It was only a few kilometres to Leon with the first part along a busy early morning rush hour highway and then supposedly through an industrial suburb which the Irish contingent said they were going to give a pass by taking a taxi into the city. Well the industrial suburb was more like a box store strip and one thing I have picked up on is to ignore what the guides tell you. This certainly wasn’t in the same league as the industrial wastelands I spent the majority of my working life in.
As I entered Leon I was walking past a pastry shop which seduced me into entering and then while walking and gorging I found myself down by the river that runs through the city, totally lost. It took half an hour and some backtracking to figure out the right way and as I was coming up to the old city walls I heard a taxi beeping like crazy and then heard someone yelling Canada which turned out to be the two Irish johns.
Fifteen minutes later I walked into a big albergue run by the church and there they were signing in. The one John was having some trouble with his credential and his full name John Connor was spoken out loud which caught some of the younger walker’s attention queuing up behind us. John didn't get it till I explained to him his name was the same as the hero from the Terminator who saves the world from the machines. Leon has been an important pilgrim centre since the eleventh century and the albergue was another large one like the one in Burgos. I looked around hoping to find Gontranh but there was no sign. I did my usual routine laundry and shower and then went out exploring to find tomorrows way out and an internet where I was hoping to catch up on my blogging by spending an extra day laying over. Well five hours later and a lot of sightseeing I decided that the blogging was going to have to wait because there was just much to see and take in and the town was crawling with tourists. Leon has a lot of beautiful old architecture, tapas bars and is full of public art. The huge gothic cathedral was under reconstruction so I could only do the outside but just walking around the old city is a perpetual eye full. The cities origins go back to the Roman Legions of the first century BC and the name is somehow derived from the Latin word legion. Bagged out by a full afternoon of exploring I had an early dinner went back and spent some time at the albergue just hanging around and charging my IPod and camera. I had decided to move on again in the morning. I was ahead of any schedule I had set and was really into my stride now enjoying the daily hike and really didn’t wasn’t to spend the day in the city. It was a full house in the dorms but with the pod spinning some Richard Thompson I fell asleep,
To be continued
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