First a short history of Leon…….

The year is 68 Ad. You own a small chariot manufacturing & maintenance company. You hear a rumbling sound and you peer outside. You see hundreds of good looking Italians on horses wearing full battle shields and what appears to be red hair shaped into a Mohawk cut on all of their heads. Upon further inspection, you see someone at the front carrying a sign with the vertical letters SPQR. FEAR enters your heart as you now realize you are gaping at the 7th Roman Legion entering your fair city and you now wonder how you are going to learn the Italian language.

But wait…..you are a chariot maker….now thoughts enter your mind such as: 1. I think I can switch my chariot business from peace time production to war time production. 2. I will need additional capital to do this. 3. I need a new business plan that will convince the greedy bankers. 4. Visions of retro fitting current stock to have side mounted catapult launchers. 5. Visions of  an endless stream of Denaris rolling in.

All kidding aside,  Leon is one beautiful city. It really was home to the Roman 7th and I believe 10th Legions. The Parador, like you have seen in the movie “The Way”, is magnificent and we felt the time was right for a little pampering as we approach our 300 mile mark. Beautiful room, incredible surroundings and a much appreciated day of rest.

We hope that these photos give you an idea of what these Paradors are like.

The Cathedral In Leon

So magnificent. A lady told us that the cathedral has 1500 stained glass windows!  We are definitely coming back here to spend an entire day touring this cathedral

We recently received an Email from Ken. Ken described a very serious operation he is undergoing this morning. He is asking for our prayers for a successful operation & recovery. Godspeed Ken.

Thursdays walk was straight forward. Level, good trail conditions with light rain through the 12 mile walk. Here are some photos taken along the way. This leg took us 7 hours walking time. It took longer because the trail went through the middle of the city. MEET.  HENRY & JEAN FRANCOIS We met Henry & Jean Wednesday evening as we were staying at the same Casa Rural. Each year for the past 3 years. they have walked 5 days on the Camino each time.  They start where they leave off the previous year. They both work and live in France. Henry resides in Metz & Jean Francois in Dijon. They are both married and are great Friends.. They average 25 miles a day for 5 days! They both walk the Camino in memory of Henry’s son Jean Baptiste, who died 2 minutes after birth 8 years ago. Jean Francois travels along with Henry because… well…he is a good friend. We enjoyed having dinner together and meeting them. FRUIT (S) OF THE LOOM! The further west we travel,  the trails seem to be in better shape. The trail for the past 2 days had a covering of decomposed granite. There were water puddles but easy to navigate around. During the previous weeks, rain turned the trail into a mud pit….very difficult to maintain speed and rhythm under those conditions. EMBEDDED. BRONZE PILGRIM SHE’LL TO SHOW THE WAY THROUGH THE CITY

Wednesday,  May 8 This 12 miler was not one of our most memorable. It was 12 miles in a straight line. No large trees, just farmland and wide open land on both sides of the trail. Here is what it looked like.   Notice the puddles. It rained for the first 2 hours.  It was a light steady rain. We wore our 46 Euro dysfunctional ponchos. I didn’t take photos, but visualize this: Angie’s poncho is bright neon orange and mine is bright neon lime……honestly we look like the bumpkins in a Fruit of the Loom ad. I will take photos of these jerky ponchos the next time it rains and then you decide. I want to choke the guy who sold us these bogus rain protectors in St. Jean Pied de Port France. If it wasn’t for the snowing in the Pyrenees,  we would have catapulted these bad boys in a New York minute. You should have seen the looks on the local’s faces when we strolled into town. We didn’t want them to reflect on America or Italy so we started to talk in pig latin whenever we came upon a local. All kidding aside, they did keep us dry……but I ask you….was it worth the price? This is what my boots looked like after 12 miles today:     Our good friend, Kay Dorrough, asked about what we eat on the Camino. For breakfast we eat very light. It’s called a Pilgrim’s breakfast. Cafe con Leche (coffee with milk) , fresh orange juice and toast. 2 Euro out the door…..That is it. Guess that is enough as we have dinner around 8PM.   Lunch varies. Maybe Bogadillos. These are submarine type sandwiches: Salchison, that is salami; Jamon, that is ham like prochiutto, Choriso well that is…….well you really do not want to know. Just eat it…It’s good and spicy. You might want to stockpile it if you like it. It probably will be banned by Bloomberg soon. You can order any of these sandwiches with queso (cheese).

But today we had tortilla. Not what you think. These are potato based. For lunch, potato and eggs. They are formed in the shape of a pie. Here is what they look like:

As luck will have it, tortilla was served for dinner where we stayed in Mansilla. This was different though. It was potato with different vegetables and spices….quite good. Here is what it looked like before slicing:

Dessert was a yogurt and strawberry type sundae. I will save the description of the liquid portion of each meal for another posting.

