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