Mansilla de las Mulas to Villar de Mazarife

Day 26 Mansilla de las Mulas to Leon (21kms)



A many-arched bridge



We set out at 8.05am in the cool…wearing our gloves for the first time.  It’s cloudy and barely light as we cross the bridge on to the senda beside the road. Because Leon is a major commercial and industrial centre, the needs of transport supercede the needs of the peregrinos, so much of today’s route is close to major roads.  We can see the ruins of the Celtic town of Lancia on the hillside as the sky lightens and we have our first rest at Villamoros de Mansilla, with another many-arched bridge!

A new freeway is under construction and we pass through an underpass…about 50m long, indicating the width of the new road…then over the Rio Porma before a gentle climb leads into Puente Villarente for a longer rest and John finds a bar selling warm tortilla…our early lunch.  We make a conscious decision each day to have regular rests, drinks and snacks…the old bushwalking mantra of ‘drink before you are thirsty and eat before you are hungry.’ We talk to people who get to the end of the day thirsty and hungry but with no appetite.  Hmmm!

¨¨Traffic¨¨ on the Camino

About 2km along the senda, we leave the main road, and for the next 4kms we follow a minor road, parallel to the main road, but much quieter.  Small villages dot the route from here into the outskirts of Leon. 

Our track notes indicate that, as we approach Leon, there are several places where we must cross very dangerous main roads.  One of these is at the crest of a hill, but we find a very grand pedestrian overpass, obviously built after the notes were written, that takes us across the freeway and we can see the Cathedral in the centre of Leon. 

The way markers are very clear and we follow the yellow arrows through the suburbs and into the city and to our hotel in the Old Quarter, inside what is left of the City Wall.  We meet Jeanette from Melbourne, who we last saw on the road to Uterga a week and a half ago, and Wendy the Kiwi. 

We decide on a French pastry to share for a late afternoon tea from one of the many patisseries, bars, cafes, restaurants etc. around the Cathedral, and later find a Bar selling proper café lattes!  We discover that if one asks for ‘café con leche grande’ (coffee with milk large) then you get a latte in either a glass or a very large cup…yeah!!   The charming young barman gives us ‘favours for you’ as we leave…2 bookmarks with pictures of Leon. 

We pay a visit to the Cathedral, both inside and out.  The interior is all soaring arches, a huge pipe organ with amazing trumpet pipes pointing horizontally, the usual Gothic ornamental choir, and many side chapels with different layouts for different occasions, we imagine.  Restoration is ongoing and there are relics from earlier days eg figures, fonts, stonework etc.

We find a café where we have another coffee while waiting for the witching hour of 7.30pm so we can have dinner, before heading back to the Cathedral for the obligatory night photos of floodlit façade, then home to bed, where we are treated to the antics of Spain at night via a nightclub precinct just outside our window.  We finally work out how to manipulate our shutters, windows and curtains to dull the roar and get to sleep about 1.30am.  Fortunately tomorrow is a rest day!

Leon Cathedral

  Day 27 Rest Day Leon

As a result of our late night, we sleep in till 8.45am, puddle around a bit, discover that today is a public holiday…hence the celebration last night!...and take our laundry to the Albergue at the Santa Maria Monastery where we leave it in the tender loving care of the French lady in charge.

Leon is a big city and just to see all the interesting things and places in the Old Quarter takes some time.  One day is certainly not long enough so we make the decision not to spend too much time inside…rather walk around and experience the sights, sounds, and smells.  Sidewalks and plazas are awash with cafes, buskers, beggars, tourists and locals. 

We will most likely be starting to walk in the dark tomorrow, so we check a short cut to the route before going back to collect the washing, all clean and ready for another few days on the trail.  Lunch today is in an Arab tea house where we have tea and crepes, chosen from an amazing range of both, served by a young lady of Middle Eastern appearance and the crepes are cooked by a young man called Mustafa.

Weir on the river

After putting our feet up for a bit, and accepting that there are no supermarkets or fruit shops open on this public holiday, we wander further afield and find the river…lovely parkland with courts for ball games, areas for skating etc. and lots of people walking along the wide paths.  The river in this section has a number of small weirs to control the flow – one includes a fish ladder – and a Water Authority building which we imagine is in control of the entire system.  We are still on the trail of a panaderia for tomorrow’s bread…there are no villages on our route tomorrow and our track notes say that our destination does not have any services…and finally find some bread in a lolly shop! 

