Camino Day 1 Leon-Villadangos del Paramo

Sept.23 2010

Day 1
23Km, 4.5 hours

First time ever biking 23 km.....yeah!!!!!!!
We didn’t make it out of Leon and we’re lost. The kids played with dogs and sat on cobblestone paths as an older gentleman tried to tell us where the best places to eat in Leon. Ruth’s pilgrim guide warned us of well meaning locals, who will send you in the wrong direction. Thanks ol’ man- we are going this way! The number 1 rule of camino we will learn….follow the yellow arrows and sea shells….and hope they don’t point different ways at the same time (they will). We learned to always follow yellow arrows and sea-shells-not people in berets.

We finally found the right path and met real Spain. We had café con leche’s and an omelet that came with fries and hot dog for lunch…weird I know. We ended up in Villadangos del paramo. A kind of two bit town that promised a caravan park with a pool. They lied. The pool was closed. Rob went on a random search for food while we set up tents and I tackled laundry. We ended up having lentil soup over the campstove, but Rob forgot the lentils at the store! It rained and so the laundry didn’t dry, but we collapsed in bed by 8:30.

happy

Training

So we have started already getting the kids in shape. We have realized that Cameron is not happy about sharing, but the thought of both of us having a trailer seems too much. But, as you can see we may need 2 trailers.

At this point it seems like we will try to bike in the mornings. The challenge will be the kids being confined for 2 + hours at a time. The challenge for us is .....HILLS. Did you know there are 2 mountain ranges in Spain. Reading people's accounts that the wind is always blowing is not helping either.

Logistically it might make the most sense to bring someone with us who will take one of the kids on their bike. At this point our best plan is to do longer and longer trips so the kids get used to the routine.

4 months to go.