14th May 2024 Leon to San Martin del Camino

We had decided to catch the bus to Virgen del Camino (about 6km) to take us through the outskirts of Leon to start.  I was a little concerned as I wasn’t sure if the bus left from the same place as 6 years ago but it was – a lovely Spanish lady was also catching this bus and assured us that the bus will be coming shortly.  She also said she would let us know when to get off the bus.

It turned out that the bus stop was the one she was getting off too so we headed back past the church of La Virgen del Camino (quite a modern church with long and skinny figures on the front door) which was closed as it was quite early in the morning back to the café where I went last time and the toast and coffee was delicious.  So nice that we got an additional piece!  Once we had finished there we headed off to where there was a choice regarding the route.  We chose the road route as this was the route of the old roman road.  Even though we followed the road it was a good walk as there were plenty of interesting things to see.

 The weather was threatening but didn’t ever become more than a few small showers.  It was a case of jacket on, jacket off until the temperature increased a little and I could leave the rain jacket off.  We even came to a sign that indicated that we have less than 300km to Santiago de Compostela!

 We continued past Valverde de la Virgen until we came to a small truckies stop and had a salad and a slice of tortilla to share.  We stayed there out of the wind for about 30 minutes or so before heading off again with only about 6km to go until we pulled stumps up on the day.

The next kilometre or so until the town of Villadangos del Paramo was through a distribution/factory area with a lot of trucks heading into and away from warehouses.  We continued to walk out of the town and came through a small area of greenery before heading back to the side of the road where we walked along fields of recently harvested corn.  There were quite a few eaten hulls along the track and the fields seemed to be full of Iberian Crows which are native to this area.  Our guide book had warned us about these as they have a habit of taking your glasses. 

The last few kilometres into San Martin del Camino went by very quickly and we couldn’t believe that we had arrived before 2.30pm – it just showed us how we can mow down the kilometres when everything is going well.  Our accommodation, La Huella del Camino is brilliant and quite new we think.  The rooms are bright and clean, the shower hot and there is room to hang the washing!  An essential for Camino accommodation.  Once all those things were done we headed downstairs to look outside – there is a large pool and a washing/clothes drying area.  We thought about sitting outside but even with a bit of sun it was terribly cold as the wind cut straight through us.  There is an area for a fire inside but we were thankful it wasn’t on as it was lovely and warm inside.

We elected to have dinner there tonight so I hope that will be a good decision but if the dinner is as good as everything else here it will be perfect.  We are both a little tired so siesta was an essential today.