We slept in this morning until 7:00… then decided to do a test walk from our hotel to the bus station to make sure we knew the way. It took us nearly 3 minutes to make a wrong turn and two more minutes to realize we were lost. But we quickly retraced our steps and got back on track. Better to get off track on a test run in daylight than for real, tomorrow morning at 5:00 am in the dark!
It took us 18 minutes to make the walk, so we’ll plan on 30 tomorrow morning, We got breakfast at Cafeteria Duma then returned to our hotel, stopped at an ATM on the way to recharge our supply of Euros.
Breakfast at Duna’s on the sidewalk, as all tables inside were taken at 8:45.leaving for the return trip to our hotel
Jim took a brief walk to take a few photos of the Catedral and the avenue leading to it from downtown León.
The gothic León Catedralanother viewcloser look at West Entrance and the White VirginAvenue between the Catedral and downtown
Our hotel is actually on the Camino and a few steps from ruins of the old city fortifications that surround much of the older part of the city,
Entrance to our hotel. Each studio apartment is named for a different city. Ours was called “Estocolmo”, Spanish for Stockholm. The apartment next to us was called Oslo.Our hotel, “Lodging Cities- Barahona 7”, on the far right and an opening/old gateway of the city wall is straight ahead behind the green Pharmacy sign.the old city wallmore of the remaining city wall and fortifications to the right more wall and fortifications to the left
Our credentials do not have enough space for all the stamps we will collect by the time we reach Santiago. This is because we spend twice as long to walk the Camino Frances as most pilgrims (50+ days vs 31). And we must have enough spaces for two stamps per day for the final 100 km of the Camino into Santiago. We realized this before leaving home and purchased a second credential to hold all the stamps. To make it all official, so we qualify for the compostela at the end, we visited the Benedictinas Santa María de Carbajal Albergue, which is authorized to officialize our second credentials .
Jim’s original credential initiated in SJPDP.Jim’s second credential issued today in León with additional spaces for all the stamps needed for his compostela.
The afternoon was devoted to cooking and eating our main meal, washing and drying all our dirty clothing and getting organized for our departure at 5:00 tomorrow morning… and getting to bed early as we have a long walk planned for tomorrow.
Another vegetable main meal, cooked in our nice studio apartment. The red drink in the tumbler is gazpacho, commonly found in Spanish grocery stores… it’s delicious and we hope we can find it back home.
This morning the plan was to take the bus from Mansilla de las Mulas to León. We plan to spend tonight and tomorrow night in León before continuing our journey to Santiago.
There is always a bit of anxiety on the Camino when you try something new and wonder if your information/directions/processes are correct. Especially if it might mean extra walking, walking in hot sun or long, unproductive delays. Today we are sitting outside of a bus station that is locked up tight, no one else around and the bus is supposed to arrive in 20 minutes.
“Anxiety hiding” smiles
Then, out of nowhere, another pilgrim walked up, two locals with suitcases and a young guy dressed in a suit carrying a computer. 5 minutes later a bus drives up, opens the door and to Jim’s question, “Leon?”, he responds “si”. Yes!!!
We climbed the steps into the bus, paid 3.60€ for two tickets, found a seat, and 25 minutes later we arrived at the León bus terminal.
Once again on familiar ground (this is our 5th visit to León), we stopped at the kiosk to buy our bus ticket out of León for Friday morning. But the kiosk was not operating and there were no attendants nearby to help, so we walked to a familiar bar (Cafereria Duna) and had breakfast.
Last year we were told at the bus station, that it wasn’t necessary to buy a ticket in advance as you could buy one from the bus driver when we boarded. However, before we began boarding the next day, the driver had all ticket holders (paper or electronic) line up, and non-ticket holders get in line after them. We, fortunately, got the last two seats available on the bus! So, this time we definitely wanted to have a paper ticket in hand.
We found the bus schedule for our Friday morning departure on the internet, while having breakfast at the “Duna”. Our best option was the 6:00 am bus. So, after breakfast we returned to the bus station and purchased our two tickets (7.20€) with the help of an attendant ( the kiosk was still out of operation) and left triumphantly from the terminal… another mission accomplished.
Now, today’s main objective is to checkin to our home base for the next two days. Problem… checkin time is 3:00 pm!! And we completed the bus ticket mission at 9:30. So, with 5 1/2 hours to kill, we decided to use google maps to determine the most direct walking route to our hotel and to do a recon run to get our bearings, refresh our memories of the landmarks of this fascinating city and nail down the precise location of our hotel and walking time from the bus station to the hotel.
found our hotel
Having located our hotel, we found a nice bar a few steps away and stopped for breakfast #2.
Breakfast stop #2 “Cafe-Bar Marbella”
At Bar Marbella, Jim asked the barkeep for the wifi password (contraseña). She said it was “leonmarbella”… and added very proudly that she was from Marbella, Spain. Jim quickly said we thought Marbella was very nice and that we had stayed there in 2017… and ordered our drinks. While she was getting our order, Jim pulled out his photos of our place in Marbella including local scenes, validating his claim. The smiling lady then responded by preparing two slices of tortilla, gratis, to celebrate our new bond.
