Our earliest departure yet from a large town after a rest day. We walked out of our gorgeous 4-Star hotel at 9.30am, to walk across town and then spend most of the day walking alongside the N120. This road seems to be a major east-west road which we often walk beside, and cross several times a day, always a scary occurrence with cars and trucks approaching us from the ‘wrong’ side of the road. I always have to take several seconds to get my bearings and remind myself which way the traffic is going before I step onto the road.
We had a couple of stops on the way out of Leon, popping in to a bar so I could boost my caffeine levels, and a couple of $2 shops (called ‘Bazaars’ here and usually run by Asians) in search of rubber thongs for us both which we found in our sizes at the second Bazaar we tried. Our foot problems continue, although we both seem to be relatively free of tendonitis. Greg has sore toes, and I have a whopping great blister on one heel. I performed a minor operation on it as soon as we got into Leon to drain it, but to my intense annoyance, the fluid reaccumulated. So I have decided to just leave it along and keep it covered. It’s a bit squeezy in my boot with 2 pairs of socks, several layers of dressings and sticking plaster and the blister itself, but we still managed 27.5kms today, so we’re doing okay.
We had intended to only walk 22kms today, to ease ourselves back into ‘pilgrim mode’ after our day off yesterday. I think we probably still walked 7kms or so, just doing the usual stuff we do in large towns when we stop there (er, shop, eat and visit places of local interest). However when we got to our intended destination, the hostel we tried was full, so we decided to just keep walking to the next town. Wow, how quickly things change – if that had happened a couple of weeks ago, I probably would have had a hissy fit and melted in a puddle on the floor. It means we don’t walk so far tomorrow, so it’s all good.
Camino Guide markers in Leon. What a bad idea!. These markers stick above the pavement level, so they are a trip hazard. How many little old ladies have broken their hips on these?
San Marcos Pilgrim Hospital - now converted into a 5 star hotel
Walking along the N-120 at La Virgin del Camino
Hi Judy,
I hear you with crossing roads in Europe. It’s impossible to over-ride the innate habit of looking to the right first for us Australians. We are in Ypres, Belgium today and went to visit the grave belonging to the digger tha tbrought me my 5 minutes of TV fame. A very moving day.
Hope you’re enjoying your ‘stroll’.
Kelly
x
Hey Kelly, lovely to hear from you! I have been thinking of you all and wondering how your trip is going. Bet you were all pleased to see each other again. Enjoy your travels … yes, we’re enjoying our ‘stroll’. Judy x
Pilgrim friends of ours stayed the night in that hotel. We met them there for breakfast in the hotel restaurant the next morning. Had a fantastic breakfast with several glasses of cava. They said they’d put it on their bill and we would fix them up. But the hotel didn’t charge them for us so our best free meal in Spain.
We had dinner at the hotel restaurant on the plaza last night Barbara. I had lamb sweetbreads – yum! That was my best meal in Spain, although it wasn’t free.
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