Day: June 20, 2026

Day 25 – Bercianos del Camino to León

Walked today: 7.2 mi. Camino’26: 169 mi.

Today was a very busy one. Just before the alarm went off at 5:30, Linda was awakened by a severe thunderstorm. (Jim usually sleeps through thunderstorms!). We proceeded with our plan to start walking at 6:00, ignoring the potential glitch in our plan to walk from Bercianos to Rancho Ranero, a distance of 5 miles.

All decked out in rain gear, defying Mother Nature to interfere, we walked out of La Perala in the dark in what we hoped was a diminishing shower. (Rain wasn’t in any of the forecasts when we went to bed last night.)

Walking through Bercianos at first light with a mere drizzle.
Leaving Bercianos, ignoring the light rain and hoping for the best.
With one half mile behind us, Linda was contemplating removing rain gear.
In spite of a very angry sky behind us, the rain was all but stopped.

We walked nearly 4 miles not mentioning “rain”, occasionally looking over our shoulder and pretending the heavens were not about to open upon us. The wind began to pick up, a few big drops stung our bare arms and Linda panicked, quickly donning her rain gear again.

Linda prepared for the worse.

Jim, however, decided the best way to deal with the seemingly imminent deluge, was to ignore it, so he continued walking without putting his poncho back on.

As we walked into Rancho Ranero, Linda was still ready for the worse inspite of a cold wind but no more raindrops.

We stopped at a traditional breakfast place, La Costa del Adobe, for our 9th visit. That’s 8 camino breakfasts and a delicious dinner in 2014, when we stayed in a nearby albergue with lousy food.

La Costa del Adobe
Our usual breakfast.
The Adobe owners and operators. Mari Adobe is the “boss” based on her husband’s claims this morning and Mari responded with a confirming wink.

As we were finishing breakfast, Jim asked Mari to please call a taxi for us. She did and said he would arrive in 20 minutes. Jim had been eyeing a portion of yogurt topped with strawberries on the counter all through breakfast, so Linda and I shared it while we waited for the taxi and both agreed it was the best tasting food item so far for Camino 2026.

The taxi arrived and took us along the camino for 18km (11 miles) to Mansilla de las Mulas and delivered us to the bus station. We waited 12 minutes and the bus arrived. We boarded the bus, paid the driver the fare (€2 each) and relaxed for the 20km (12 miles) ride to the León Estacion de Autobus.

Before leaving the León bus station we purchased 2 tickets to Hospital de Orbigo for tomorrow morning.

We then walked to the nearby train station and purchased 2 train tickets from Santiago Compostela to Madrid for July 12.

We walked toward our apartment in León, stopping at Cafe Duma for at least our 10th time for a Zuma Naranja and shared a tortilla to rebuild our stamina for the remaining walk.

OJ and tortilla at Cafe Duma
Ready for the rest of today’s walk.

We walked on the bridge over the Río Bernesga and into León (pop. 150,000)

Crossing the bridge into León
Humongous, picturesque park along the river.
After the first traffic circle the main street in León is essentially a walk-street going all the way to the Catedral.
We stayed at the Hotel Alfonso V (on the left and on the circle) during our first camino in 2014.
This Gaudi design building, Casa de Botines (1893), has served as a department store and currently a bank.
The León Catedral, started in 1205, took only 100 years to complete. We’ve visited it on previous caminos and particularly enjoyed the impressive stained glass windows and witnessed an organist practice session. We took a pass today.
Walking back toward the camino and our apartment.
This is walking backwards on the camino, as it enters Leon and passes through a section of the city fortifications (beginning with the Romans) on Linda’s left,
Looking back at the still- standing ancient walls at the Puerta Moneda,
Linda at the door of our apartment on Calle Barahona, the camino and the city wall at her back.
Our room (suite), Estocolmo, at Lodging City-Barahona7
Each of the suites is named for a European city. Estocolmo is Spanish for Stockholm, Sweden.

After we checked in to our suite, this busy day became routine again and around 2:00 we walked 2 blocks to a favorite eatery frequented by local families, especially on weekends. We discovered it two caminos ago and are becoming recognizable by the Tranches staff.

We ordered from the menu of the day but the highlight of the meal was dessert. Jim’s dark chocolate mousse was tasty. Linda’s lemon creme was extraordinary.

Lemon creme for Linda, chocolate mousse for Jim.

We accomplished a lot today and are continuing to get stronger as familiar walks seem to be less of a physical challenge than on previous caminos.

With the meseta behind us, the camino will take on a different look and new experiences in the days ahead.

Linda added this image of what blog writing looks like, at least for these two pilgrims.