The rattling around the albergue starts early - about 6AM - and by 6:30 the majority of people staying in the refuge are up and moving, with the exception of the three guys sleeping in my area who have to stay in Sahagún since their bikes are locked in the shop until 10:00 AM. At 6:57 exactly, I push the bike out into the parking lot of the refuge/town hall/tourist office and, bleary-eyed, consult the map to find the nearest cup of coffee down the road, and head off.
I don't mind early-morning riding if I don't have to do it on a highway. Luckily, the section of the N120 highway that runs this close to Sahagun is essentially deserted, most of the traffic choosing to to use the A62 motorway instead. Five kilometres later, pilgrims are deflected off onto a secondary road - paved - which provides almost thirty kilometres of quiet bliss until they're forced, just after Mansilla de las Mulas, to dodge highway traffic until you get to León, at which point you face endless and pointless directions across the city (more on that later.) If you're not staying in León, it's almost a relief to get out of it and get back into the wide-open country and head westward, and watch the mountains come closer and closer.
I hadn't stayed in many of the private refuges on my previous Camino de Santiago attempts, so it was nice to stay in the professional, clean and very relaxed (if that's not too much of a contradiction in terms) (http://www.alberguesanmiguel.com/documents/96.html)
If you've hear nasty things about Camino refuges, that they're all dark and dirty, take a look at this video -- you'll be pleasantly surprised!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment