Our very last night with the cohort of April 1st (Day 23)

Last two nights in Leon have been bitter sweet for me. On one side the cohort of April 1st got together one last time and seeing friendly faces that I haven’t seen for sometime was wonderful. On the flip side, I realized that we won’t be together in one place again. Many of these people became good friends of mine over the last 3 weeks as we shared this incredible journey together and I will miss many of them very much.

On Sunday evening, even Martijn (the Dutch who is doing the Camino to honor his wife that passed away recently) got on a bus and came to Leon to meet all of us for diner. Monday (yesterday), he got back on the bus and travelled back to Shagun where he will continue his Camino on foot once again. Martijn is trying to enter Santiago on the 16th (his wife’s birthday) so has to do shorter stages and due to that has fallen behind must of us by about 80kms already. He refers to me as his “sock friend” as we both bought the same toe socks that saved my Camino by stopping new blisters. His pronunciation of the word sock is problematic if you know where I am gong with this. As I was leaving the restaurant he yelled at me “good bye my sock friend”. There were some interesting looks in the room.

About 20 of us took the below photo prior to a group dinner on Sunday. Many are missing from the photo but had a chance to join us for dinner.

While I will continue the journey with most of them about half of the group will arrive to Santiago a day earlier or later than me so the cohort of April 1st will split into 3 days. There are incredible stories in each one of them but one made an impact on me which I learned during the Sunday dinner. There is a Scottish gentleman named Alex who did the Camino 50 years ago with 2 friends, made a pact to do it 50 years later, and lost both of those friends in the last 3 years to cancer. He is keeping their pact as his second friend who passed last year called him on the phone and asked him to honor their pact right before his death. He is quiet and soft spoken so I don’t know him that well. But last night, when this was shared, realized once more than each person and their story on the Camino is unique.

Many people asked me again last night, why I am walking the Camino. I have always answered that question before as “for adventure” or something like “I wanted to challenge myself”. I am no longer sure that was (or is) the reason. I feel, the Camino called me for different reasons than adventure. Can’t articulate it quiet yet but I know that to be true as I feel it every time I am on The Way walking.

Today, leaving Leon was one of the coldest days so far. When I left my room it was right above freezing with a decent breeze. I used a pair of clean socks as gloves and looked like a doofus for sure. Perhaps our incredible luck on weather is coming to an end as we slowly enter Galicia (one of the most wet and therefore green) regions of Spain.

Right when I was leaving, I ran into Monica who I haven’t seen for a while. She is a pretty woman in her early forties and gets a lot of male attention in the Camino that Amy and I observed early on. She is a free spirit that works for 6 months and travels for 6 months. Been to most parts of the planet to places very few have been too. She told me the story that 2 days ago she witnessed David (the paramedic from Bath England) donating his cart that he was pulling his first aid supplies to a girl who was doing the Camino with her dog. The dog was suffering (he didn’t choose to do the Camino 😀) and David gave the pull cart to the dog so the girl can pull the puppy. She wanted to pay for the cart and he replied “pay it forward” and turned and walked away as he loaded his backpack with the first aid supplies that had to weight at least 10-15 lbs. David from Bath; will always remember you!

Todays stop is not a beautiful one as we are still at the outskirts of Leon and close to highways. Starting tomorrow, we will enter parts of Spain that many say are the most beautiful of the Camino.

And Amy comes in 4 days! Can’t wait to see the 7 layer lady once again. She is coming back to “Mr Jersey”. The trail name I violently dislike.

Photos from the day. I love the first one most. The third photo is the famous Parador Leon Hotel. It used to be a monastery but was converted to be a luxury hotel by the Spanish Governent. For the fans of the movie “The Way”, this is where Martin Sheen’s character Tom treats his 3 Camino friends for a night.

Kms today: 21 kms

Kms total: 527.5 kms

Steps total: 158.4k Amy, 706k Ahmet