Overnight - Hotel Spa Paris
Happy St James’ Day from the Camino!
Evidently, today is a national holiday in honour of the patron saint of Spain and there's probably bedlam in Santiago right now with hordes of pilgrims scheduling their arrival for this day - even if they only started a few days ago.
And in keeping with the spirit of national holidays everywhere, I had a big sleep in this morning before the short stroll into Leon and my day off. I stopped for some tortillas and tea about 5 kilometres in, after just sauntering slowly along an increasingly urbanized pathway. In some ways, today is like yesterday's final stage of Le Tour - short, essentially meaningless, and presenting no challenges, but it's got to be done. (For the record, Froome won his third with gallant Aussie Richie Porte in fifth place, about 4 minutes back.) Albeit there were a couple of nice inclines on the outskirts of Leon which I powered up. I'm not sure what it is whenever I see a hill over here - I just get this urge to dig in and get the heart racing all the way to the top, where the sweat starts pouring out.
The walk into Leon old town, which is where the cathedral and my hotel are located, was not nearly as soul-destroying as that into Burgos, a town of roughly equal size. And apart from my first sighting of a KFC sign in weeks, it was actually quite pleasant.
The hotel itself is well positioned in a large pedestrian boulevard and the room is all that can be expected. There is free use of their spa and breakfast both days is included. I think I made a good choice with this place, although I’ve been wondering over the past few days whether a day off was going to do more harm than good. We'll see how it turns out.
The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around Leon old town, the feature of which is the very impressive cathedral. Just before 8:00pm, I decided to see if it was holding a mass, but was advised at the gate that it closed to the public at 7:30pm.
Just as I was about to re-enter my hotel, I was hailed by a fellow pilgrim from Belgium (Kim) who I'd first met on the trail out of Burgos. She was with another pilgrim, from the Czech Republic (Martina), who I'd also spent a short time with earlier along the way and who seemed to be suffering quite a bit from blisters and other ailments. They were with a local girl they'd met up with who was showing them the sights of Leon. They invited me to join them and the rest of the evening was spent in a whirlwind of beautiful old town bars, munching on tapas and sharing stories - mostly from Sarah, our very knowledgeable and engaging guide. It ended at a bar, soon after 1:00am, where some local musicians were jamming away. A wonderful night. I think I made the right call on the Leon rest day!
Weather - No change
Health - Ditto
Food - Tortilla slices x2 + pot of tea at Arcahueja; Can Coke Zero on way into Leon; Baguettes x2 + frozen yoghurt cup with chocolate while wandering around Leon; Cream cake + pot of tea at Leon bakery café nearby to the hotel; 1 litre chocolate milk; Various mixed tapas as part of evening visits to Leon bars
Expenses - Accommodation - 49.00; Food/Drink - 34.05 Total - 83.05
Walking time - 3 hours (start 8:45am, arrive at accommodation 11:45am)
Brierley distance - 12.0km (total 463.6km)
Daily Steps - approximately 25,000 (my trusty pedometer zeroed at midnight when I was out on the town, so I was unable to get the correct reading. This fairly conservative estimate is based on what I'd seen earlier in the day, and my movements since.)
Total Camino steps - 742,212
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