At a few minutes before noon, we walked the few steps to our hotel and as we were about to start pushing buttons, the door opened, revealing three people: two checking out guests and Ivan, our contact with the hotel. He invited us into his office but revealed that our room was still not likely to be ready until 3:00, but he would call us if he was able to get it ready sooner.
We chatted briefly, getting better acquainted, then left to kill some more time.
The Camino going into historic León, halfway between the Catedral and our hotelA striking building showcasing Gaudi architecture/design on the main walkstreet a few hundred meters from the Catedral.
After spending the next hour exploring our “old” stomping grounds, we decided to go back to the hotel and request waiting on site until our room was ready (to maybe create a more visual sense of urgency).
Jim called and was informed our room would be ready in 5 minutes. The 1:00 sun was beginning to wear us down, even in the shade… as today was on its way to becoming the hottest of the year at 100F. So we stepped up to the hotel door and droopily, relieved, waited 5 long minutes for it to open.
At 1:10 we were in our room, beating the official check-in time by nearly 2 hours, accomplishing our main objective for the day! And it was all we had envisioned for our two day stay in León.
spaciousness, king bed, plenty of well placed electrical outlets, tables, very comfortable seating.a truly full kitchen, including clothes washer and dryer, stovetop and oven… the works.After a few minutes of doing nothing but getting off our feet and chilling (we forgot to mention we have a very good AC unit, too), we opened our packs and retrieved some of our leftover market purchases from yesterday and made delicious bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches on still fresh bread, etc.
We didn’t leave our luxurious new digs for the rest of the day and got to bed early, even after some afternoon napping, and didn’t set an alarm for tomorrow, our day off!
We departed La Perala at daybreak.looking back at the unusual tower of Iglesia de San Salvador.Today’s walk was straight, flat and typical of the photo abovethe double path is perhaps a demonstration of indecisiveness of pilgrims as they walk.someone needs to give this section a trimnearly 5 miles of walking straight and alternating between the gravel path and the infrequently traveled pavementWalking into El Burgo Ranero, a favorite breakfast stop after 5 miles.Enjoying a delicious version of tostadas and homemade preserves.
After a nice break and breakfast, we reached out to our favorite taxi on the Camino, a Tesla driver. We noticed his vehicle being charged as we walked passed his house into Burgo del Ranero, so when our breakfast barkeep phoned him and requested a ride for us, we were elated and jumped aboard when he arrived 10 minutes later.
The ride from El Burgo Ranero took about 15 minutes to skip an 8 mile chunk of Camino that ended at Reliegos. We paid the driver 18€, the best recent investment we’ve made for improving the quality of Camino2023. And off we went to walk the remaining 4.5 miles into Mansilla de las Mulas.Back on the straight, flat path into Mansilla…Upon arriving in Mansilla de las Mulas, we called our hostess, who confirmed that check in time was still at 1:00. So we relaxed and had a hot chocolate and complimentary pound cake then walked into town to locate Casa Mansilla.
We had a nice positive experience at the Mansilla hot chocolate stop. A young Spaniard, Sergio, sitting at the adjacent table heard Jim struggling on the phone conversation with our apartment hostess, trying to clarify when we could checkin and the checkin process. Sergio offered and we accepted for him to take Jim’s phone and continue the conversation for us… his English was very good. He had his own consulting company and he gave us his card, offering to intervene if we needed help with the language on the remainder of the Camino. He lives in Valencia.
Once we nailed down our destination, we did some recon to get our bearings for the day.
Our apartment in Mansilla de las Mulas: Entrance and stairway on ground level and 4 balconies living room(2), kitchen and bedroom on second level.living room, bedroom and kitchen
While waiting to checkin to our apartment we perused the Tuesday fresh market, located across the street, to develop a strategy and menu for our main meal for the day.
As soon as we checked in, we assessed our kitchen capabilities and returned to the market and a nearby grocery to shop. The result was a delicious collection of vegetables prepared by our resident chef, Linda.
vegetable melange prepared by Linda for our main meal. Components purchased from fresh market in square when we arrived: potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, onions, zucchini, carrots, bacon. Accompanied by fresh bread and Ribera del Duero Reserva wine (100% Tempranillo)
The remainder of the day was spent napping, reading and blogging.
Linda passing by the Arco de San Benito on our way out of townCrossing an 18th century bridge over the Cea River. The cross monument marks the point where the Camino de Madrid merges with the Camino Frances. The bridge has its origins in Roman times.Tree lined walking paths passed by a very large athletic park with multiple athletic playing fields and structures.As soon as we left the park the Camino became a gravel path again, parallel to a two lane highway after maneuvering through a series of traffic circles and interchanges linking the national highway (N-120) and the Autovia.The path took us passed many cornfields and was lined with trees that form protection from the afternoon sun.Linda spotted a deer in the field adjacent to the path and Jim snapped it, even though it was pretty far away for clarity. When reviewing our photos for the day, we discovered a second deer near the first but missed when we took the shot.The path was pretty much like this for most of our 6 mile walk after leaving Sahagún.To break the monotony, Linda walked on the parallel paved road to change the walking surface for a while.our first glimpse of La Perala, our Albergue for the day and evening, just outside of Bercianos.A favorite of ours, La Perala is only 6 years old and has a very hospitable staff. At 46€ for a double room with bathroom, its a real value.Our room in La Perala was not only spacious but had two bedside tables rather than one, electric outlets for each bed, an additional table and two chairs, not just one.
