Leon to Villar de Mazarife

Although you'd think it would be tough to leave such nice digs as the Parador Leon behind, we were actually very eager to get back on the road again.  We had a very relaxing and memorable stay, and here are some additional shots yet.  The hallway which seemed endless...I think our room was the 20th on the left!

Here, in one of the cloisters, a picture of 2 mothers.  One had an "angel" of a child, the other...well...

(Just kidding, kids)...

That same cloister had a series of plaques on the wall (you can see them in the background) outlining the history of this ancient pilgrim hostal and monastery, and it was sad to note that it has also been used for very unholy purposes.

On a lighter note, we ate at a small cafe/bar near our hotel, but the owner could speak no English and we were given 2 choices for the segundo (second and main) course.  This is what we got...

 

Now we know what chorizo means!  It looks more like breakfast, but it was delicious anyway.  One last picture leaving: 2 rested pilgrims with one permanently weary pilgrim in the plaza of the Parador.

The first part of today's trek took us through the outer western suburb of Leon.  Here we cross the railroad tracks on a pedestrian overpass...

...and shortly after we again come across a whole row of private outdoor wine cellars built into a hill outdoors.  We assume these are privately owned, but are not sure.

 

When we finally get out of Leon and back on a dirt track, the first thing we see is this pair of long abandoned hiking boots.  One can only hope that the owners of these rejects were carrying an extra pair!

 

Today's pleasant journey took us along quiet paved roads...

...as well as stony dirt trails used mostly by farmers getting to their fields...

And yes, I love a good tree - can you tell?

Below is a sight we have never yet seen in the few weeks we have now been Spain: beef cattle.  There is no fence anywhere in sight, so how,they don't wander off somewhere is a mystery to me.

The primary meat consumed in Spain is actually pork.  Strangely, however, we have yet to come across our first pork farm.  Pretty hard to miss eau de pork!  Maybe they keep them all down south.  A much prettier odour came from this field of lovely purple wildflowers...

As always, yellow arrows could be found anywhere and everywhere to guide us on our way again today.  We wondered how old this stony stele might be...

When we arrived at today's destination, we called a taxi as pre-arranged by our travel agent, because the village of Villar de Mazarife has no hotel.  While waiting by the village's church, we got closer than ever to the stork nests you find on every old village church...

...and I took this shot of 3 happy pilgrims being looked on with favour by a contemporary sculpted pilgrim that was erected - together with a new wall and fencing around the church - in honour of someone else who died in 2010 while walking the Way.

Our taxi picked us up in about 15 minutes, and we were off to a village about 15 minutes.  It felt odd to be in a motorized vehicle, our first since May 3.  We arrived at our hotel, and after some necessary adjustments - the first room was a smoker's room and the second room was sprayed heavily with a deodorizer and stank just as bad - we are comfortably settled in.  This evening we are looking forward to pizza for dinner, though anyone who really knows me knows that I always look forward to pizza!  Favourite food!!

Tomorrow after breakfast, we will return by taxi to the spot where we were picked up, and continue on our way from there.  It will be a 30+ km day.  Hopefully we'll sleep tight tonight!

Distance today: 22.2 kms

Time on road: 5:20

Total distance to date: 497.8 kms

Walking days remaining: 14