Day 20: El Burgo Ranero - Leon (40 kms)

Super long and tiring day as we are still trying to catch up on our itinerary. We start out at 8 am.  Our first stop is  Relegios at 11 am for coffee, after walking along a gravel track beside a country road. After that comes Mansilla de las Mulas for coffee number two.

We then arrive in Puente Villarente at around 2:30 pm and have a snack at the Bar Casablanca. The owner gives us 2 cups of hot chicken soup as she says we look cold, which we are. A Spaniard  named Tomas starts talking to us and tells us that when he was studying in Valladolid, he knew of a group of Augustinian priests called Filipinos because they were sent to the Philippines and was part of the group of Padre Urdaneta, known to have made maps of the Philippines. He said that the group still exists and that there was even a street called Calle Paseo Filipino there.  One picks up interesting pieces of information in the most unlikely places.  It is great to know a bit of the language.

It feels like forever getting into Leon. We arrive at the outskirts about 6 pm but only arrive in our albergue after an hour and a half traversing their industrial area and busy city streets.  When we are in the main part of the city, I suddenly feel like throwing up. It may have been the weird combinations of food that I ate, or it  may have been that I was not hydrated enough or maybe I was just too plain exhausted. I throw up everything I had eaten that day beside some trash bins on a Leon city street, as my sister looks on aghast -- she later composes herself to try and help me.  By some lucky coincidence, there is a fountain right by there and I am able to wash up after. 

I sit down on a sidewalk bench, call my husband and tearfully tell him how awful I feel.  He comforts and commiserates with me and I feel a lot better.  My sister suggests that we maybe take a taxi if I feel that terrible, and that prompts me to get up and force myself to start walking -- I want to do the entire way on foot.

Thankfully, it is maybe just less than a kilometer of walking before we find our albergue -- the Albergo Francisco de Asis in Leon.  The hospitalero gives us a 4-bed dorm room with a bathroom to ourselves. It is great. We go out to have some tapas and a pint of Mahou beer for dinner though I can hardly eat. I take 2 Alvedon tablets and sleep much better.

Leaving El Burgo Ranero, a nice early morning light

Mansilla de las Mulas

   

 

At the approach to Leon -- a bit dismayed at the sight of a big city and clogged streets

 

Leon

Tapas

Day 19: Teradillo de las Templarios - El Burgo Ranero (30 kms)

We tarry a bit as it looks so cold, windy and dreary outside.  At 9 am, after a coffee and some cakes, we brace ourselves and walk out into the driving rain. It is not as cold as yesterday but still cold at about 8 degrees. After an hour, we reach the next town, Moratinos, but all the cafes are closed. We walk another hour to reach San Nicolas del Real Camino where we have a real breakfast-- eggs and chorizo, pork chops and salad, and cafe. We start walking again after an hour together with 4 other pilgrims -- Georg, Kathryn, Wiebke from Germany and Mary from Ireland.  They keep a nice steady pace as the wind whips their rain ponchos.  The rain intensifies and we try to get some meager shelter under some church eaves.  Finally, the rain stops but the wind continues to blow against our faces.

We arrive in Sahagun at 12:30 noon. It is the halfway point of the Camino. From here, the Way forks into 2 routes at Calzada del Coto, about 4 kms out of Sahagun.  The left route goes through Bercianos del Camino and El Burgo Ranero and is a gravel path that passes mostly beside a road.  They say that the right route passes through a more pleasant, greener route, via Calzadilla de los Hermanillos, but I am not sure that there are albergues open there.  We decide to go on the left route. 

We first pass Berciano del Real Camino and stop to eat a ham and cheese bocadillo and a cola.  Later, we encounter Matthew, an Australian based in London, on the road and chat about all sorts of things, including the European economy, politics and so on.  We eventually reach El Burgo Ranero at around 5:30, after 8 and a half hours of walking and 2 food stops.

Here we stay at the municipal albergue, Domenico Laffi, a donativo. It is quite pleasant sitting in front of their wood stove fire. Dinner is across the street, and here we meet the 5 American walking friends yet again.  They plan to take the bus to Leon tomorrow-- our planned walking stage for tomorrow.  

Efren, the ebullient hospitalero from Bilbao, talks with us a bit at the albergue living area as we warm up before the wood stove before sleeping. He is very nice and tells us that the Camino del Norte is a very beautiful way but that it is better to pass there during the months of June, July, August, September.

Jacques de Molay is a famous knight templar -- from the Wikipedia, "[Jacques de Molay] was the 23rd and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, leading the Order from 20 April 1292 until it was dissolved by order of Pope Clement V in 1307"

Sun, wind and rain -- all together now...

Refugees against the rain -- sheltering under church eaves

In Sahagun, midpoint of the Camino according to this marker

Rest stop

 

Fork on the road -- via Bercianos del Real Camino or Calzadilla de los Hermanillos

  

The Way beside a country road

 

Cruzeiro at the entrance to El Burgo Ranero