Day 24

Yesterday we caught a taxi to the outskirts of Leon and hit the trail again, it was great to be back walking in the countryside. Many pilgrims take this option to avoid the unpleasant walk through busy city streets and industrial areas. People we have spoken to who did walk out of Leon said they wished they hadn't and in hindsight should have taken the bus or taxi.  John Brierley's guide book even recommends this option.

We've had two relatively short walking days of about 17km each with another one coming up tomorrow.  The John Brierley guide book breaks the walk up into sections which can be up to 36km long, too far for us to walk in a day, therefore we sometimes take two days to complete a section.  At this stage of the Camino, villages are not as frequent as the earlier stages, therefore we need to plan the days walk and overnight accommodation around this.  For instance we would prefer to walk 20km per day, however if there is a village at 17km and no other village for another 13km, then we must stay in the first village, as 30km is too far for us to walk in one stretch.

Many people attempt to follow this guide religiously, however we find it more enjoyable to do shorter days allowing time to rest and investigate things along the way.  We are seeing many walking wounded pilgrims at this stage, most have blisters, some severe, and I can only surmise that the reason our feet are still in relative good shape is due to the fact that we are walking the shorter daily distances.  

Another factor that has saved our feet is due to less weight in our packs.  Several days ago, in Sahagun, a town prior to the worst section of the Roman road, we posted some of our gear on to Santiago.  We had used our sleeping bags only twice and we were well over half way, so decided they could go.  Also one set of clothes each, we've found two sets to be sufficient, as well as our lightweight fold up umbrellas (what were we thinking when we packed those, although they were very handy in Paris).  Altogether we lost approximately 1.8kg each.  That may not sound like much but it's certainly noticeable after a long days walk.

Last night we stayed in an alburgue, albiet in a private room with bathroom, in the town of Vilar de Mazarife.  On the outside wall of this building was a plaque that read 296km to Santiago, which means we are almost two thirds of the way there!  Yeah!

Today the weather has turned cool and snow capped mountains again came into view on the horizon. We are in the village of Hospital de Orbigo which has one of the longest and best preserved medieval bridges in Spain, dating from the 13th century, an amazing sight as it came into view as we entered town.

Tomorrow we walk to Astorga, finally leaving behind the flat terrain of the Meseta.  After more than a week of walking on roads; bitumen, gravel and Roman, we're hoping the trail becomes more track like as we head towards Montes de Leon, where we will reach the highest point of our treck.  Challenging days ahead!