Dave's Camino Blog: The Roman Way and the rack.,,.

I made a decision this morning that I regretted until I didn't; then I appreciated where I was. I rode for about a half an hour this morning along the highway to León as the Camino is right along side. There was a sign as you were leaving town showing options for the Camino, I didn't really pay attention. About a mile on, I came to a place where yellow arrows went in two different directions; one continued West straight along the highway, the other to the right across the freeway and heading to the North. I looked like it might be more interesting than just riding the highway, so I took it. I got concerned about a mile on to the dirt road. It was heading due North while the Camino goes almost due West and yet there were Camino markers and yellow arrows. I assumed I had taken one of the options and regretted not paying more attention to the sign. Several miles along I was really getting concerned as I had seen another single pilgrim and we were well out in the middle of nowhere with nothing in sight. Finally about 15 minutes in I came across a single and then 10 minutes later, another. I still didn't know where I was, but feeling better about being there. The trail started to bend West and about one hour into riding, I came to a small town with about 10 buildings. One of them advertised rooms and meals so I stopped and had breakfast. The pilgrims I passed starting drifting to do the same and one of them was Irish and spoke English. He told me that indeed we were on a variation, but the one that traveled the original Roman road to León which he said was a derivation of Legion because the Ronans had one there. I started to appreciate my inadvertent choice. I noticed signs that said "Calazada Romana" that meant Roman road. I also spotted long sections that were fenced off thinking these were probably the original road. Way cool....

The story of the bike rack continues. I am in León, a larger city with a historic walled inner core. I had my bike serviced here last time I did this and I went back to the shop to look into replacing my rack. He had one that would work in stock so we swapped to out. I noticed that the opposite side had snapped off sometime this morning, so good timing! The Camino is hard on me and the bike. Brakes in France, new pannier bags in Pampalona, and a new rack in León. We won't talk about what's broken on me...

I'm off to visit the historic core in a bit and will attach pictures. Gratitude for being here.

Buen Camino;

Dave