I was thinking of a rest day in Leon, but after a refreshing night's sleep and a sleep in till 7.30 I woke up feeling that I should move on. Some sort of migratory instinct is telling me to join the herd moving Westwards, and like a caribou, off I go. The road out of Leon is about as inspiring as the road in. At least it is clearly marked. My walk was much improved by a nice man in a van selling crepes. Great Spanish entrepreneurship, he was set up at the top of a long hill, and just out of sight of the row of bars just round the corner. Last time we were here, we walked the scenic option. This time I chose the road route, mostly because that is the one on my gps. Putting a large busy road through a village doesn't do a lot for it, but there were still lots of lovely sights along the way - fields of lavender, rosemary and wilds flowers, church towers with multiple stork nests, each with some baby stork heads peeking over the top of the nests, and each nest watched over by an attentive parent stork.
As the day got hotter the sights got stranger. I passed two seemingly identical spanish gents each impeccably turned out with dark suit, hat and walking stick. But strangest was the tall grey haired skinny gringo in shorts and tshirt I passed kilometres from anywhere, heading in the wrong direction, carrying plastic shopping bags filled with what looked like orange juice bottles, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Clint Eastwood. What on earth was he doing out there going that way? Where had he come from? I had to look around after he had passed to make sure I had really seen him. It was hot out there today.
But now I have reached the nice little town of Hospital de Orbigo with its wonderful bridge, and I am kicking back watching the local families enjoying their Sunday, and the occasional hot tired looking peregrinos straggle in.
Nearly across the Meseta and feeling pretty good. My ankle as resumed its normal proportions and has stopped hurting, in good time for the next big climb up past Rabanal. Good weather forecasts for the next few days as well. Tomorrow I will get to Astorga then work out what next.
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