Man I like this town! Chocolate and Cathedrals. Who knew that I stumbled into the chocolate capital of Spain. If you haven't had Spanish hot chocolate, you haven't lived. It's like hot chocolate pudding it's so thick. The cathedral in Leon rivals Notre Damme in size and grandeur. It's amazing.
I rolled into town this morning at 10:30am and decided to rest today. After the Pension last night with no hot water and sleeping on box springs, I booked a really nice hotel here in the old part of town called La Posada Regia and my room is super nice with a small balcony overlooking the tiny cobblestone street it's on.
When I rolled up to the hotel, the big American supported biker group from Washington State was just checking out. They exclaimed "Dave!" when they saw me. It had been 4 days since I last saw them. It was nice to see friendly faces. Because I was so early, the room wasn't ready so I went walking around the Cathedral and who did I bump into? Carlos and the girls, the Brazilians that I rode with two days before who went ahead of me. It was great to see Carlos who was dipping a chocolate croissant into Spanish hot chocolate! I went on a tour of the Cathedral with them and then they took off for more riding today. About an hour later, I bumped into the Polish couple biking who I met at Roncesvalles who had ridden the highway instead of the pass. They told me that I was famous for riding the pass. That they had heard about the only guy who rode it that day from others on the Camino and said that they had actually meet me at Roncesvalles. Brave or stupid, you decide....
Anyway, it was really nice to see familiar faces. When you hike it, you fall into a familiar group day-day; but there are few bikers and we are all a bit independent and are going at different speeds. I think I am clearly within 4-6 days if Santiago and pretty ahead of my must-make schedule, so I think I am going to relax in Leon and get my laundry done, my bike looked at and see more if the old section of town.
Buen Camino
Dave
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to post your comments and pix. There are a bunch of us in Toronto, who walk once a week: Caminoites. I am the lone cyclist in the group (in that I cycled the Camino). Your blog brings back a lot of great memories and the people you are meeting really have a lot interesting back stories. Having also been a hospitalero in Najera I can relate to the broad spectrum of pilgrims. Also I like your questions, such as who is a worthy pilgrim. When we got trained up to be hospitaleros we learned not to judge and also to realize that crazy sportif on the MTB blurring past you might have a Damascus moment just around the next corner.
Keep posting. Ride slow, ride safe.