Day 22 - Mansilla de las Mulas to Leon

Today is a short day with only 15 km to the albergue at the leading edge of Leon, staying at Albergue Santo Tomas de Canterbury. Our plan is to walk to the Catedral tomorrow, get some fruits at the Saturday market in nearby Plaza Major, have lunch in the area and then catch the train to Santiago de Compostela in the afternoon. A short day is not necessarily easy. Today, we actually got a taste of the hilly terrain beyond Leon. Whether long or short days, the last hour or so is never easy.

Last night at Mansilla de las Mulas turned out to be the toughest sleeping night, which incidentally made our short day today tougher. It was the first really warm night. With loud traffic just outside on a busy street and street lamp shining into the room, we couldn't open wide the window. It was tough for everyone. To make matters worse, people who cannot sleep turned on the cell phones shining on others, making it even worse than the street lamp.

Weather generally is turning warmer. Mornings are not as cold and the afternoon sun is scorching. We are glad that we toughed out our 26 km to Mansilla de las Mulas the day before, otherwise today's last hour would be at 1 pm rather than 11 am.  We are also extremely glad that we have just avoided the upcoming hot weather, it seems. All told, we had no hard raining day during our Camino. We had a few drizzling days and maybe one or two days you may call hot days. So we are so very lucky with the weather.

Compared to three years ago, the trail is the same but the people are all different. We will remember Yoss and Nanette from the Netherlands (we saw them yesterday perhaps for the last time. They are in Leon so you never know), the single Korean young man who passed us everyday about an hour from the start and always seemed to be staying at the same albergue, the New Zealand couple we met coming out of Castrojeriz and staying in sync since, the Indonesian-Dutch gentleman who took one of the better pictures of the 4 of us, the Korean from Mississauga and his friend from Kitchener who seem to be in a bit of dispute (friends don't necessarily make good Camino companions), the hospitalero in Boadilla del Camino who lived in London for a while, the ever-inquisitive Korean woman who commented that I was cooking again every time I did cook, the girl who has been on the Camino starting in England since April and who was unfortunately assigned a bed right next to the only charging station in the room such that everyone had to encroach into her bedside to get their phones, the Taiwanese young couple who always seemed to be bouncing down the road, the group of five who were at our next table trying to decipher the menu in Fromista, the very quiet girl from Hong Kong and the very talkative Health Inspector also from Hong Kong. Such diversity all sharing the same road. But most of all, the hospitaleros who enjoy doing what they do so much. I wrote about the hospitalero in Navarette and the hospitalera in Azofra. Yesterday in Mansilla de las Mulas, the hospitalera tried hard to organize a singing session with the pilgrims gathered in the courtyard for dinner and otherwise relaxing. She is a lively one.

There may or may not be anything interesting to post for essentially a travel day tomorrow.  Thanks to those who follow along our journey. Perhaps some of you may be tempted to go on the Camino yourselves. Buen Camino.

Steak dinner to celebrate our completion of the Camino

Day 21 - Bercianos del Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas

Had an official picture with Yoss and Nanette

The last long day is done. Three weeks went by pretty quickly now that we look back at it. However, it is probably the right time to quit particularly looking at mountain in the distance. Going further means negotiating that terrain.

We tried to learn some Spanish even before our last Camino. But as with any new language, you don't really get it without using it and I haven't been using it. We do know the basic such as Hola, gracias, por favor, cerbeza, cafe con leche, etc. We have enough to get by and definitely not enough to carry a conversation. I did learn enough vocabulary to make reservations on the phone so that helped a lot.

We made good time today arriving at 130 pm. Gigi said we always seemed to arrive at the same time regardless of the distance and start time. Of course that is not true but we always arrived at a comfortable time for the albergue that we picked.

Today is another cooking day with good cooking facility at the municipal albergue. Got a tip for the location of the supermarket and got a packaged chicken to go with frozen rice. Nice and easy. Ice cream bar is 20 cents a piece. Incredible.

Day 20 - Terradillo de Templarios to Bercianos de Camino

Today we are in Bercianos del Camino. This is the last remaining town where we did not have a good handle on the albergue situation. We were at the parrochial albergue 3 years ago. The facilities are ok and the communal dinner was very good. The problem is that they want groups from each country to perform an act for everyone. We don't feel like doing any performance and we can't play hockey or curling for them. So we were trying to find an alternative. Fortunately yesterday when we arrived at Terradillo los Templarios, we saw a little flyer advertising for a new albergue in Bercianos del Carmino. We called to reserve our beds.

