Honestly…….there really isn’t much different going on in the past few days. We didn’t take that many photos as the landscape hasn’t changed at all. It’s been mown fields, and lots of wind, and a bit chilly. The only difference are the places we are staying. Some nicer than others, and one truck stop. It was the only place available in the small town we were in, and I hated it. My room smelled and the thermostat was stuck on HOT. The only convenient thing was that the restaurant was downstairs, along with the mini-mart. So-so food, and crappy service.
We have two days off in Leon. We’ve been advised by a couple of guidebooks, and a local person that we should take a taxi from where we are now (Mansilla de las Mulas) into Leon because we’d be walking on roads thru the industrial area and it’s isn’t all that recommended. Which suits us just fine. It also helps that the owner to the VRBO I rented hasn’t been all that thrilled about making himself available for the Correos to drop off the bags. So we are killing two birds with one stone.
We run into the same British couple the last several days staying in the same places we are. Today we had a beer with them. They are doing the camino in stages. Last May they did the first part from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Burgos. They were supposed to do this part, from Burgos to Astorga, in May, but had to postpone. And they will do the last part from Astorga to Santiago next May. They told us that the camino experience is TOTALLY different right now. Usually, there is a lot of camaraderie, musicians on the road, food trucks, etc. A really warm and “togetherness” type feel. Everyone is super friendly and all the townsfolk are yelling “Buen Camino!” when one walks thru. They are sad we are not experience the “normal” camino, but said that there are others who wish they could have THIS solitary camino experience as that is really what they wanted.
It has been very eerie walking thru totally deserted towns. Evidently, a lot of these towns are solely for camino support. During the winter, when there are few pilgrims, most of the albergues close which means that the town folds up and may only leave about 10 year around dwellers. If they are lucky, there might be one cafe that is open.
We are looking forward to Leon. We are on the backside of the trip now. We just have a mountain range to climb over after Leon before we make our destination. A little over two weeks left.
Leaving Sahagun 
Ghost town 
Our trail for the past 3 days 
Arriving in Mansilla de las Mulas 
Very nice pilgrim resting point. We don’t usually have this nice of a place to stop.
