We had dinner last night and breakfast with the ladies from Canada staying at our hotel. They are Natalie from Saskatoon, Maureen from Vancouver, Melony from Calgary, and Denise from Collingwood. Natalie is the catalyst and these ladies have been walking about 200km sections of the Camino from Puy (a total of 1500km when complete) for many years. This year they are going from Carrion de los Condes to O'Cebriero. We had a lovely dinner together in the courtyard of the hotel, which is covered in grape vines loaded with green grapes, and swallows flying about. Very charming. It might not pass inspection, however. We asked Xaviar, the hostelier, if he made wine with the grapes, but he said no.
The ladies know Richard, who we mentioned went on to Leon due to injury, and they informed us that what really did him in was not the original problem he has been coping with all along, but he twisted his ankle while sightseeing in Sahagun on Sunday.
The breakfast was the usual but Xaviar tried his best to make it special, and was very accomodating in fulfilling special requests. He put on a CD of Gregorian Chants which really added to the mood. He had a certificate on the wall attesting to the fact that he walked the Camino himself last year.
The walk out of the town was uncomplicated and as soon as we entered the countryside, we noticed the fog hanging over the fields. This gave the morning a close, quiet feel.
The walk was similar to that of entering Burgos, with increasing traffic as we approached Leon. The walk at first was on a trail near the highway, then a bit of road walking, then on a senda, and finally the hustle of the city. The walk into Leon was on less busy roads than we had entering Burgos.
In fact Brierley, in his guide which is the bible for this walk, was suggesting it might be best to take the bus to Leon because of the danger of walking on busy highways and the trouble following the Way because it was poorly marked. We were very pleasantly surprised to discover that neither were the case.
We met Margie on the way into Leon at the information booth, and hope to run into her later. The group of Canadian woman are staying at the same hotel as we are so we expect to see them later today. We haven't seen Jack et al lately, and we haven't seen the Australian fellow travelling with his brother since Los Arcos, ages ago. The one brother must have gone back to Australia already. Hope all is well with the other fellow. Lynn would love to see him again.
The old city in Leon is quite interesting, with very narrow streets. Despite the fact this is the historic district of town and there seemed to plenty of cash spending tourists on the street, the shops still shut down at 2:00 for siesta.
Summary - a non eventful, boring, but safe from traffic walking day. We expect tomorrow to be busy and interesting as we have a day off in Leon and plan to visit some religious sites and the contemporary art museum.
Distance today - 20km
Distance total - 481.5km
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