Day 2: León to Villadangos del Paramo

A successful first day of long-distance walk! We left León at 8:40AM and arrived at the next destination 22km away, Villadangos, at 2:40PM.

First, a confession to make. We took a taxi from our hotel to the León Parador and shaved 2-3 km. Since we did walk the Camino within León yesterday up to the Parador, there was no cheating. I have read that people use transportation when exploring sites not on the Camino as long as they go back to the appropriate point to resume walking.  I wanted to give this first real day of walk our best shot. I was also worried that the red patch that developed on Chisoon's leg would not turn into cellulitis, so wanted to be as cautious as possible.

Going through the León suburbs was a bit confusing. It made me think about what methods are most effective in helping us along: in the order of increasing modernity and personal luxury, the yellow arrows and shell figures on various structures, the brass scallop shells on the pavement, the large signposts on streets, the directions in the guidebook by Brierley, the maps and instructions sent by our travel agent, or the Google map with GPS displayed on my smart phone. And lastly, the fellow walkers themselves. In the end, the answer is all of the above.

A big signpost just outside Leon

 

Just follow the yellow signs.

 

What if someone kicks the little stone and it points in the wrong direction?



It would be nice if there was a sign at every fork in the road in life, unless you are Yogi Berra of course.

 

 The pace of most pilgrims was surprisingly fast. Not only were we one of the last groups to leave our hotel but it seemed we were some of the slowest. In fact, I don't recall overtaking anyone, whereas plenty of people passed us. We could not help but think, "what's the rush?" We all arrived here in mid afternoon, didn't we? I figure 4km per hour is plenty, and slower if significant elevation gain is involved. Speaking of which, today's route was an ideal introduction, as the terrain was flat nearly the entire way. It felt very similar to our practice walks back home.

Today's path to Villadango was an 'alternative," as opposed to the classic route to Mazarife, according to Brierley's book. The Mazarife option does sound more scenic going through small rural villages. This is the only day we were on an alternative route as far as I can tell. I figured that the tour company had no choice as they warned that the second half of September was unusually busy. As the number of pilgrims quadrupled over ten years to over 200,000 a year, all infrastructure must be under pressure, especially in peak season. In the grand scheme of things, it was inconsequential to us, especially since we enjoyed our successful virgin walk today.



The small town of Valerde de la Virgen, on the road to Villadangos. Where is the stork?

Arriving at the outskirts of Villadangos, we passed up a truck stop-like eatery for a possibly better choice in town. We noticed a number of people who had passed us earlier were resting there. (The tortoise and the hare?) We pushed on, only to find that our hotel's restaurant is the only one in the neighborhood and the registration is basically at the bar. The menu del dia that we ordered at 3PM had huge portions (a great deal at 10 Euros). At this rate, we may be the only people who actually gain weight on the Camino.

Some interesting numerology about Villadangos: there was a big war here in the year 1111 and the town's population as of 2012 is 1,111.



As we arrive at today's destination, there is a discouraging reminder.
 

A small church, the main attraction in Villadangos, at dusk