Day 19 - 48km - Leon to Astorga

Relaxed after the Spa (for me at last) and a good sleep in an actual hotel room we were ready to set off on the last days cycle. We are heading out of one big city and towards a smaller one - Astorga.

The route is long and dull, and we are glad to be on bikes, the 45km mostly goes along a busy road with lorries trundling by, so we are glad to be blitzing it on bikes and will be getting the pedal down today!

The first few km are navigating the streets of Leon through the urban centre then the subarbs before passing out into the surrounding country. Apart from an old monastry, now a five star hotel there is little to see. So there is not much to say about today's journey. We out our boots down and smashed the journey in 2 hours and 20 minutes! We arrived before lunch and stopped for a coffee.

I found a print shop to get a QR code and label printer for my pack, so people stop looking at me strange when doing push ups ins public locations (if you have not donated yet have a word with yourself!! 😜).

We visited the Gaudi palace, a wonderful and interesting building right next to the cathedral and spent an hour looking round as it is now a museum. It was stunning, typical Gaudi curves and some stunning stained glass windows. Definately one of the best places we have stopped to see on our journey. We popped to the cathedral, which are now becoming much of the same, and then went to a bar for lunch.

The menu offered "gambas" - prawns and "pulpo" - octopus at great prices so I ordered expecting some great tapas. What was delivered was not great tapas, it was glass jars of pate! Cold mushed prawns or octopus delivered with small bits of toasted bread. It was rancid. I mean really rancid. I dare not open the octopus paste so I carried it to the albergue and left it in the donation area. A lot of the pilgrim hostals have an area where you can leave stuff for other pilgrims - for example you are carrying a poncho, but the weather is sunny for the next week, you leave it behind. Then when a pilgrim arrives there in thunderous rain they praise the lord that someone left them a poncho for tomorrow! So some pilgrim may either praise the lord that there is a meal there, or curse him that the meal is cold paste of octopus!!

We left Astorga for the short 4km to where we are staying, with big gardens and a quiet location. We have the pilgrim dinner booked for 7 after which it will be a nice relax.

Rest well pilgrims, tomorrow we are back on our feet. And there is a bloody big hill to deal with ....