Day 21 - Mansilla to Leon - 18km

I was up early in the morning because of the noise in the dorm. There was no point in just lying there in my sleeping bag once I was awake even though I did not intend to have an early start. I had decided, together with Gunter and Annette, to get a bus into Leon instead of walking. This was partly due to the day's route following a main road through an area of industrial activity, but mainly due to the existence of a dangerous crossing over the busy dual carriageway with fast moving traffic coming round a blind bend in either direction. Both my guidebook and map book gave warnings about this stretch as also did the pilgrim forum of which I am a member. I had meant to walk part of the way and catch a bus before the crossing but decided it would be nice to have company on the way in. I only went by bus twice on my Camino, the other time being into Burgos and the journeys added up to about 25km which I think was acceptable compared to the nearly 800km I walked. I'm not a purist who intended to walk every step of the way but neither did I want to hop on a bus whenever I felt tired. Getting to Leon like this also meant I could treat myself to my first (and only) day off and fit in some tourism.

I packed my rucksack and waited for Gunter and Annette in the geranium-filled courtyard and then we all went for breakfast in a bar before catching our bus. In Leon the albergue was in the Santa Maria convent with the Madres Benedictinas. We arrived just as they were closing for the morning and were able to dump our stuff before having a coffee and then going our separate ways for various errands. You have to take advantage of being in a large town or city to do all sorts of things which you can't in a small village. This, in my case, included going to Burger King for lunch!

I walked around sightseeing in the narrow streets of the old city, visited the beautiful cathedral with its magnificent stained glass and sat in a sidewalk café. There I was very pleased to be joined by my Australian friend John. The last time I had seen him, several days previously, he had not been at all well. I was having an early morning coffee break outside a bar in a village before Sahagun when he arrived looking decidedly poorly. He said he hadn't slept all night and needed somewhere to crash out. I helped him get a room at the bar and then left, hoping he would be all right. I knew he had some health issues and over the next few days I had wondered from time to time how he was getting on, so I was really pleased to see him again. He stopped for a quick drink and a chat then left while I waited for Gunter and Annette and then we went and signed in at the now-open albergue.

One thing I noticed in Leon which really amused me was the traffic lights at pedestrian crossings. If the lights were against you there was a stationary red man with a clock above showing how many seconds remained until the lights changed. When they did change a green man appeared walking slowly with the clock above him giving a countdown of how many seconds you had to get across. As the number of seconds decreased he started walking faster and faster and then running so that when about five seconds remained he was dashing along full pelt. I found this so amusing that I stood for a while just watching the lights keep changing. I tried to photograph the green man but the top half of his running body didn't come out for some reason.

At the albergue I was in a female-only dorm, which made a nice change. After the usual chores I went out to dinner with Gunter and Annette and then we hurried back for a special pilgrim service and blessing held by the nuns in their church attached to the convent. While I enjoyed the service I much preferred the informal one with the three nuns in Carrión where everyone sat on the stairs and floor. No men in the dorm meant less or quieter snoring but unfortunately the night was disturbed by a long thunder storm with the room being lit up by flashes of lightning. At least it faded away towards morning and I was able to get some sleep. One thing which I don't think I've mentioned so far is the very vivid dreams I was having most nights, strange dreams about home, family and friends. Apparently this is a fairly common phenomenon as several other pilgrims mentioned having vivid dreams too. Not surprisingly this night I dreamt that my home was being invaded by raging flood waters!