Today, a long 23 km later, we arrived in Albergue la Perala. Everything looks familiar, the arrangement of the restaurant, the rooms and the menu and even the location on the albergues just ahead of the town proper. To top it off the hospitalera bears a fair resemblance of the hospitalera we saw yesterday. Makes us wonder about the family business running both albergues.

Perhaps because this is new, there are not many pilgrims staying here. So it is relatively quiet. Not that we mind.

So we are almost at the end, one more day of strenuous walking and an easy day into Leon. We are still seeing familiar faces. The new faces come and are gone mainly because they are fast walkers who caught up to us and then left us behind in no time. People with similar speed are the ones that we see all the time.  Maybe a couple of more days ...

Day 19 - Carrion de los Condes to Terradillo de Templarios

It is like a hare and tortoise race.  I know. It is not a race. We keep running into Yoss and Nanette from the Netherlands. We first met Yoss on the way up the Pyrenees on our first day of the Camino and we had dinner sitting beside each other at Orisson. We parted way and he was going to spend two days in Pamplona so we did not expect to see him again.  Then surprisingly we met up with them again in Burgos just outside the albergue. So obviously he made up a day on us between Pamplona and Burgos. He was staying in Burgos for an extra day so we did not expect to see them again. But today on the way from Carrion de los Condes to Terradillo de Templarios, we saw them again. Once again, they made up a day on us since Burgos. And we happened to have chosen the same albergue. They walk fast and stop in big cities and we walk steady. We might see them one more time in Leon when we arrive and them spending their second day there.

Today was a tough day mentally. Yes, the distance is long with 26 km but really it is because of nothingness for the first 17 km. It is exactly walking on the same road for hours. Finally we reached Ledigos, the town about 3 km before our destination. We passed that and then another unchanging sandy path along the highway all the way through. Just seemed to go on forever particularly when the pace slowed in the 25th and 26th km. I remember I had the exact feeling last time by.

The albergue is in the middle of nowhere so not much choice for anything. Food is reasonable so that is good.

Fish and beef (for real)

Day 18 - Fromista to Carrion de los Condes

Hurry up and wait. It is obviously good to have a bed. It is also good to find an albergue with many beds and have a fully functioning kitchen. We have all of that today after a short day. We had enough time to go grocery shopping for today's lunch and dinner and also tomorrow's breakfast and came back to the albergue to have a late lunch. The fully functioning kitchen is heavily utilized. Everyone, at least it seems, was cooking. First for lunch and then for dinner. It is a fantastic atmosphere sometimes with free food for the next chef. You just have to be patient to wait your turn at the one cooktop. We were hovering in the kitchen at around 4 pm when the late lunches had just finished and the early dinner rush had not begun, just trying to prepare what we can and pre-cook stuff that would take a long time. 

I split from the group today for about 10 km, choosing the more direct route along the highway and the rest of them went the scenic route that is a little longer. After my foot was being doctored yesterday, I just wanted to walk as little as possible on the simplest surface. It is fortunate that today was a short day with mostly flat terrain. And my foot held up.

A Korean was cooking up a storm in the kitchen for lunch, shrimp pasta, and he looked professional and proclaimed this is his life; perhaps he is actually a professional chef. He prepared much more pasta than what the three of them needed and invited people to take some. He also offered people free leftover ingredients and olive oil. Turned out he lives in Mississauga and one of his friends lives in Kitchener. I was introduced to the London branch of building supplies shop, Patene Building Supplies on Wilton Grove, in case I build a new house or need a new roof. Nice.

After a late lunch, we actually managed to have dinner at reasonable time, grabbing an opening in the cooking queue. Winnie checked that our grocery shopping for 3 meals this time and three years ago both averaging about 6€ per person.  We caught the pork chops on sale and got 8 slices for 2.54€, that is about 30 cents a piece. Can't imagine getting that in Canada. Potato, green bean, onion and mushroom to go with the pork chops. Postre was watermelon. Another successful day.

All single beds today, no climbing

Pork chop dinner