A little rest and back at it. (Santiago de Compostela to Muxia to SdC to Leon)

So we had a wonderful arrival and send off dinner with people we started walking with from St Jean Pied de Port or at least met along the way. 25 of us from both the Camino Frances and the Camino Primitivo gathered at L’Incontro to enjoy great food and conversation. Good byes are always a little painful but a great aspect of the Camino is it keeps bringing you back together.

We took the bus to Muxia in the rain. Muxia was covered with fog and rain as we arrived. We arrived too early to get into our accommodation so we sat in a cafe having a drink. Another pilgrim couple overheard us and asked where we were from. We sat and had a lively conversation with Laura and Bob from Ohio.

Muxia was all about rest and getting ready for the next stage of our adventure. Our plan is to go back to Leon after going back to Santiago de Compostela. Then we will walk a part of the Frances that we missed when we walked the Primitivo. A friend from Canada, who lived a time in The Netherlands, will be joining us for part of this too. This wasn’t planned but just happened. We are looking forward to seeing her.

Yesterday we got up for an early morning train ride. It was raining for the 1 kms walk to the train station. After arriving in Ourense everyone had to get off and find a Renfe bus to get on for a 30 minibus ride. We pulled into a station that looked like it was built in 1950 and had no updates. Then we found our way to a train that would deposit us in Leon. Apparently there was some disruption in the train line. And I must say that we arrived in Leon at exactly the time we were supposed to.

We went to El Topo for a nice dinner. And then made our way to the cathedral. It was Noël’s first visit to the cathedral. We will definitely go back. It has one of my favorite pieces of art: a statue of Mary, clearly pregnant. It’s not something you see very often. And it’s beautiful.