We did it. Setting out from Leon at about 8am, Ruth and I set a goal to reach one of two small towns about 20 – 25 km away…one on a more traveled route, the other on an alternate route described in our guidebook. Understand that while there is an original Camino Frances, over many years as commerce and new highways sprouted, industrious pilgrims carved some paths to avoid being on highways but still heading to Santiago without too much extra mileage. So, depending on which map or guidebook you consult – and we have three to reconcile (yah, two too many – so sue me) – we took one route that brought us to Villadangos del Paramo, small enough for one pilgrim refuge, a couple of small hotels, and a few cafe/restaurants. We opted for a 2 star-ish hotel…clean sheets, our own bathroom and a kind proprietor.
We did well for first timers I think. Calves a bit sore and snoozing on arrival. Happy.
Some quick stories from the road…
We met a nice young guy who had been walking just behind us for a while alone as we stopped to gawk at a very cool sculptured facade on a church at the outskirts of Leon. Wanting to be friendly (and he looked just a bit older than Ruth so I thought some youthful banter could be fun) I greeted him in my rough Spanish and asked him where he was from. He said “Switzerland and I also speak English!” Geez – cant a girl cut a break? Ruth got a laugh – Sammy from Geneva stopped at the church but we saw him later pass our way when we stopped to eat. With a nice wave he went on so perhaps we will meet again.
About 2.5 hours along we got hungry and wanted a backpack break so stopped at a small bar/cafe just off the main road. With a sunny table and cafe con leche Ruth had her first ever tortilla con huevos y queso bocadillo. It literally was a mouthful. This was a culinary first for her – scrambled eggs and cheese (that’s the huevos con queso…or tortilla part) on the biggest darned half a baguette we’d ever seen! Nom, nom, nom as Ruth says.
Lesson 1 in traveling anywhere with me…do NOT make me the prime navigator if there is an unclear choice of direction. At one point as we continued we came to a divide in paths that were not super clear (may have been the two paths mentioned earlier…still not sure). Silly me said let’s follow the highway route – literally. As Ruth said after, we had to reenact The Hunger Games and race across a few lanes of traffic on an autopista to get course corrected. :(. She gets to navigate from now on.
As we finally neared our destination for the night we saw pretty nasty black clouds gathering and literally the moment we stepped into our room for the night the clouds burst. G-d watched over us today.
Lasr note for day…just met a lovely lady from New Zealand aguys older man from Maryland. Walking the whole Camino for different reasons. All so interesting and this is only our beginning.
Living La Vida Loca 
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