I set off in the dark again to witness a beautiful sunrise. I have seen more sunrises on this trip than Ihave in my whole life. You could call me the sunrise kid. I’m perked up a bit because its a short day and I will get to a hotel with a hairdryer and soap and more than one towel…yeay.
I left with out my paid for breakfast so after an hour and a bit, I came across Casablanca,a lovey white warm bar with the man and wife buzzing about serving coffees and tortillas. There is only a handful of us here and next to me is a gentleman I have seen walking with 2 ladies. He looks like Father Christmas and when I pass them on the road he is always talking. He is from Canada and this time he asks where in Canada am I from..?
”I’m English “ I say with pride…
His friends say to me, just ignore him he gets lonely for fellow Canadians!!! Ok. I move on with a smile. I did know from my elevation map that there is a hill or big incline before I can drop down into Leon city but I’m unphased. I can do this….I thought.
The Camino route, my little red line on my app, told me to cross over the bridge onto the other side. Its shut!! Its closed. No can do. I panic, I will lose my red line and end up somewhere strange with another Mr.Meldrew to cope with!! There are Germans ahead of me. I’ll follow. They know everything.
Of course, as we wind through a high urbanisation, and when my panic subsides because my red line is no longer where I am…aaagh, I begin to see painted signs that say ‘Camino Provisional..’ with a yellow arrow pointing the way I am going.
Have faith I say to myself, all will be well. It was, but not before we went up and up..thing about hills is just when you think you are at the top,there is a flat bit and then another hill. I am now past all the red and white telecommunication towers and it doesn’t look anything like I will see a Medieval city. Then when you cant gasp any more and you are leaning on your poles there is a sharp left turn into the woods! It must have been a Kilometers further out but hey! I am going down. That is a good sign. As usual, I was wrong because the descent on this red clay bumpy path through the trees was treacherous. Everyone was going down cagily…except 2 young girls who out of the blue,sprinted past us all like gazelles. Unbelievable…Why? Because they COULD.!!!
I didn’t care, I just laughed and then round the corner, below me was the sprawling city of Leon and to the right, the rising beautiful gothic towers of the cathedral.
I’m almost there…if I can find my red line again.