Day 25  León to San Martin del Camino, Spain   October 16, 2022

I am tired! They were partying out in the street until 6 AM and Marijanne snored like a train.  The woman sleeping above me moved out into the living room to sleep on the floor at 4 am, that’s how bad it was. However that did not stop me from walking 25 kilometres today. I was like a machine and my leg, knee and IT band caused me absolutely no difficulty. I stopped every hour to stretch and I drank at least 4 L of water. 

After breakfast and goodbyes with Marijanne, Bernadette and I left León at 8:45.  After a few kilometres, she headed left along the “scenic” route and I stayed on the historic path.  I wasn’t walking an extra 4.3 km just to not be near the highway-

My intention for the day was to just enjoy being alone.  The last 25 days, I’ve stopped when others stopped, started with others, eaten with others and walked with others.  Today it was just me and I loved it.  I’m not taking anything away from the days we spent together and no one forced me to do anything.  It was all my choice and I loved those days but it was time to be alone and experience the camino in a different way.  Today was a good day.  

The way the Brierly Bible described the route I took was that it should  be avoided.  I found it to be not a lot different from other days we have had.  Along the way-

Once in San Martin del Camino, I walked right past La Huella for three reasons.  The first thing I saw was a brand new, beautiful building boasting a swimming pool so no, not in my budget.  Secondly, the name of the place was on the wall but it was too small for me to read and thirdly, I didn’t look it up on the map until I was about 500 meters past.  In fact, I was so determined not to back track that I called a closer albergue to see if they had room but they only had top bunks left so I made the trudge back.  What’s funny is I was thinking about all the steps I made that I wouldn’t have to make tomorrow because my albergue was through the town!  Duh-

I had my first glass of rosé.  It tasted like flat Baby Duck-

Tomorrow I’m hoping to make it to Astorga which will mean another long walk.  I’m feeling confident my body will hold up!