We knew today was going to be a day of contrast, moving from quiet countryside to city life. We were right! Crossing the River Esla this morning was so peaceful with lovely blue sky and more poplar trees.
Our route was, once again, along the side of roads, this time quite busy with cars heading towards the city. As with yesterday, there were still lovely views away from the road and well made, wide paths.
As we approached Leon we saw cows, our last link with the countryside. From then on it was a long walk through industrial estates and very busy roads! We could just see the cathedral in the distance.
One feature of our walk has been seeing huge stork nests perched in very high places, often church towers or chimneys. We saw these today just as we arrived in Leon centre.
Leon has a population of 130,000. This is quite a contrast to last night’s stay in Mansilla with just 1,900 residents. However, we think this is one of the really interesting parts of the walk moving between such diversity in the places we have visited. Leon seems a really lovely city with lots of great buildings.
