Day 22 - Mancilla to León

We left at 0550. No great sunrise today. The streets were sometimes wet from the rain overnight. But with the fan running we never heard it.

As usual, I'll include a sunrise shot and at least one bridge.

Bridge going out of Mancilla at 0600

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))I would add more photos but can't find them using Wix.

It was nice being outside without a fleece in the early morning. But that meant it would be hot again.

We had about 6k before we would reach the coffee stop. The sunrise was a bit sad, mostly cloudy. But we both had packs this morning. Ruth decided she was up to carrying one for the whole day.

OK, Wix, which is the app I'm using is having grief processing photos. Which is a real pain as I use the photos to mark out things that happen.

We found a petrol station. It shows the prices over here. The exchange rate is £1=€1.17

)))) petrol price picture

There is always a race to the first coffee shop that's open, more so on a Sunday. We got there early. The coffee and pain au Chocolat equivalent were great.

Then it was back to the track. We made good time. As I wrote before, the road infrastructure is great, just few cars.

))) Road picture here

Very soon we were on the outskirts of León. Its always a bit of a pain walking into a medium sized town. León has the same population as Reading. There is an old town area and a bit of old Roman Wall.

))) pictures into town

What is really nice about many Spanish towns is they have a proper river running through them with decent banks and a nice bridge. It is not constrained and hidden away. Rather it is a natural asset. Funnily enough, no shopping trolleys lazily swimming around.

))) Bridge shot

We've got a great hotel in the main square for two nights.

)) Ruth picture soaking feet.

We've visited the cathedral - an amazing site. Imagine Reading having a cathedral as good as St. Paul's, but with better stained glass!

))) lots of cathedral pictures

However the food here is extremely average. The pinchos or tapas that come free with drinks or you buy extra are usually great. The Pilgrim or daily menus are cheap and average. But I was disappointed by my meal this evening. Ruth had lamb sweetbreads, which were great. I had a braised leek starter (regional speciality) which was ok. I made the mistake of choosing fish and chips, because the Spanish are usually good with seafood. The fish had 8 legs and never had gills or fins. And the chips were crisps. Maybe it was lost in translation...

))) braised leeks picture