Time for a break....: Day 49 – 27/05/2013

Calzadila de la Cueza - Leon

85.2km, 4hrs 56mins, 609m total climb

We both were awoken by the keenest of pelerins, scuttling around loudly at 5,30am, despite 6.30 being the official earliest start they are allowed. This lively pelegrino who must have had too much sleep also had a several thousand candle power LED head torch attached to himself that flashed around as he courteously but noisily went about his morning bathroom business and packed his bags. It was like sleeping right outside a light house. I guess it didn’t help I was the first bed beside the bathroom door. As soon as he was gone we pulled the pillows over our heads and tried to sleep past the next rush of excited walkers departing. Once almost all were gone, we got up, expecting it to be well past 8. It was ten past seven. They are keen. We took a picture when only us and one other pelerin remained in the dorm room.

We rolled out before 8am in the end, without any breakfast, looking for the next café that did bacon and eggs, something we had been craving. We found one after about 15km and had a big plate of thick bacon, deep fried eggs and potatoes each with two coffees (they were quite small), but spent 20 Euros in the process. It was worth it.

Despite the indifferent sleep we had, we both felt quite strong and it was another flattish day ahead. Johanna eventually suffered, saying that her sleep must have been more broken than she first imagined, but she still did very well.

We routed onto a few metres of the unsealed pilgrim’s path after a while, then found ourselves on an old road that must have been the main road before the motorway was in place. The whole thing was now devoted to the Camino, a very safe place to walk. There were quite a few other cyclists as well, and we also passed the French trio on their mountain bikes that we had spoken to the night before.

We stopped for a convenience break at a café in the middle of nowhere on this road, to have a coke and basically use the toilet. Whilst we we there two young Spanish guys rolled up looking like they were doing the tour de France with all the gear, no luggage and two expensive mountain bikes. We said hello and things and then as we were leaving they were nice enough to give us advice about the road we should follow from there. They left seconds behind us but never caught us up all day, despite always being somewhere visibly just behind us. Keep trying fellas.

We got to Leon, and headed for the campsite on the GPS. The roads into Leon were not good, technically a-roads, but much more like motorways. Johanna was beginning to tire as we headed away from Leon towards the campsite. We got 1km away from the campsite and were confronted by a 100m steep hill, plus we were nowhere near the actual town and we did want to visit, so we turned around and headed for the city, to find a hotel instead. We searched the wonderful GPS and found an apartment hotel.

We got buzzed in and Johanna spoke to a very nice old guy who offered us an absolutely huge 3 room apartment for 50 Euros, also 5 mins walk from the city and 2 mins walk from a massive Carrefour shopping market. We took it. It was still quite early thanks to the pelerin style 8am start.

We went shopping for food in Carrefour. So cheap. We bought loads of food, and some 2-for-1 pies and salad and headed back to the apartment for an awesomely satisfying and budget meal. Then we dragged our weary bodies back out and had a good look around the city for a few hours. Nice place. The weather was great and we enjoyed sitting in the town squares and just watching people milling about.

We went to find the number one tapas venue in Leon as recommended by tripadvisor, but it was closed for some reason, so we deliberated about dinner and decided to walk back to Carrefour and get a load of fresh fruit and have a salad instead as we weren't even that hungry and probably needed the vitamins. It was really nice to have all the space inside the apartment and a nice big bathroom.

We decided to push on until we got to Santiago, no more breaks, and quite long days. The weather was finally getting better! :)

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1354056