Day 19: Hermanillos to Leon - 45km - 29 MILES

We departed at 5:10am and it was pitch dark until 7:50

From my Dad:

It's difficult to describe what we did today. Woke up at 4:30 and out the door by 5:15 AM. Seriously nobody in site, pitch dark and Roman roads for first 2 1/2 hour. I carried the flashlight and knife (just in case hah hah) and Sue was working her hiking poles. Both of our hands were freezing and Sue finally put on an extra pair of socks as gloves to warm her fingers. We also just have tank tops, shorts and long sleeve UVA shirts on.  The stars and Milky Way were amazing, plus we think we saw two planets. I don't know if you remember the book Polar Express ... that's all we saw on the Meseta, one lit up train snaking through the darkness just past us.

We chose to combine two days today and hike 29 miles, roughly 45 kilometers. We knew it would be a challenge to double up days, but we wanted to get off the Meseta, plus we heard that Leon and the Paradores here are fantastic.

 

The sun came up over the horizon around 8:30, which is my favorite time of day. The fields started to take shape and we could see the bright lights of Leon 20 miles off in the distance. I couldn't wait to get to Leon as I heard it's fabulous plus we knew we will be roughly 200 miles from Santiago with 300 miles behind us.

 

Hiking Roman roads is difficult, especially in the dark . You seriously have to negotiate your way through and seek soft dirt at any opportunity. The first hour we went out in 3.4 miles ... fairly nice clip in the dark with my 20 pounds on my back and 8 on Sue's. Sue has a pedometer so we were checking every hour just for fun as its not a race and nobody was out here anyway. The second hour was 3.2 and we stopped checking after that as we got lost. We have this amazing guidebook which drew up wrong directions down a canal toward a prison. We could hear the prison guards off in the distance. We went off track for 15 minutes and I knew when we started to head north we needed to turn back and figure it out. We just laughed and said oh well and next thing you know there's flecha Amarillo and we were back on our way. After 17 miles and 6 hours we pulled up for breakfast in the walled in city of Mansilla. We both had a ham and cheese pastry with a coca cola light ... perfect nourishment for part 2 of our journey. A husband and wife owned the cafe and they were so appreciative when we left a tip.

 

We then had 12 miles to Leon and it was around 11:30 with the sun at our backs and it was getting hotter by the minute. I told Sue the forecast was for 75 with thin cloud cover cooling to 70 with easterlys at our backs. Unfortunately, it was a lie and we were headed for 5 hours of 75-80 with no wind nor clouds. Funny thing though, Sue never complained about anything other than the flies! We had food, water, music and each other and proceeded to just bury this 11 hour day with no issues. Sues legs are sore and so is my neck, buts it's not my spine so I'm not worried. We checked into the San Marcos Paradores Leon for two nights and what a reward to shut down for a couple of days. We are so excited to sleep in and enjoy an American breakfast.

 

We ate Italian for dinner in the plaza and once again enjoyed watching the beautiful Spanish families stroll by. My spaghetti arrived with squid and various other sea creatures and I kindly asked for spaghetti solamente and our waiter was very accommodating plus appreciative of his tip.

My closing thoughts tonight are twofold ... how blessed am I to go on an 11 hour backpacking hike with my wife and she never complained once ... huge! Two ... one must be completely committed to The Camino if you want to hike all 500 miles. It's like Undaunted Courage ... no negative thoughts can creep in, you have to stay focused and, in our case, we feel such support from all of you through the blog and your support of Cystic Fibrosis. Our goal was to raise $10,000. When we left home on August 29th we were at $6,000. Tonight we are at $9,375 and know we have a few checks not included. I had Steve Archer from Whales last night donate 10 euro! We will surely inform you when we cross over $10,000 and celebrate. CF has made great strides in developing cures for this debilitating lung disease and great news is on the horizon.

I'm sorry we have trouble responding to comments on our blog, but we do read them and we are honored you care and are motivated by your support.

We feel Santiago de Compostela tugging at us now ... only 195 miles to go. We will rest tomorrow then be back out on The Way and, God willing, arrive in Santiago on October 4th (my birthday).

 

Blessings

Steve & Sue

Last night's Albuergue

After 305 miles of hiking these feet deserve a pedicure

Nothing out here for 20 miles

Backpacks off for 5 minutes

We see these often where people have died on the Camino

Sue uses socks as gloves in 43 degree weather

Is this Iowa or Nothern Spain?

Meseta beauty - do you see purple?

First town after 17 miles

These shells guide us, too

Leon down below

We are here for two nights after 29 miles and 11 hours of hiking

The walls of Leon

15 minute break!

19 euro

 

Our view from dinner tonight

Sue is relentless!!

Dessert! These are everywhere in Spain and Sue LOVES them!

Muy bueno!