Almost home
Seven in the morning. What last night was a hostel crammed with people has become an empty place. I’m the only one left. The French Way still amazes me; luckily, today I switch to the Camino de San Salvador.
This solitude won’t last long. I set off pedalling the wrong way along the French Way as far as León, and run into a tide of people flooding everything. There are so many that I’m forced to leave the path and ride on the road; there’s no room to get past the countless groups of walkers. Luckily, León is only just over 30 kilometres away, and I get there in little more than an hour. I make a short stop and head north, now on the Camino de San Salvador. I’m on my own again, once more.
The route is a constant up and down, on tracks at first and then on trails, great fun. I pass through a string of villages I know by name but had never visited, really pretty areas that remind me that Zamora is behind me and we’re now looking towards Asturias.
I’m especially enjoying this part of the route, so much that I ride straight past Pola de Gordón, where I meant to have lunch… and end up turning back. It’s funny how the terrain changes depending on your point of view. I must have driven through here hundreds of times, and I’d never seen the villages I’m riding through today.
At last I reach Poladura de la Tercia. A modest but comfortable municipal hostel awaits me. And it’s full of walkers, which surprises me quite a bit, given that I haven’t overtaken anyone on the way. There’s barely room for everyone, and not everyone has brought food. An Italian couple end up taking a taxi to Villamanín to buy some, because Poladura has neither a bar nor a restaurant.
We quickly hit it off and spend the rest of the afternoon chatting. There are people from the Basque Country, Germany, Italy… and me, almost home. I take the chance to check the bike over; I don’t want any last-minute scares. Tomorrow is the last stage of the Camino de San Salvador; tomorrow I get home.