14. Day 10 - Sahagun to Leon.

We have just booked into our hotel in Leon after a good ride today. Rhon will have the details later.
I continue to be totally amazed by the enormous variety of people on The Camino. Particularly the walkers - I simply do not understand the drive some of them have. You see elderly ladies with huge back packs just keeping their head down and putting one foot in front of the other kilometre after kilometre. You see all shapes and sizes striding or plodding or just keeping moving. You pass people who you think could not walk another step then a couple of hours later they walk into the place you are staying. Or you see them later shuffling around the town and having a few beers. It is impossible to describe every encounter, every sight, every peregrino ( we are all 'peregrinos') on The Camino.
Anyway today we covered 68k to Leon - we thought it was going to be 60 but no two maps agree and since we finally have got one bike computer working we know what we did. It was a fairly easy ride again - we were on the road right next to the track all the way and it was a very uninteresting ride. The temperature reached 34C but a nice breeze kept us cool.The countryside was monotonously flat with only the occasional village to keep it interesting, although we did stop at a lovely hostel for lunch. So we left Sahagun at 8.50 this morning and arrived on the fringe of Leon at 3.30. Which sounds a long time but we were actually on the bike just 4 1/4 hrs for 68k which is not bad at our age!! We have a rest day tomorrow then back on the bikes for the last 306k.

Today we took the original Roman road from which is dead straight for many kms and as Barry said did get a little monotonous but for me was a welcome relief after some of the tough climbs through the Pyrenees.  It was quite exciting to think that this was the same road that the Roman Legions marched along. We passed through a village called Mansilla which is known for its tomato festival where everyone pelts each other with tomatoes (and any passers by). Luckily for us this was the week before we arrived!  The wheat fields are occasionally broken with Sunflower fields and cornfields. The little Mediaeval villages all have their church dedicated to yet again another Saint. These churches, although much smaller than the grand cathedrals are really beautiful in themselves.  You wont believe it, but we came across "the barrowman" again on the way to Leon and as we have a rest day now, we feel that he will get in front of us yet again - damn! As we neared our accommodation in Leon, we could not believe our eyes and felt quite overwhelmed  by this place which is a 15th century Monastery built inside old Roman walls that date back to 1BC. It is like being inside a living museum. It  used to be home to 100 monks but now only 8 live here. The rooms are the old Monks quarters and are complete with a wooden cross over the bed. Last night we went to a free concert in one of the large courtyards with about 300 people attending. It was put on by a Gregorian Choral group. A warm balmy night, a magnificent setting and fabulous voices made for a very special experience. We topped the night off with a Mexican meal complete with Margaritas and Tequilas ! Hope we scrub up OK tomorrow as we have a big day ahead of us exploring this wonderful city.