Leon
It was a short walk today so made it to the outskirts of Leon by 1200 which was good as gave me longer to explore and I was soo looking forward to sitting down and doing nothing for the next day. I left it late not getting on the road till 0800 so those who had stayed in Religaios were already at Mansillas or past it.
The scenery was much the same and in the first part I was beginning to think I was going insane as the only song I had in my head was old mac Donald and the ants go marching after seeing some sheep and ants around. I’m so looking forward to my rest day tomorrow and hopefully a massive shower as I’m beginning to think I smell as had a stupid little fly following me around which I nearly ate a couple of times.
After walking for a bit longer alone I ran into Anna who had been sick the night before and was resting in the shade on the side of the road. I stopped and talked with her for while before we all carried on. We got to the top of the hill just as Erin walked past. Anna decided to stop again so Erin and I carried on into Leon.
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Leon was pretty close only 5Km and you could see the church from the top. We walked through the city which is quite confusing but we just stayed on the path to our accommodation. I checked in and settled in, then about 30 min later Erin messaged to say she couldn’t check in yet so she was going to Burger king for lunch, not the best but I joined her and was nice to just have something basic. We were joined by a different Korean family that Erin had met earlier who were walking. Then spent the rest of the afternoon doing some washing and just relaxed before heading out where I ran into the two Annas’ and some others so we stopped and had a drink before I went to Maddie and Fiona’s for dinner and drinks. Was a great night just having a good laugh telling stories as we hadn’t seen each other for a while.
I had a rest day in Leon, so enjoyed a nice sleep-in and enjoyed a buffet breakfast before heading through town where I had booked a pilgrim massage which was so nice and clearly needed when I was told the lady was worried about me walking tomorrow as she said I had a lot of knots and would be rather sore but so worth it. Turns out a lot of things are shut on Monday so there weren’t a lot of things to do, and I was rather exhausted as much as I wanted to I didn’t have the energy. I caught up with the girls for lunch as this would be our last day together as Erin was heading on a different route to us and then Fiona, Maddie and I would have one more night. It was an amazing lunch we split the meal a salad, pizzas and stuffed mushrooms. The salad was amazing and the first vegetables I've had in a while it had an amazing raspberry dressing so yummy.
I had to check out the Cathedral so decided the evening would be nice when it's a bit cooler and the light isn’t as bright. The architecture is stunning and the stained glassed windows amazing. I didn’t realise the entire structure had to be done and that it was the first cathedral to be designed this way with lighter materials so the stained glass could be placed into the walls rather than the solid walls, but it did mean after time the materials started to deteriorate so they had to try to find someone who could fix it.
I also went to the Gaudi museum which was pretty nice but a lot more reading than things to view I did learn I’ve been to a lot more Gaudi-designed buildings and locations than I knew but once I knew they were designed by him you could definitely see the connection like the mosaic park in Barcelona, which should have been an obvious one.
I started crashing after the museum so grabbed food and headed to bed to try to prep myself for the next day.