We once again renewed a pilgrim acquaintance with Artur, from Leon, France. We have met him so far at Hornillos, Hontanos and now Bercianos. He is walking farther each day than we are, but injured his right shin a couple of days ago and stayed the past two nights recovering at La Perala. As we mentioned before, Artur is 80.
Artur and Jim after our lunch together today
After Jim told everyone he saw today that he was celebrating his 77th birthday, a surprise birthday cake was delivered to our table tonight for dessert, compliments of our gracious hostess.
Interesting new addition to a small rest area in Terradillos de los Templarios the typical scenery for the first few miles of today’s walkour breakfast stop at a popular bar/albergue in San Nicolas del Real del Caminothe bar is filled with memorabilia, photos and interesting collections for the past 100 years+.returning to the path on the way to Sahagún.just couldn’t resist a closeup of these happy plants, adorning the path throughout Camino2023.This marker was on the outskirts of Sahagún, showing that we were leaving the province of Palencia and entering the province of León.This map of the province gives you an idea of what’s ahead of us.
We are at the extreme right side of the above map, in Sahagún. For the next 5 walking days (we will spend 1 rest day in León) we will be leaving the Meseta, with mountains already beginning to appear north of us. We are only about 65 miles south of the Bay of Biscay, part of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.
The following 3 days we will climb into a mountain range, including the highest point of the Camino Frances, then descend into a valley that weaves among the mountains for another couple of days before climbing back into the mountains as we leave the Province of León for the Province of Galícia.
Walking along the nice hedge that separates us from the 2 lane highway going into Sahagún.entering the city of Sahagún, just before crossing railroad tracks into city center, bullfighting arena on our right.our room in Hostal San JuanMain meal for the day on the side walk in Sahagún: Lental soup, spaghetti and shared mixed salad.
Our taxi arrived at 7:30 just outside our hotel in Villalcázar and took us to the edge of Calzadilla de la Cueza. This enabled us to skip a 12 mile section, which we also skipped in 2022 and 2019. Its not a difficult walk, just much longer than we prefer to walk plus, it has no services such as places to eat or drink or use the bathroom.
getting started at Calzadilla de la Cuezaa nice flat path for the first 2 miles along a well hidden secondary road
Shortly after we began to walk, we heard music. It was difficult to tell where it was coming from, but it was very nice tune that stopped briefly, then began again. It sounded like a reed pipe type woodwind instrument… too low a pitch to be a flute.
We stopped periodically, listened, searched the hills around us, but couldn’t determine the source and kept walking.
Finally, the music got stronger and appeared to be coming from the sunflower field ahead of us. We kept walking and spotted a man, still quite a distance from us, standing next to his car, playing a vertically held instrument and facing a large cross.
We’ve seen the cross before when walking this way and believe the cross is near the ruins of the Santa María de las Tiendas, a former monastery and pilgrims hospital.
The cross is near the site of the ruins of Santa María de las Tiendas, a former monastery and pilgrim hospital. A pipist can be seen standing by his car and facing the cross while playing.as close a shot as we could manage without leaving the path and potentially disturbing the pipistA sample of this morning’s musicThe footing was better, especially for Linda and there were almost no vehicles, except an occasional bike, so we walked on the road instead of the gravel path until just before the village of Ledigos.
We stopped for breakfast at a bar in Ledigos then continued on to our destination for the day.
Our first sighting of Albergue Los Templarios Our home for the afternoon and evening.
We’ve stayed here three times before. It’s a very nice albergue and very popular among pilgrims from all over the world. It’s relatively new, has modern private rooms with ensuite bathrooms as well as dormitories. The food is good and washing clothes is very easy and reasonably priced. Our room is 46€. A three course dinner with wine was 13€. A full load of wash was 4€. We opted to hang out our washed clothes on one of many clotheslines available (clothespins included) and the clothes were bone dry an hour later.
We arrived at 10:30 prior to a noon checkin. But we occupied the time by enjoying the green grass, free wifi and shady or in-the-sun seating… whatever your preference. Jim got a jump-start on today’s blog in the sun, while Linda read in the shade on the front porch.
Jim working on blog while waiting for checkin at Albergue Templarios in the village of Terradillos de los Templarios.looking in from the front gate of Albergue Los Templarios
Today was a relatively easy day in all respects.
We renewed our earlier acquaintance with an Australia couple at dinner. He, a veterinarian and she an educator in animal related disciplines . We appear to be “hopscotching” with them, due to their longer walking days and our periodic skipping of sections they are walking (for the first time). So we’ll probably see them again before the end of our respective Caminos.
Jimandi 