Day 28  Leon to Villar de Mazarife (22kms)

It’s cool but clear and we are ready to walk at 8.15am after a great night’s sleep…back to normal for the good folk of Leon…and in the narrow streets the early morning light hasn’t quite made its way to ground level.  As we turn the corner from our hotel, we find two ladies with their map and torch trying to sort out the way to go.  We help them and they fall in about 50m behind us. 

¨Hobbit¨ houses

It’s excellent walking across the city and the way markers are easy to find as we wend our way through the streets of the old city, along the Wall and down to the river.  Across a medieval bridge (of course!) and into the beautiful gardens surrounding the magnificent Mueso de Leon, once a Monastery and the seat of the powerful religious-military Order of Santiago.  It is covered with shells and has a statue of a tired pilgrim in the forecourt.  The end section of the building is the Hostal San Marcos, a very grand-looking place to stay!

Our ladies stay in touch as we walk out through the suburbs, very pleasant walking with the city just coming to life.  We explain the signage to our ladies and they drop behind again.  The outer suburb of Trobajo del Camino seems to be the place to buy a car, furniture, hardware and building supplies (Bunnings style) and we cross the railway line over a long pedestrian bridge.  Our ladies catch up and we find they are from Estonia and are on their first Camino day.  We leave them to rest and press on to La Virgen del Camino where the guide books say we must pick up supplies for the next couple of days because our destination today has no services.  A great idea except that very little is open – we manage a couple of apples in one small shop – and a couple of bars are also serving breakfast.  We are approached by a local lady who gives us a card each with a religious picture on it as she wishes us “Buen Camino.”

We have a rest at the end of the village and are overtaken by Chantal from Canada (who we haven’t seen for over a week) and her new walking friend, Janos from Hungary.  Much joy as we are greeted and introduced…they walk on while we take off a layer of clothing or two and have a bite to eat.

There are two routes from here to Hospital de Orbigo – the road via Villadangos del Paramo or the scenic route via Villar de Mazarife.  We are taking the scenic route, but many folk opt for the road because it is 6kms  shorter.  Immediately on leaving the junction, the road is a very minor gravel road which leads onto a sealed 3km section which, at Oncina de la Valdoncina, again becomes gravel.  We sit in the bus stop near the font for a rest before continuing through undulating grassland dotted with trees.  Some areas are arable and some obviously not, with remnants of small vineyards and the only signs of life we see is one tractor working in the distance and a few peregrinos.

We have lunch on a park bench in a median strip in the village Chozas de Abajo while being entertained by the comings and goings of a couple of local ladies, the bread delivery man, and another delivery-type van that did the rounds of the village tooting its horn, but never stopping.

Just as we are leaving the village, we meet up with Chantal and Janos again so we walk the final 4kms to Villar de Mazarife with them…and very pleasant it is too!  They come with us to Tio Pepe’s albergue, which is where we are staying, have a beer and a sandwich, (I have a large bottle of sidra!...cider) and then, just after 4.00pm, they decide to move on to Hospital de Orbigo, 14kms further on, and our destination tomorrow. 

We settle in to our  ‘habitation matrimoniale’, along with the remains of my bottle of  sidra, and find we have an electric kettle and the makings for tea and coffee.  We make the most of that and then go on a voyage of discovery around the village.  To our surprise, we find 2 mini-marts selling all the things we had been told were not available, and even a panderia (closed at this time of day.)  We buy some bananas and then continue on to find yet more hobbit houses, one quite grand one with electricity connected and a television antenna attached to the chimney.

While updating our diary we meet Katherine from Canada who we met earlier in Sahagun who is looking for Jeanette from Melbourne.  A young man comes in to use the internet and backup his photos…he has a camera the same as mine and asks if we have a charger.  He leaves his camera with us while we all have dinner and we charge his camera for him.  We have coffee and chat with 4 French, 2 Spanish and the fellow with the camera…also Spanish.

We may have to leave the window closed overnight because the 3 house cats are parked on the roof outside our room.