Day 18 - Villarente to La Virgen del Camino (21.8)

There is a saying among pilgrims to 'lean on The Camino'. I had thought this approach might come in handy today with the much maligned walk through the outskirts of Leon into the old city and out again. But I think this may be a 'Camino myth' which has gained credence over time. Sure, it's hardly the most peaceful or picturesque section, but it was nowhere near what I'd anticipated from all the bad press - and not a patch on the walk into Burgos.

The idea today was to walk to Leon in the morning to arrive by around 12, enjoy a leisurely lunch, preferably in view of the cathedral, tootle around the old city and then make our way less than 10 km out of town to stay in an Albergue attached to a convent. And that's pretty much how it went, other than an unintended detour of about 3 km which came about from too much talking and too little attention paid to the yellow arrows - still walking with the shrink so I blame him entirely.

Though I should say in defence that I've noticed the Spanish are quite literal when giving directions. We realised early on that we hadn't seen a marker for a short while so asked a policeman to direct us to the old city. He gestured the way, with 'Arriba, Aribba' - go on, go on - which would take us back to The Camino. Well that was correct up to a point. What he didn't say - which would have been a little more helpful - was go on, go on but only for about 50 metres and then hang a right and walk for about a kilometre and then you'll be back on The Camino. So about half an hour later we realised we were heading out of the city, so turned back and retraced our steps. It didn't matter - we weren't thinking of walking far today so had time on our side. By the way, the detours are not counted in the distances given for each day.

Making our way through the old city, we settled on an outdoor table at a cafe with a great view of the cathedral and plaza. Knowing we had only another 8 or 9 kms to walk after lunch, we settled in. I had a wonderful dish of calamari and salad, a glass of vino blanca (first ever at lunchtime on The Camino) and finished off with caramel ice cream. Though the walking is hard, the accommodation usually pretty basic and rooms shared with anything from 6 to 36 others, the food and wine are great and the Spanish are masters of hospitality.

After a relaxing lunch and running into a few other pilgrims we'd had dinner with a few nights before, it was time to walk for the afternoon to make it to tonight's Albergue in good time.

I'm running out of time here, as it's almost time for dinner, so will end with a few messages and replies to some 'readers' questions'.

Gemma, good question about the standard of toilets. Most important and something I wondered about particularly as I am travelling through some remote parts and small villages. Well, the standard is excellent. The Spanish hospitaleros seem to pride themselves on offering modern and clean facilities. So big tick there.

Also your query about whether I had come across a spot to place my stone (from my garden) and a place for ceremonial burning of the cards and letters I've brought with me with people's wishes - well, I haven't wanted to part with either my stone or the wishes yet. I suspect this will be in Santiago, though you never know. I'll write more on that tomorrow night.

For Robert - you said to be sure to make the most of the opportunity for free counselling sessions from Bernard the psychiatrist but the truth is that he's doing the talking and I'm the counsellor. His life is far more drama filled than mine and I've identified a few patterns in his choices! He thinks I'm very insightful by the way. And I told him I was going to write this on the blog and he said it was true so that was fair enough.

Special thank you to Marian and Allan for your emails. Sounds like a lovely dinner Pat hosted at 106 with a delicious menu. Happy to see my kitchen getting a proper workout. Pat, the puppies may have wondered what was going on. They've never seen that much activity in the kitchen.

Allan, be assured that the reason my blogs have been shorter lately is that I seem to run out of time, not because you pointed out my word count, so let go of that guilt! As I've been walking with people the past four or five days and seeing other familiar faces at the Albergues, the evenings are more social.

A note on photo below. That's a full moon at 8.15 this morning!

That's it for another day on The Camino. Thanks for reading Love to all. J x