The Way-My Way: May 14th-Leon to Mazarife

I will start today by finishing last night, When you walk the Camino De Santiago you meet a lot of people, Some of the first people you meet become a part of 'your' Camino family although you add to your family along the way, 2 of the people met on my first night in St Jean where Larry and Ruth from Canada, We hit it off straight away, Lovely people and the only Mennonites i have every met in real life, We have bumped into each other at various stages along the way, I was surprised to meet them in Leon as i thought that they would be a few days behind me, The last time that we walk Ruth had been having a lot of problems with her knee, It seems that things had progressed and now they had got a train to Leon to get a proper exam on her knee, After an MRI it was found that she had a stress fracture to her tibia and damage to her meniscus, The good news was that she will not have to have surgery, the bad news is that their Camino is over and they are making plans to get back to Canada as soon as they can, Such as shame as they have come so far,
I stayed in the Paris hotel in Leon last night, 3 star and in a great location, I had dinner with Ruth and Larry and sadly said my goodbyes, I went back to my room and got my gear together then as usual i got into bed around 9.15pm, I put my earphones in and tried to sleep, I couldn't and then for the first time on my journey i felt something new-loneliness, Its was strange and unexpected, I had always slept in Aubergues with lots of people and now there was only me, The music did not help, Normally i would use it to drown the noise of others until i was asleep but now there was no noise, Just me, It went through my mind that people who travel the Camino and only sleep in hotels are REALLY missing out on the experience, Sure you get snorers, farters, people that piss every 5 minutes, BUT you also get the companionships and the feeling of being part of a team, I thought that the hotel would be a luxury but i ended up feeling a little lost,
I awoke early as usual on the Camino, At home i could sleep forever, I could hear people come and go but i tried to sleep, I thought that i would get a good breakfast there and then make my way back onto the Camino, I was up and packed by 7am and went down, Breakfast was not until 7.30 and i could not wait to walk so i paid and left, I quickly grabbed and coffee and pain au chocolate from a bar and made the long walk out of the city, Getting in and out of these big cities can be a pain, Hard on the feet and the brain, I walked past the Parador hotel as seen in movie 'The Way' which was stunning, Once out of the city the sun was up and it started to get warm, I stopped at another bar a couple of miles out and had another coffee, banana and muffin, Changed my boots to my merrells sneakers which are half the weight and soo airy and began the walk, It was along a lot of roadways so i tried to walk on as much grass and gravel as i could so as to ease my feet,It was a nice walk and soon i was in the countryside, My main concern were my feet which i have to say felt great or way better than they have done for days, I stopped a couple of time to let them breathe and before i knew it i was at Mazarife, It was 11.30, My feet were obviously feeling good, I wanted to go further but the guide book said that the next aubergue was 14kkm or 8+ miles away, I did not want to upset my feet so grabbed the first Aubergue, I was the first there, I later found out that there is a new Aubergue 6 miles away, I wish i had known but my feet are good and tomorrow is another day,

Ruth on her last day in Leon before heading back to Canada