Mansilla to Leon

The Meseta

We walked into Leon today, mostly traveling next to a busy highway or walking along a dirt road somewhat away from the main highway. This was not a scenic route, and it often felt as though we were only walking it to get to our destination, a feeling I haven’t had so far on the Camino, other than when walking into Burgos, which was really an exercise in tolerance.

Along the way we saw a number of elderly men wandering in erratic patterns in cow pastures. It turns out they were picking mushrooms. We talked to one of the men and he explained what was going on. He described the mushrooms as “bueno.”

picking mushrooms!

We had a recommendation to stay at Hostal San Martin in Leon, but despite having two maps, we could not find it. We asked for directions from a number of different people, and they all directed us in various directions. We ended up staying in another hostal, but the city is crowded for the weekend, and we could only book for one night (we plan to take a rest day in Leon tomorrow). Several other places were booked for tomorrow, including Hostal San Martin, which we finally found. We did finally find another place to stay for tomorrow. Walking around Leon looking for places to stay added another two miles to our day. The shower felt awfully good! 

out for an afternoon sit!

We had Leon-style churros and hot chocolate as a special treat before dinner and then ate at a burger joint replicating a 50’s American burger joint. It was a welcome change from our Spanish fare of the last month.

We will explore Leon more tomorrow during our rest day. Tonight we enjoyed a number of talented street musicians, which added to the ambience.