Day: 9 May 2017

Leaving Leon – 310 km to Santiago!

As we left Leon we stopped by the Basilica de San Isadoro, a 11th century Romanesque complex.  The whole thing is worth hours of tour, but of particular note is the altar mayor, a complex of 24 painted panels on the life of the Virgin from 1522.  Also to be noted are the  carved capitals.  The book goes into much greater detail on the rest of the art.  Not to be missed, second only to the cathedral.  But we were on a walking mission, and it took an hour and a half to walk to the edge of Leon itself.

Once again the Camino splits into a scenic route and a quicker one.  We opted for the quicker one, since our pre-booked hotel was on that route.  We could have taken the other one and taxied over.

Unfortunately, the direct route takes the same route as the highway, so again a 20 km day of walking by a highway. Towns along the way were not notable; churches modern, but on old sites.

So at about 2:30 we arrived at the designated hotel. It is an imposing new 3 storey structure on the edge of a large truck stop.  Up the front steps, and the door is locked.  There are a number notices in Spanish plastered around that don’t help at all.  Pressing an intercom button got a response in the usual unintelligible intercom voice, but even more unintelligible  in Spanish.  We finally deciphered that he wanted our name, but providing that didn’t help.  He finally gave up, and buzzed the door open.  The lobby was totally vacant except for our luggage, but there were 20 or so room keys on the counter, accompanied by the same unintelligible  intercom voice.  Just pick a key, maybe?  While we were dealing with that dilemma, a cleaning girl showed up.  She apparently could understand the intercom, as she gave us a key from the selection, and motioned us off.  After prodding, she told us where to get breakfast, and showed us to the room. We seem to be the only people in this huge building, aside from the cleaning girl.  All very unusual, as most Spanish hotels want at least one, and often two, passport details; meticulously noted.  Here we had a room provided by a voice that could have been on the moon.

We wandered over to the designated breakfast place/bar next door.  It defiantly was the truck stop bar portion of the complex, but it appeared to have a dining room as well, apparently entered through the kitchen.  By now it was 4 PM and well into Spanish lunch time so we opted for the meal of the day.  Salad, paella, and excellent grilled fish (and the normal bottle of red) made a great meal.  The bill came to 80€ – $120!  More careful reading of the bill revealed that included the room rate.  The argument then became whether he should get that money from us or our travel organizer.  We paid for the meal only, on the understanding that the travel company would clear it up by morning.  It has all been very unusual.

We are back in our familiar hotel in Leon where Vic recuperated last year.   They recognized us. So easily comes fame.  It goes by the name of O!H.  Not a typo. Go ahead, pronounce THAT for a Spanish taxi driver when your wife is sick.

Sleep last night was difficult, as a group outside the bar across the (very narrow) street had an extremely loud, animated discussion until past 1:30.  Probably they were discussing atomic physics or relative merits of modern art or something.  Was alcohol involved? Very probably.

Building on yesterday’s hike, today was another 19 km day.  I think we are hitting ‘the wall’ sooner, not getting stronger.  What, you think only marathoners can hit a wall?  Slow walkers have walls.

By comparison, Lafitte, a priest that did the pilgrimage in the late 1600s, AVERAGED 40 km a day.  And he had to find his own way (no yellow arrows or maps), find food and lodging (no guidebooks), say mass every day (no comment), and he was carrying his own luggage and probably wearing sandals.  Gives you a lot of respect for medieval pilgrims.

It was a pleasant walking day though – not too hot, and no rain.  Just a bit dreary scenery, with much walking alongside highways and through industrial areas.  We have seen a lot of car dealerships.  Coffee stops were not entirely where we wanted them.  

We saw a couple interesting stork nests, with young at this time of year.  The nests are huge and balanced on building tops, and if they fell down they would cause serious damage.

Leon is familiar enough by now that when we were routed off the Camino by a TV production crew we were able to take back streets straight to the hotel.  Another city conquered.