Tomorrow we head out to Lyon. 13 miles and a lot of it along the highway. We are staying at the Parador National….the same one that was featured in the movie “The Way”

As I mentioned in the previous post, we will take a 1 day rest there before continuing on. I will take time to start answering all the comments you have made and emails. We have read each of them but have been guilty of not responding. Ciao for now.

Mike

Got a late start today. 9:45am desayuno (breakfast for you gringos ). Toured the town for an hour then hit the road. Angie did well on this 11 mile walk. Tomorrow we will start early and do 12 miles. We are 2 days away from Leon. We will take 1 much needed rest day there

Here are some photos of today’s journey.

Here I am in front of yet another statue of a Peregrino. This one was in front of an albergue in Sahagun.

Our friends Larry & Sandy from Wisconsin. They are in a hardware store buying duct tape to put on a “hot spot” on Larry’s foot.

O Here are some of the gifts the Romans left to the good people of Sahagun

Now that we realized  Angie’s  backpack was the cause of her leg & foot healing problems, we took decisive action on Monday. We found out there is a company that will pick up backpacks and deliver them to your next place of lodging. Hooray for JacoTrans! So, we shipped off Angie’s backpack. Wonderful! She completed 14 miles on Monday. Angie has a whole new attitude and she is looking forward to today’s “short” 11 mile walk!

We never realized after 250 miles, that the backpack caused these problems.

Thank you all so much for your comments and concern. We read all the comments each night and they provide the encouragement to go on.

Got to go now and get the backpack to JackoTrans!

Joe with Angie’s Backpack

Those of you following our blog know of Angie’s plight on the Camino. Angie has been devastated. She told me recently “I didn’t train for 1 year to ride a taxi on the Camino.” I felt terrible about this situation.

On Sunday she said she wanted to try the 10 mile walk. Everything went OK for the first 4 miles. Then trouble. Angie could go no farther. With 6 miles ahead of us before the next Pueblo, we were at a remote rest stop next to a farm. We heard a couple speaking English. We introduced ourselves and we told them we are going to stick around and see if things improve. When they saw the problem that Angie was in, Marka said “why don’t you let us take Angie’s backpack?” So there you have it. Joe, Marka’s husband, took Angie’s backpack (see photos). Joe gave Marka his small backpack and Marka gave Angie her small backpack. Angie was now able to complete the day’s journey. At the end of the day we now discovered that the reason Angie was not healing her foot and lower legs was because of the weight of her backpack. You would think that we would have figured this out before!

At the end of the day, we traded backpacks over a glass of wine. This is the spirit of the Camino.

Do you believe in guardian angels? We do! Thank you. Joe & Marka

Marka & Joe reside in Marin, California

We just got back from a beautiful mass at a church called Iglesia de Santa Maria (see photos).Beautiful. Built in the mid 1100s. Following mass, a special benediction was given for us Peregrinos (pilgrims). There were about 25 of us. We were asked to give our names and state where we were from. Angie and I were the only Americans. The priest gave us a blessing and two nuns gave us each a little souvenir for the occasion.

This little pueblo in earlier years was controlled by the Romans. Later by moslems.

Tomorrow Angie says she feels like she can make the walk. This will be a 14 mile one. We will take it slow. She is itching to hit the trail again!

Today I decided to take a taxi to give my feet another day of rest. I said good bye to Mike and he went on to do a 16 mile walk. Maribel, the owner of the hotel, arranged for a taxi to pick me up. While I was waiting I kept thinking about my friend Lynne telling me you never know who you might meet. Well the driver was late and told me the price would be less if I didn’t mind sharing the taxi with 3 other pilgrims. I said OK. I met 2 girls from Germany and a man from I believe from Kansas. The man was doing the Camino with a prosthetic leg. My feet felt much better. This is the Camino.
Angie

See the photo. From the left is Sara then Angie and then John and Maria. This photo was taken in Pamplona.We met Sara the first night at our stay at a hostal in Orisson, France. We went over the Pyrenees together and stayed at another hostal in Roncevalles, Spain. Sara is from Perth, Australia and is a nurse. As an inducement for her new job/position she was given a 5 month paid vacation! And I can tell you she is making good use of it! Prior to the Camino, she was mountain climbing in Nepal. After the Camino she is meeting friends in Italy! …You go girl!……We parted ways in Pamplona. That is just the way it goes on the Camino. You form “Camino Families” as you travel based on friends that speak a common language. But your Camino Family is always changing. Injuries, rest days etc. and your friends are either behind or ahead of you. We lost track of Sara in Pamplona, however we have exchanged text messages recently.

Maria and John we met in Pamplona. They are from the Phoenix area. As a strange coincidence they are friends with the daughter of Jane & Dan Litchfield of Montecito which are good friends of ours! Small world. Indeed! We had such fun together. Especially John & I…..we had a hobby we shared together – drinking fine local wines together!! Sadly, we parted ways in Santos Domingo. Angie & I know that someday we will  see Sara, Maria and John again.