The Meseta Resumes Its Continuing

The next day I allowed myself a slightly delayed start, as I didn't have as far to go, and didn't really want to be walking through industrial sections of León by myself before anyone was awake. In yet another example of the Camino providing, just as I was getting up and ready to go, a French lady in my albergue who we had met before in Nájera (I think) was also getting ready to go. Even though she didn't speak English and I didn't speak French, we agreed to accompany one another out of town.


The path was not well marked, and we made a few wrong turns, but after enough time spent trudging next to industrial warehouses and crossing busy streets, we made it out of León. We both chose the country route for the day, even though it was about 3km longer, in order to avoid hearing traffic all day long. We walked together for a while longer, then split up as our paces diverged.


Then it was back to more meseta. (Though it was at least a bit less brown today.)


I ran into a couple I knew along the road, and chatted with them for a while, but they were, by their own admission a few days ago, not really social walkers, so eventually I let them pull ahead. Unusually, we were walking along a paved road, and a particularly straight one at that. Because of this, I actually managed to read a bit while walking, something that usually risks twisting an ankle on the Camino.


I decided to push on beyond the city the guidebook recommended stopping in, as it was still early in the day, and I had hopes of making up another day in order to either have a spare day in case of emergency, or to have a day each in Santiago and Madrid when I finish. When I got to my albergue it turned out I was in line directly behind the last of my friends from the original group that split up in Burgos! We both surprised each other, then caught up a bit. She had been intending to go a few kilometers further, but her legs had begun to hurt really badly just outside of town, and it had taken her an hour to walk the last mile to the albergue. She was spending two nights, hoping that a rest day would give her time to heal. Another pilgrim I had met previously was there as well, and the three of us got dinner together.


During dinner, a commotion occurred at the front desk. All of the people staying in the other building across the street came over in a group, and started arguing with the hospitaleros about something, though we couldn't make out exactly what. After a while they seemed to reach some sort of arrangement, and all began filing in with their stuff. After dinner I heard another argument start, and upon going up to the room I was in (which was now filled with everyone from across the street), was informed that they might have seen a bedbug. One of them thought he saw a bug, though he wasn't sure, and another thought she had a bite, though she also wasn't sure. The arguments had been the hospitaleros insisting that there was no way their albergue could have bedbugs, and resisting them using the laundry to wash all of their things. It appeared they ultimately prevailed, but the mood was tense all night. Despite this drama, I went to bed and got some rest for the day tomorrow.


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