Walked Today: 4.1 mi / Camino2022: 204 mi.
The rain had stopped when we left our room and walked through one of the Manzilla de Las Mulas gates this morning, then rejoined the Camino.
The path ran parallel to a busy road and shortly became the shoulder of the busy road. Our plan today was to walk to the next village, Puente de Villarente, then get a taxi or bus into Leon. The path into Leon is not very interesting with multiple road crossings, industrial and highways, none adding much to the experience, so it seemed like a good section to skip.
A half mile short of our destination, we spotted a bus stop, occupied by two pilgrims. Jim walked over to them an inquired about the bus schedule. They replied, “the bus to Leon arrives in 10 minutes.
So, opportunistic pilgrims that we are, we joined our fellow opportunists and boarded the bus …
…and enjoyed our 15 minute ride into Leon (1.45€ each).
Walking into Leon (and out) has never been much fun but walking in and around the center of Leon is a pure delight. We really love this place.
We walked the 3/4 mile from the bus station to our hotel, grabbing breakfast along the the way. Our room was ready and we checked in immediately.
First item on the agenda was to go to Valor, a restaurant specializing in churros, Linda’s favorite. We also added some tasty sandwiches and called it lunch.
We chatted with two charming ladies from Holland who were with a group touring northern Spain. One of the ladies had walked the Camino 25 years ago.
We stretched out lunch with people-watching from our lunch table, then walked around re-famiarizing ourselves with landmarks and getting re-oriented after a 3 year absence.
The rest of the afternoon and evening included making reservations for the next few weeks, settling into our “habitación” for our two day stay in a most favorite Camino location.
We’re taking a break tomorrow, so no advancing on Camino2022, but we’ll give a brief report on whatever mischief we got into on one of our rare “days off” when walking the Camino.
Jimandi 