This is more like it ! We arrived in Leon today and have gone from zero's to 5* hero's - luxury by way of San Marco parador. In the 16th century the building was converted into a monastery but its initial purpose when built in the 12th century was to shelter pilgrims on the road to Santiago. Only right that we return it to it's original use (not sure the monks ever got planning consent anyway) Went to mass at the cathedral and then had a 'taste of Leon' lun...

This morning I woke to screaming. It was my hamstrings. What are we doing ? Why is anyone doing this? In the modern age of cars, trains and planes is there any need to go through this amount of discomfort ? Not sure if my outlook was effected this morning by the guidebook's description of the stage "after you leave Hermanillos you will encounter no asphalt roads, no sendas, no bridges and no metal signposts. You will pass through no town, no village, no far...

Walking across a country you do get to see some sights. I didn't really want to see the rigor mortis ridden kitty by the roadside in Fromista or the donkeys middle wicket but it can't all be good. What has been nice to see is the farm workers going about their day to day with a complete sense of calm. None of the hustle and bustle if London here. Today we left real Camino and followed an old Roman road through remote countryside up to Calzadilla de Los Herman...

Aliette woke me just after 5 this morning. Still dark outside but given how hot it has been at midday we need to get going. We have a pretty daunting 18km to start the day with no shade, no towns, no loo's. As we emerge from our hostel we see figures emerging from the shadows like George Lucas' sand people. We walk the first 10km with Andrea, a Croatian with whom Aliette discusses the pro's and con's of cosmetic surgery. The terrain is pretty featureless - a...

Today we had two decisions to make - do we try and walk 34km in a day or have a relatively short 20km ? Secondly, do we take the most direct route to Carrión de Los Condes or the longer more picturesque route ? As we are not due to arrive in Leon until Sunday the first was easy - why kill ourselves when we have time to take things slightly easier. The second turned out to be a stroke of genius. We decided to take the longer route, avoiding walking nearly all ...