Day 2 Madrid to Leon

 

Our last day before the real hard work starts. So, given that, what better way to begin the day than with a nice swim in the hotel’s rooftop pool! And bloody refreshing it was too. Thanks to watching Wim Hof on TV recently we had to do some breath control, as it was seriously cold. So much so that a couple of hotel staff who walked passed shook their heads whilst saying “frio, frio” to us.




Like in the UK, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend here, so we were unsure if we’d find anywhere open for coffee and snacks. We headed to the nearest tourist attraction and after about 25 minutes of wandering found a good spot for alfresco brunch. By a very strange coincidence it just happened to be next to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. What a lovely surprise for me! Oh well, I could have a look at how the redevelopment is going. Architecturally it’s always been a magnificent temple of sport, but it’ll be even more spectacular when its done. Shame the atmosphere inside is so so “corporate”.




With that done, it was time for the 2 mile walk up to  Chamartin Station for the 2 hour journey up to Leon. I’m pretty sure I didn’t book first class rail tickets, but it sure felt like it. Free food, drinks and acres of space. Handy so that Cate could apply the first blister plaster to my little toe that was already rubbing in my boots. Scheiss; nicht gut! I suppose the only positive of that, is it makes the next edition “Blister World” more imminent. I got such got great feedback about it last time!! Especially the photo’s.


                                     


And so at last we were back in Leon, where part 1 of our Camino finished 3 years ago. In the late afternoon sunshine we had a wander from our Camino end/starting point back into the narrow streets of the city centre. I couldn’t resist going back into the Cathedral to look at the incredible stained glass windows again. I recently posted some photos on Facebook of the stained glass windows at St. Albans Abbey. Now they were good; but frankly compared to Leon Cathedral they’re; well, a bit Mickey Mouse! Espana 4 Inglaterra 0.



 

That’s all for now. I'll end with a few pic's of Leon.





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