Short enjoyable walk into Leon today, then a long walk around the city and its many significant buildings, before finally making our way to our hotel, the Hotel Parador San Marcos.
Just before we reached the Parador, we ran into some American friends who advised us of the train tragedy in Santiago de Compostela today.
In the hotel we have been able to get the full story from the BBC. Absolutely terrible and our thoughts are with the victims.
Today's walk to Leon, but not around Leon, was 17.5km and took 3h16m for an average pace, door to door, of 5.4km/hr.
We set off from Mansilla de las Mulas without breakfast.
Our intent was to have breakfast at our hotel before leaving but it was inedible and the coffee undrinkable. The room was hot and the staff were very bad. A Dutch couple we have spent some time talking with were of the same opinion.
If you are ever in Mansilla de las Mulas, DO NOT stay at the Hotel El Puente.
The Cathedral in Leon is stunning.
Our Hotel, the Hotel Parador San Marcos, lovely.
Our blog today is not long as we want to spend the rest of the day enjoying the city of Leon. Adios.
Day 21.
Only two weeks to go until we walk into Santiago de Compostela.
Another short day of walking was programmed for today and therefore we got up late and did not set off until 8am.
The hotel we stayed in, in El Burgo Ranero, the Piedras Blancas, was difficult to rate. The room was small and hot. The meal was lousy. The owner was grumpy. The waitresses inhospitable. The breakfast better than average.
They did, however, allow us to use their washing machine which, excuse the pun, washed away all their other sins and we actually enjoyed our stay.
Today's walk again ran through grain fields and we got to spend time (while walking) watching the harvester, which bought back memories of my childhood.
There were very few towns along the route today, actually only one, and we had to walk 12.5km to get there.
The walk was worth it though and the coffee, our reward, was great. The place we stopped at was called Piedras Blancas 2 (same as the previous night) and, the waitress was the same as for the previous evenings dinner. And she was still hospitable. Déjà vu.
While enjoying our coffee, we chatted with a Hungarian mother and daughter, now living in Germany, who were bonding on the Camino before the daughter heads off to University later in the year. They got caught last night and had to sleep in the open on the steps of the Church we passed yesterday, the Church of the Virgen de Perales.
The rest of the walk into Mansilla de las Mulas was uneventful and we arrived at the doorsteps of our hotel before noon.
We were hungry and decided to have a lunch before showering.
Lunch was at a restaurant down the street from our hotel called Yokers. We had a very good lunch of Calamari and Paella, washed down with a couple of glasses of Rioja Crianza.
Yokers was very nice and we are back there now writing our blog.
While we at lunch we watched them string banners across the street ready for a festival. We are not sure whether this town is celebrating the festival tonight or tomorrow. We will find out later.
Tomorrow is a short days walk of 18km into Leon.
We will be staying in the Leon Parador Hotel. Just like in the movie!!
The total walk today was 19.1km and we did that in 3h50m as we spent too long over coffees at the mid-point - but who cares! Our average pace today was only 5.0km/hr.
After Leon, our walking days get longer and we have a couple of days of over 30km per day that we are looking forward to.
Hopefully we also start to see some more interesting topography.
We had a great afternoon and evening in Sahagun.
Unfortunately we did not manage to have a siesta to sleep off yesterday's roast lamb lunch but we did sit back and watch "The Way", again. It was fun trying to recognize the places that we have been to up to this point.
Because we had a large late lunch we opted for a modest dinner and purchased a bottle of Rioja Reserva and some bread, cheese and Iberico sausage which we ate in our room.
The room had air-conditioning and therefore we were able to put the shutters down to block out the twilight and had an early night.
We arranged with the owner of the hotel, who was lovely, for an early breakfast at 6:30am.
Fresh orange juice, toast (to which we added our vegemite) and really great coffee. The owner was elated when I told him it was the best coffee that we have had so far in Spain. My reward was another, an extra, cup of coffee.
We then set off on our 18km walk to El Burgo Ranero, leaving Sahagun via the "Del Canto" stone bridge over the Rio Cea.
