Day 10 El Burgo Ranero to Leon

Day 10 El Burgo Ranero to Leon

24.07 (total 346.93)

Mansilla - pilgrims cross

We knew that today was a short run. We had the luxury of twin rooms. We stopped in bed until 6:10! We also had the advantage of a quick pack up as we hadn’t needed sleeping bags and towels out the night before so, after feasting on toast, marmalade and coffee bought especially for breakfast; we were off by 7:30. It was pan flat roads again and a steady run of 16 miles or so to Mansilla, our next meeting up point, but I managed to lose the route in Reliego’s. I think someone had painted some extra yellow arrows on the road to divert traffic to a bar. We met up in Mansilla and had more breakfast before riding on to Leon. I also passed the two nuns I had met the night before. We said our Buen Caminos and I looked down at my cycle computer to see how far they had walked, and that was 8.5 miles. I reckoned that they had probably set off walking about 5:00 to get where they were.

Leon Cathedral

Malcolm had been talking for a few days about going straight on to Santiago so as we completed the long gentle climb up into Leon, Malcolm said his adios and veered off to follow the N120. The trio remaining rolled down into Leon to find the aubergue which turned out to be very close to the cathedral. As we rolled up to the hostel I again met the two nuns who had booked in before us and wondered just how they had managed to get to Leon before us. We did find out later that they had walked 20k and then caught a bus. We booked into the hostel and I was taken to one side by one of the nuns to ask about my legs. One of the bites had by now turned into a very large blister and all of the others were red and angry. She was concerned that I had picked up bed bugs and was bringing them into this aubergue.

After booking in we set off into town. Lunch was kebabs, and very nice too. We then found that it was siesta time as virtually everything shut down. We did find a bar with lots of horses outside and we think there was a wedding going on. We decided that siesta time should be taken advantage of so we drifted down to the park by the river where we spread out under the shade of a tree. One hour and ten minutes later I woke to find Chris had disappeared (in search of a McDonalds as it happened) and Ricky stirring. We walked back up into town calling at a Farmacie for me to get some cream for my legs, and then a cake shop for coffee and ..... cake.

Local band

The cathedral didn’t disappoint although it was not as spectacular as the cathedral at Burgos. We ate and then decided to go to the mass as the aubergue today was in a convent. Ricky and I went into the church and I was keeping an eye open for Chris when I heard a commotion from outside. It turned out that today was a feast day (most days are, so no surprise there) and there was a group outside with a drummer and a chap playing a clarinet style instrument all accompanied by dancing figures, the figures being some 15/16 feet high. The mass itself was strange in that it was clearly led by the nuns from the convent but a priest was also present as the nuns were unable to undertake some parts of the service. One of the nuns was sat at what I took to be a piano but when she started to play it was a very mellow organ. A good accompaniment to one of the nuns who led the responses and who had a beautiful singing voice.

After the mass it was time for bed. In the hostel we met Jim (of Jim and Karen) again, and we also met our friend Jose who had helped us over the Pyrenees once more. Although I was in bed early I didn’t have the best of nights. My legs hurt quite a lot with the bites that I had picked up, it was quite warm and my bunk was near the windows and the partying went on well into the night.