Category: León

Rest day. Last one.

Scouted the route back to the Camino this morning. I’ll join it tomorrow at this bridge over the Río Bernesga, the Puente de San Marcos …

… which runs off the Plaza de San Marcos. (The tree in flower in the left of the photo is apparently a chestnut.)

The building that is the backdrop to the plaza is a convent called (not unsurprisingly) the Convento de San Marcos. No longer full of nuns – it’s now occupied at one end by a hotel, the other by a museum.

Another view of the Río Bernesga.

The dull and damp weather of the past days has gone. Today is still and mild – warm even in the sun, and the forecast for the coming days is good.

I’ve succumbed and bought trekking poles. Lindell suggested they might help ease the strain on the leg/hip on the hill and mountain sections ahead. I feel slightly old using them – to which some of you might think “Well, now that you mention it …!” – but I’m sure they’ll prove their worth in the days and weeks ahead. They’ll also come in handy for poking dormitory snorers.

Petanca by the river.

Rest day.

Cold gone. Leg much improved; one more rest day will see it right I think. Will head off on the final section of the Camino on Wednesday.

Gaudí’s Casa Botines in Plaza de San Marcelo. Public access is to the ground floor only, which is architecturally unexceptional; offices occupy the upper floors, but they’re off limits so the building’s interior grandeur can’t be fully appreciated.

Features on the roof of a walkway at the side of the cathedral.

Pretty houses in the back lanes.

And a shot of the cathedral from yesterday evening when the sun was out.

Rest day.

A study in still life – early morning at a local café.

Only the last vestiges of my cold remain. Good riddance to it. And the leg is on the improve too – I’m still hobbling a bit, but nowhere near as much as a couple of days ago (or yesterday for that matter). Bearing in mind my friend Manuel’s reminder essentially that I’ll need my leg muscles to be in good shape “when [I] start climbing higher hills in Galicia”, my friend Nettie’s reminder that I have a mortal body and Lindell’s encouragement to recover well, I’ve decided to stay on in León for a couple more days and will now head off on Wednesday morning.

On to other things. I’ve just updated the blog posts through to León to include a link (‘see Map’) to the Garmin route map for each day’s walk. Just click on the word ‘Map’ and the Garmin map will come up.

On-and-off rain in León today, too.

Rest day.

I’ve had a bit of a cold this past week, but it’s on its way out now. (It’s difficult to avoid picking up a bug like that when staying in dormitories.) It didn’t knock me around too much energy wise though, which was good. I did, however, manage to strain the tops of the quad and hamstring muscles in my left leg a couple of days ago – probably from taking longer strides than usual when walking with another peregrino – and that has proved a little more challenging to deal with as it made walking distinctly uncomfortable, especially yesterday. So, a few days off the Camino without a pack and only short wanderings around León will do the body and me the world of good. It’s an elegant, relaxed city to do that in.

Some stats for the journey so far from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to León:
– 468 km*
– 21 walking days, 3 rest days
– 22.3 km per walking day
When I was planning the Caminos, I estimated the total days required based on 5.5 walking days p.w. at 20 km a day and 1.5 rest days p.w. That was just to get an overall walk duration. At this stage that estimate is holding true. 20-25 km a day is proving to be a comfortable distance. The remaining section of the Camino Francés – León to Santiago de Compostela – is 313 km so should take me about 18 days with two rest days. Then there’s a few more days walking the Camino de Finisterre out to the end of the earth aka Cape Finisterre.

Portugal firming up as the post-Caminos destination.

An overcast morning in León, mild but with a little drizzle. View from my 5-star hostel room (a comfortable bright single room, with own bathroom in the Hostal Prada Borges; €84 for three nights).

Will add more photos later when it stops raining.

Well it has been drizzling on and off all morning so a good day to lay low.

Well I never!

All quiet on León streets during siesta time.

* To put that distance into an Australian context, it’s over half way to Sydney via the Hume Hwy from the Melbourne GPO (just past Tarcutta) or, heading to Adelaide via the Western Hwy, just past Bordertown. (I wouldn’t walk to Bordertown though. That name connotes a certain unpleasantness!)