As we left town, dawn was breaking and we were able to view the change of shift with the sun rising and the moon retiring for the day. This was the best view we had all day.
The rest of the day's scenery was a relatively boring track running parallel to a country road which ran through grain fields.
Today the walking track was hemmed by trees which, although they provided little shade, were pleasant to view.
We stopped at the Church of the Virgen de Perales. We stopped again for coffee at Bercianos del Real Camino. And we stopped again because Vicki had to go water the flowers - must have been too many coffee stops!
With all these stops we only managed a modest average pace of 5.2km for the 17.5km from Sahagun to El Burgo Ranero. The trip took 3h24m.
There is not much to El Burgo Ranero and the only photo op was the church in the centre of town, which is covered with birds nests.
We were fortunate as, as we were entering town, the fish, bread, fruit and vege truck had stopped in the main street. This allowed us to buy some bananas and nectarines. The nectarines here are great!
Our only challenge for the rest of the day is finding something to do so that we do not die of boredom. Maybe another movie dubbed in Spanish.
Tomorrow is another short days walk of 18km to Mansila de las Mulas. The day after that we get to Leon.
The following is a summary of our progress since starting the Camino in St Jean Pied de Port:
We had a long and restful afternoon and evening in Calzadilla de la Cueza.
It was made longer by the fact that the town was tiny, and it was hot, and there was absolutely nothing to do but to (i) read a book, (ii) watch Caminos walk into town and then leave, or (iii) sit in the bar and watch hollywood movies dubbed with Spanish.
As the afternoon was so long we did a little of each of these.
Not many people stayed in Calzadilla de la Cueza but we chatted awhile with some of those that did.
One pair, two grandmothers from Hungary, were walking their third Camino. This time they cycled from Hungary to Geneva and then walked from Geneva. A formidable journey.
The hotel we stayed in was basic but totally adequate and the owner and his staff were absolutely fantastic. Dinner, which was early, at 7:30pm, was great and breakfast was served from 6am, the earliest we have seen in Spain so far.
The fact that breakfast was served from 6am helped in the planning of our day today, as I had to have a Board meeting in the European morning.
This meant we would have had to delay our start until after the Board meeting, or walk early to arrive at our destination mid-morning, prior to the start of the Board meeting.
We were able to do the latter.
Our walk today was 21km and took 3h31m for an average pace, door to door, of 6.0km/hr. This is a record average pace for us.
The walk was more interesting than previous days as we had the transition from moon-light to day-break to morning sun. We also had a change in scenery and the track was a winding track up numerous hills and around numerous valleys.
Having arrived in Sahagun by 10am, we completed the Board meeting and got changed with plenty of time left before siesta time to visit the town and its numerous notable buildings.
We also had the opportunity to great many Caminos that we knew who were walking on from Sahagun to the next town and where only half way through their day's 20-25km walk.
Sahagun has many wonderful buildings and a bustling city centre. The city is not one of the normal Camino stops but, if you do the Camino, we recommend that you schedule an overnight stay here.
The hotel we are staying at is in the main plaza and is so small that, at first, we walked straight passed it.
The hotel though is very nice with a good sized room, great coffee downstairs, and a very good restaurant.
We normally have a simple lunch but today we opted to order from the restaurant menu.
We had a shared salad followed by a shared cuarto lachazo asado (roasted quarter suckling lamb) all washed down with two glasses of Crianza and a bottle of agua con gas.
Absolutely fantastic.
We have now had enough meet for a week and when we finish the blog intend to start sleeping it off.
Tomorrow, we start the five leg of our Camino, which comprises three short days of walking from Sahagun to Leon.
Tomorrow's walk is only 18km, followed by 22km on Wednesday and 18km on Thursday.
Many of the Caminos that we have talked to are planning on staying an extra day at Leon but we will push on.
We had a lovely afternoon in Carrion de los Condes yesterday afternoon and evening.
We spent the time wondering around the town and then spent the an hour or so drinking beer with a couple of Germans.
