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.
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| Steak dinner to celebrate our completion of the Camino |
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