16. Day 12 - Leon to Astorga

Another tough day for the walkers - I really do feel for those guys. Their day started with a 10k walk through the industrial outskirts of Leon then another 10 or so of very boring countryside. Apparently the last 50k stretch can really sap the commitment of many walkers. It was noticeable that there weren't anywhere near the volume of walkers on this stretch and we suspect that many might have caught the bus to where we are to cut out the 50k from Leon. For us though we were able to cut through the bad bits fairly quickly, spend about half of the journey on The Camino and cover 50k
in 4 1/2 hrs on the bike, and 5 1/2 hrs overall. So we are down to 250k to go with tomorrow one of our toughest stages. We start with a fairly steep 20k climb to Rabal del Camino at 1150mtrs then an even steeper 7k to Cruz de Ferro. We will probably walk some of this but Cruz de Ferro is an iconic peak of The Camino so we are looking forward to conquering this peak. Then we have a VERY steep descent and will certainly need to walk some of this as apparently it can be very dangerous. Perhaps the luxurious spa hotel we are now staying at will help us get ready.
The luxurious hotel is called Hotel Spa Ciudad de Astorga and what a hotel it is. We arrived at about 3.30pm and put our bags in our room and then immediately headed down to the courtyard for a glass of Sangria and some tapas (garlic prawns - or to Aussies, more like shrimps,  but very tasty. We then booked the private spa complex for 12 euros pp. This complex included a swimming pool, chromotherapy (yes - you may well ask what this is?)',  an air massage board, Aquatic cannon,  cervical cascade, massage sitting in the water, massage by air, bubbling jacuzzi, Finnish sauna, Turkish bath, and sequential bi-thermal and Zenith shower!  There is just no end to the suffering of us Pilgrims! We then headed off to see yet again another cathedral (yes, I am in love with these edifices)' but alas this one was closed. I am feeling a little nervous about our big climb tomorrow but hopefully we are prepared and we are all feeling much fitter and stronger than when we started. We are all so far, injury free and the Aussie Butt Cream is doing a fine job!