To Leon

We were up very early the next morning, and eating breakfast.  It surprises me how many people do not eat breakfast before they start out.  We were not the first out of the albergue, but we were on our way by 7:15am.  It was a beautiful morning, and although the first part was next to the main road to Leon, it was not too busy and it felt good.  We made excellent progress, and by 9:30 had covered just over 10km.  We walked up a steep hill into a very small village, and decided that a comfort break would be a good idea.  In the small bar, we met the 2 girls from Portland, Oregon, who we had met 2 nights before.  They had not stopped in Mansilla, but had walked to the next village.  As we were chatting with the barman, he said that a tall Swede had been the only one in his albergue that night - KJ.   What a good decision he had made!  He had not only had a room to himself, but the whole albergue!  Second-guessing yourself is not good, but I rather wish we had listened to that little niggle we had all had about staying in Mansilla.

Anyway, refreshed from coffee and cake, we walked on into Leon.  It was a good walk and at the top of one hill, we stopped as Leon appeared in the valley below.  We followed the Camino shells in the pavement, and walked into the old town and to the albergue run by the Benedictine nuns.  The line was very long when we arrived, but the albergue is large, and then we were greeted by Norman, the Australian who we had met earlier, and who had stayed at Santo Domingo to volunteer as a hospitalero.  It was a pleasant surprise, and we decided to buy a ticket for the evening meal and eat with him.

The domitories here were separated onto males and females, so the boys were in a different room from me.  This was only a problem when I realised that I had both the shower gel and the bar soap.  So I showered and washed my clothes, and then had to wait for the boys to find me and hand them over.

We then went out, got some lunch, booked into a hotel for the following night, walked around, had a drink and visited the cathedral.  It is magnificent.  I really have very few words to describe it that will do it justice, it is breathtaking.  The entry fee includes an audio guide, which explains the architecture, various chapels and the restoration works.  The stained glass windows are stunning, and the boys were both in awe.

We left the cathedral and went back to the albergue to have a rest before dinner and the pilgrim blessing.  Jonathan is having a hard time sleeping, and is very tired.  We went to dinner at 7:45 and Norman joined us just after 8.  As we were chatting after the meal, Jonathan put his head down and literally fell asleep.  Although I tried to persuade him to go to bed, he came to the pilgrim blessing, which started later and went on a little longer that I had anticipated. It was close to 10:30 when we got back, and the boys and I said goodnight and went off to our separate dormitories.  Soon after, the lights went out, and it was time to sleep.