Day 25 28/4/12 Mansilla - Virgen del camino 32km (bus stop day)

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Started walking at 8am.......the weather is cool but very calm...great walking weather.....The country side is still much the same.....flat surrounded by cereal crops....the walks are quite boring and not a lot picture taking done..... Will be glad to walk out of the Messeta and start climbing hills again......We stopped along the way and ate some fruit....there were signs of rain all day but we haven't had any yet


We hit the out skirts of Leon population 130,000....we dont have any interest in the big cities...the pace of life slows down so much when we walk at aprox 3 to 4 k's a hr every day.....when we come across highways with cars we are so sure they are speeding pass us...but am sure they are travelling at a normal speed. The hustle and bustle of cities can be quite overwelming......we met Antony and Craig not far in and walked with them for a while.....They were both staying for a couple days so we said our goodbyes.....pretty sure that will be the last time we see them.....

We found a large supermarket and went and did some food shopping.....we got a bit carried away having all the choices...its the first large supermarket we have been in since we have started walking .....bought a 1k strawberries, olivas,cheeses, meat, bread and fruit....Rather interesting trying to shop with a backpack on my back walking pass people trying to turn around, walking poles and pulling a little shopping cart....we managed ....and added quite a few kilo's to our backs....

A lot of people catch a bus at the beginning of Leon to take them to the other side, just to get through all the hussle and bussle....we were quite a way through and thought we might do the same.....We found a bus stop with a seat and shelter and worked out that we were on the right track.....A bus went by slowly but we didnt flag him down ...we hadnt worked out which one to take.....Yep you guessed that was the one we needed and the next one wasn't for a hour.....so we settled...was pretty cold now we had stopped walking.....pulled out our kilo of strawberries and started eating...coffee would have been good.......bus finally came and Jacqui tried to explain that we wanted to go onto the other side of the river......on we got and several times he looked at us when he stopped expecting us to get off....no we wanted to get over the river and that hadn't happened yet......we finaly got off....and had no idea where we were..... what direction we were to walk ....and no yellow arrows to follow........There was a huge western type shopping centre ...went in and found the ladies then started on our way... well we walked and walked ...asked a deaf man... camino....that didn't work....walked for about an hour ...we found it a yellow arrow.....we just sood in the middle of the road and hugged each other.....the joy of finding the yellow arrow means we are no longer lost....It is such a relief.....a universal language to a pilgrim no explaination needed...so with waiting in the bus stop for a hour......going on a bus ride of about 5 km walking back about about 3km.....we probably saved ourself a 2k walk and lost about 2hrs.....And I think the bus driver was right in trying to get us off the bus earlier....all put down to experience..... walk through the big cities dont take a bus

We still had 8km to walk and we were pretty buggered plus we had added a couple of kilo's to our backpacks with food....doesn't seem like much but when its about 4.30 in the afternoon....cold and tired and still had 2 hrs walking to go and the last half was uphill....2kg's is a lot.

The albergue was quite a new and large place. It had men and ladies showers and toilet but shared bedrooms with about 14 bunks in them.....they had washing machines and dryers so we made use of them....we had bought some dubbin to rub on our boots....we dubbined them before we left australia and they have been waterproof up untill the last couple of days....they have done a great job so we redid them before we went to bed as we have been promised more wet weather.....0 deg overnight and 10 deg tomorrow.....All the boots were lined up outside the bedroom and I noticed Jacquie's and mine were the only leather boots....the rest were sandshoes or a boot that is similar looking to a sandshoe and are suppose to be waterproof....I like my leather boots extremly comfortable and we havent developed any blisters.....

We were glad that we had bought food as the alburge supplied a good kitchen but no cooked food and we weren't very close to a resturant. We boiled a kettle and made a hot coffee with a little amount of milk..... another of the little luxuries and as Jacqui has pointed out to me a hot shower at the end of the day and a seat to sit on when we want to stop and eat....getting up from the ground can be a hard...and the music in our ears when the walk is boring or the weather is a bit shitty or we have 5k'sto go and its a struggle....a few other little luxuries....


About a hour after getting in it started to pour with rain and hail...we were very lucky .....it had been a long day....

We had tea spent a bit of time on the internet and went to bed by 10pm...had a good nights sleep

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