I eventually managed to break the magic spell with Leon, and restart the journey not before having had a buffet breakfast in the monastery hotel. As it is well known, a discreet handling of a buffet breakfast allows some stocking of extra food for later consumption. In the meantime, the day broke into a glorious morning. The weather forecast was obstinately indicating showers for the whole day, so Lynette and I waited for the day to express clearly its intentions, before stepping out from the austere comfort of the monastery. The stage was meant to be short in preparation of a quite long one tomorrow. In contrast with the beauty of the city center, the exit from Leon was uninteresting and the trail crossed through industrial areas before resuming the old Camino path in the midst of rural farming lands.

Villar de Mazarife is an inconspicuous small village, as usual, with no apparent signs of life. It has three hostels, and we chose the one below which seemed quite clean and with a nice inviting patio in the afternoon sunshine.

Arriving at about 2pm, one may be concerned on what to do until dinnertime at 7pm and finally hit lights out at 10pm. Actually, the time to shower and soak then in the sun after a 5 or 6 hours walk, is never enough. Washing the laundry, some small talk here and there, a visit to the local store for fruits and other food, are simple activities that do not fail to provide inner peace and a sense of mental discipline. It’s 9 pm already, the sack has been prepared and ready to go, the alarm is set at 6am. Goodnight.