We then walked for awhile along the Rio Carrion which separates the town of Carrion de los Condes from the Hotel Monasterio de San Zoilo.
Many families were out playing, swimming and picnicking.
Dinner at the Monasterio did not start until 9pm and was, again, a typical pilgrims meal. Once again we upgraded our wine to something better.
Over dinner we chatted with a Dutchman, Marcel, a history teacher, who was riding from the Netherlands to Santiago de Compostela averaging around 100km per day.
Breakfast at the Monasterio was not scheduled to start until 8:30am and since it was Sunday and we only had a short walk of 16km today to Calzadilla de la Cueza, we decided to sleep in and have a late breakfast. The late start was nice.
Like yesterday, the walk to Calzadilla de la Cueza was flat, straight, dry and boring. Nothing but grain fields punctuated by the occasional tree, sunflower field or irrigated corn field.
The previous afternoon we purchased fruit and at the half-way point, where there was a caravan selling drinks under the shade of some trees, we stopped and had a picnic. This served to break the monotony of the walk.
We walked and chatted for awhile with a young German Uni student who walked at the same pace as us, but he continued when we stopped for our picnic.
Although we saw many others on the road, they were generally walking at a slower pace which made it difficult to walk with them and chat.
A lot of walkers today also set off earlier as they were continuing on to the next milestone at Terradillos de Templarios, another 10km down the road.
We are staying in a country hotel in Calzadilla de la Cueza, the Hotel Real Camino.
The hotel is homely but the rooms are small and, unless we have a breeze later, will be a little airless.
We have not eaten yet but the food in the hotel looks (and smells) appetizing.
The walk to Calzadilla de la Cueza today was only 16.2km and took 3h03m for an average pace including our picnic stop of 5.3km/hr. A good restful Sunday pace.
Importantly today, we are now past the half way point. We have walked 389km in the last 17 days and have 386km left to go in the next 17 days.
Today was scheduled to be a short walk of 19km and therefore we stayed in Fromista for breakfast at our hotel.
I have been able to refine my Spanish sufficiently that I now get my coffee exactly the way I want it. Today my coffee was perfect. Best in Spain so far.
The hotel / restaurant that we stayed in last night turned out to be better than our first impressions.
The bed was quite comfortable and although the room was warm at first, it cooled down during the night.
Our dinner at the hotel was a typical pilgrims menu but we did upgrade the complimentary bottle of wine to a bottle of 2008 Montecillo Crianza, which was quite nice.
The only grief that we had with the hotel is that they seemed to have a double standard. First class and prompt service for locals and something else for visitors.
Anyway, on to our walk.
It was dead boring.
A long straight walk alongside a relatively flat country road.
The view in front of us, or behind us, or to the side of us, was the same all day.
There were a couple of towns along the way to break the journey.
The first town, which looked the most inviting, had a bunch of party goers who were drinking at 8am. Not sure if this was a continuation of the night before or whether they had just started for the day. They invited us to get involved. A few pilgrims did but we opted not to.
The second town did not look open for business and neither did the third.
We therefore decided at the third town to get a coke from a machine. Immediately after we did this we found a cafe open for business. Too late - keep on walking.
As a result of the boring walk, and lack of inviting towns to stay in, we had very little stops today and made a good pace. We completed the 18.5km in 3h07m for an average pace, door to door, of 5.9km/hr. A new record for us, which may be hard for us to better.
Carrion de los Condes is a larger town and is very nice.
Once we got to town, we wondered around for awhile looking at shops and buildings and then had a hamburger. Our first hamburger for a couple of weeks. It was OK but not flash.
We then went in search of our hotel, which is on the other side of the river Carrion, outside of town.
The Hotel Monasterio San Zoilo is housed inside a modified Monastery.
It is lovely and our room is quite large. The walls are very thick and the temperature in the building is perfect.
As we were arrived at the hotel, we found a large number of people dressed in the finery also arriving for a wedding. We felt a little under-dressed!!
We look forward to exploring the town and monastery further this afternoon.
