From Leon

Thursday 5th September

I rode 265 miles today nearly all on motorways, on my journey back east toward Bilbao where I leave from on Tuesday morning. Motorways here are more twisting than at home and have only a fraction of the traffic. At some points, as they span deep valleys, the sense is vertiginous, with the valley hundreds of feet below and the other lane of traffic, a hundred feet above, high on its own stilts.

I saw this hotel, Infantas de Leon on Tripadvisor. I fancied a break from camping and was expecting a wet day which it hasn't turned out to be though it rained lightly for the first couple of hours and threatened with dark skies all day. So I'm here, in a rather smart place though the first three reviews I read all rated the welcome – two were from motorcyclists and one from a Camino walker wanting to give herself a treat. With breakfast and secure parking for bertha all for €60 (camping is about €18 a night) this is a bargain. Finding my way on the big bike to a hotel in a city is a different experience to searching for a campsite in the country but in a way no harder. One review praised the view of the cathedral from the hotel but there is no cathedral in sight. The bed is comfortable. Its time to take a stroll. Let me fish out my cleanest (almost) smart clothes.

I had dinner in the bar, a hearty 'combination' dish (i.e. steak plus chips plus a fried egg) with white wine at €1.40 a glass. (strangely not a tapas in sight) I wish I had realised how cheap it was, I would have not said no to the third glass (they were not large glasses). I need to find a way to get out onto the balcony to smoke a Camel now...