this time the solitary male has three or four women under the portico and on the opposite side of the road I can now see a sign with the words “Bus Stop”.  I ask one of the women “a Leon” and she nods agreement.  The bus arrives about 09h40.

Just after 10h I am in cafe at the bus station at Leon ordering a cafe Americano and a bocadillo (sandwich) using a longish soft flatish roll and looking at Trivago for a centrally located hotel with user ratings of 8.0 or better.  One, two short blocks from the Cathedral, gets my eye at E 70 and off I head.  They can give me a room with a bath for E 55 including breakfast.

By 11h I am in the cloisters (again on the north side of the Cathedral) heading to the main chapel to say the morning office.  In the main chapel (a large space in its own right, able to seat about 300 I estimate) a priest from an Asian country is saying Mass for a group of about 40.  While not dressed as walkers, I get the impression they are on a pilgrimage together. 

While waiting for the scheduled Mass at 12 noon I say the office and then walk about the cloister and the associated museum.  A very modern addition is a chronology spread over six panels.  First up are the characters from the Hebrew Bible with approximate dates, then the major events in the Christian Bible, followed by events since then, such as the Ecumenical Councils and Saints of note.  The great schism or around 1000 AD is shown in bold and thereafter the events relate predominantly to the Western (Roman) church.  Luther (1517) is mentioned as is Anglican (1549) and other similar events I didn’t particularly note.

Mass at noon is, of course, celebrated in Spanish.  But the structure is the same as in Wellington, whether Anglican or Roman.  I have the order of Mass for each day, including the collects, reading and Gospel, on my tablet and can easily follow.

Back in my hotel room it is time for a long soak and a lie down.

I didn’t have much for dinner last night and no lunch today.  By 18h hours I am hungry and don’t wish to wait nearly three hours until the restaurants open.  Next door to the hotel is Kedabra, offering beer and food:  they show me a table and give me a menu.  Of the six columns of offerings only two are currently on offer so I choose one.  That one needs a cook and he wont be here for 15 minutes: that’s OK, I will wait.  It then turns out they don’t have the main ingredient.  I choose something else: the resulting plate is full to overflowing and I manage all of it.  I pay and go back to my room.

And so to bed