Just arrived in León

Frans and I just checked into our hotel in the beautiful old centre of León. The last 20 km's were pretty uneventful, besides a nice off-road downhill into the city. We had to make our way through the outskirts and were able find our hotel real easily. Google maps on the BlackBerry is our friend.

We had little in the way of pilgrim traffic into León, kind of get the feeling that many may skip it and head straight for the mountains.

For tomorrow we have a fairly easy route planned, as we want to make sure we can take in some of León before we wizz off again.

No doubt we'll have another amazing dinner tonight, already spotted a few places on the way that look like very good candidates.

We are well on our way now. One thing is for sure, from a nature and outdoors perspective the Madrid Camino before Sahagun was much nicer. Let's see how it gets once we head into the mountains of León and Galicia after that.

Now for a much needed shower and quick siesta.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Lunch at Mansilla de las Mulas

We cycled an aggregate 80 Km's today, and have just 20 to go until we will reach León. For the overall trip we have already completed more than half, from here we have another 320 to go until sainthood.

We thought that our Camino was quite tough, until I passed a couple on bicycles just before lunch. One of them had just cycled from The Netherlands, and the other was on his 21st day from Switzerland. OMG.... Impressive stuff, respect.

Another funny occurrence was a father and son on horse-back. The Australian couple we met yesterday had mentioned they met them on way, and indeed after chatting with them they were the same horse people. We had been following hoof tracks along the camino yesterday afternoon and this morning. Now we passed them and we are on the lookout for a supposed Jesus freak who is traveling by donkey and cart. Have not spotted him yet, but there are plenty of crusty unshaven Jesus wannabees along this stretch of the Camino.

More later from León, now for relaxation and a tiny drop of red wine to get the blood flowing again...

Hasta la próxima
Douwe




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In Sahagún for a coffee break

We made it to Sahagún, a cool 40 Km's already behind us today. No rain yet, and a pretty good tail wind made sure we got here relatively quickly.

More importantly, we are now on the most official part, the Camino's of all Camino's. Also known as El Camino Francés. What's striking is that we have already seen more crusties (smelly pilgrims) in the 10 minutes that we got here than the three previous days on the Madrid leg. I am sure my horn will be useful to draw attention and help dodge the odd crusty. Only another 50 or so Km's to go to León, our target for today.

Bread with tomato and olive oil just got put in front of me, so....
Hasta la próxima

Douwe


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We have arrived at Villalón de Campos

We have had an extremely relaxing day today, well... compared to the past couple of days anyway. We arrived in Villalón de Campos, which meant a total trip of some 70 Km's. We got a little lucky as most of the way we were supported by a fairly strong back wind. We did get our fair share of rain, but it did not bother us as much as perhaps the first day. The sky was scattered with rain clouds and both Frans and I thought we could outsmart and bypass this one particularly dark and nasty one. We failed miserably, an consequently got drenched to the bone. We looked for some shelter in an old ruin, something that used to be a church in a small village called Moral de la Reina. As if things were not bad enough, I decided to relieve myself against the ruin. Naturally the rain started coming down even stronger. Such blasphemy. Frans had to change back to his rain gear, but luckily by this time we only had some 15 Km's to go.

The B&B we checked into is out of this world. A complete contrast to last night's "hotel". We were thinking of displaying our new found skills of burping family tunes like "She'll be coming around the mountain.." but we figured our host might not be too impressed.

For those of you that have been a little concerned with yesterday's picture of me, in which I looked exhausted: I am actually doing quite well. See above picture of my freshly shaven face basking in the sun.

On the map you may be able to see where we are. Villalón is just north west of Palencia.

Frans and I are enjoying a wonderful and rich bottle of Ribera de Duero on the terrace and I decided to re-read Catcher in the Rye, but the Spanish translation which I quite like.

Tomorrow we are heading to León, quite looking forward to that as I hear it is an amazing city.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

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We are in Medina de Rioseco

Medina de Rioseco is an amazing and historic old town. The river is far from dry however, must be some sort of myth. The town is known for its old smuggling routes, and the locals look as though smuggling might still be a large source of their income. Ever so friendly and approachable though.

The trail from Peñaflor to Medina went like a dream and I just devoured a slice of fresh tortilla. It is coming up to lunchtime and we decided to hang here and eat. We cycled an aggregate 45 Km already and have another 25 to go to our B&B. We double checked, it is indeed a B&B and not a truck-stop. We hope to be able to have some laundry done and get our well deserved rest.

The bicycle/electronics shop in Medina was well stocked with inner tubes, we bought six of them just so we don't taunt faith too much. Sure enough we will need a few before the much desired finish line.

Now for lunch, let's see if they can serve us something semi healthy. Spaghetti as a first course and Bacalau as a main sound fair enough to me.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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We are in Peñaflor

Heavy rain and very Dutch landscapes swept us to a pueblo called Peñaflor. We are warming up in the local bar chatting with the locals, over a heart-warming carajillo. The bartender just stamped our credentials and gave us his blessing. We are feeling great, have already done 20 Km's and will do another 24 to Medina.

At Medina we will break for lunch and will be on the lookout for the bicycle shop that's supposed to be there. We need to stock up on spare inner tubes as we have only got 1 left. Knowing our luck we need not taunt the almighty too much, you never know what he has in stock for us.

In the village of Wamba we chatted with a couple of Australian pilgrims, more or less our parents age, who are also doing the Madrid camino. It's their third Camino, respect!

At the moment we are chatting with the local farmers, who are hiding out in the local until the rain stops. They need the fields to dry out, such that the immense quantities of barley we just cycled through can be harvested.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Victory, we landed in Simancas

We made it, albeit on our last legs. So arriving in Simancas was a feast, except for discovering that our hotel for the night is actually a truck-stop. The hotel all in all is not that horrid, but it is right on the main freeway to Valladolid and its clientele looks as though they all know how to burp the entire alphabet.

But hell, we have a shower that works, twin beds, a lovely view of the countryside (see picture) and we'll be able to mingle with some real interesting characters.

Tomorrow we have our sights set on Cuenca de Campos, some 65 kilometers from our truck-stop from hell. I think we will have breakfast somewhere on the way.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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