Camino del Salvador, Day 1: August 26, 2026

 I'm using my blog to recount my five week hike through Spain, experiencing five different Camino routes.  Earlier caminos are found later in this blog, and later experiences will come online after I write them up.  I started on the mountainous Camino del Salvador after I had hiked the Camino Lebaniego and most of the Camino Vadiensese.

After riding a narrow gauge railway from Christiana to Leon on the Camino Vadiensese the previous day, I completed multiple tasks in Leon.  Leon is the largest city I had visited on my Caminos to this point.  

Leon is a delightful city with a spectacular cathedral.  The cathedral's stained glass windows are considered one of the world's largest collections of midieval stained glass.  But I had visited that cathedral on my last trip to Spain, so I concentrated on some errands while in town.  The Cathedral photos below are from my 2024 visit to Leon.

I was able to obtain a credential specifically for the Camino del Salvador (with information about the route that I don't think I ever read), obtain a great pizza for dinner, and shop at a large supermarket.  I was also able to scout the beginning of the Camino del Salvador and have my pack ready for the next morning so I could be on my way early.

Leon is also a major city on the Camino Frances - the most popular camino.  The routes split near a large parador, which is a fancy hotel.  The split is very evident if walking in the area on foot.  I have no idea how many pilgrims complete the Camino del Salvador compared with the Frances route, but I estimate that at least 95% of pilgrims take the split to the left in the photo below.  

In front of the Parador is a statue of a midieval pilgrim looking up to the sky as if seeking strength.

I was nervous about my walk this day - more than any other day in Spain.  It wasn't just that I was starting a new Camino; I planned to stay that night in an albergue run by the town: a municipal albergue called Albergue de Peregrinos de La Robla.  Three aspects created my tension:

• It would be a long distance.  The trip was 17.4 miles, though there were only 1700 feet ascent over that distance.
• Most municipal albergues do not accept reservations.  They are generally first come, first served.
• Because this was the first day of a new Camino, I had no idea how many others were starting the same day.  There were 16 beds in the hostel.  What if I showed up as the 17th pilgrim?

What I could control was how early I left from Leon.  I gave myself a little advantage by selecting the closest hostel to the start of the Camino. And though it was called a "hostel," I had a private room. So I slept well that night.  It was actually the third night in a row with a private room; I was getting soft!

I was out walking early that day - I started at 6:10AM in the darkness.  But I never needed a headlamp, because I walked through the city while it was still dark.  There was an alternate route along a river, but I chose the main route due to the darkness.  And my GPS records that I stopped for only 9 minutes during my 6.5 hour walk.  I never passed another pilgrim, and no pilgrim ever passed me along the way.

The route was well makred, with unique signs.

And my first few miles were on sidewalks under streetlamps, so I felt safe walking along the road despite the relative darkness that slowly dissipated.  

A couple of hours later, it was light and I was looking back at my start from the north, having escaped the housing.  I had walked from city streets to suburban streets to a dirt road with no traffic.

By 9:30, I realized that I would be able to check off one of my annual hiking goals; a goal I thought I'd missed this year.  For the past several years, I would begin hiking very early during June and July, and at least once would log 10 miles before 10AM.  I hadn't done it this year, but I wasn't stopping until I obtained my "10 before 10," and by 10AM I was 10.5 miles into my walk.  A small victory!

Shortly after 10 (miles and o'clock), I walked through Cabanillas - the first town after leaving the Leon area.  It has a unique albergue, but I didn't walk the block out of my way to look at it.  It has only four beds, a microwave, and vending machines.  There is no cafe in town.  I was focused on getting to the albergue I would stay at in La Robla, so I didn't wander off my route.

At 12.6 miles, however, there were signs for a cafe a short distance off the route in a town named La Seca de Alba.  In my research, I read that others had found this cafe to be a nice spot for a break, and I could obtain a stamp for my pilgrim credential.  I crossed a bridge and started walking into town, but a couple of older fellows sitting on lawn chairs yelled to me that the bar was "cerrado."  I thanked them and turned around.  Looking several months later at Google Maps, the bar is still listed as "temporarily closed."

The path I was on eventually merged into a road and I walked that road into the town of Cascantes de Alba, which was memorable because of a large fountain in the middle of town.  I stopped here to take a drink.

The remaining 3.3 miles were along roadways, with an occasional path straying a short distance from the road the route followed, sandwiched on the west by railroad tracks connecting Leon with La Robla and Oviedo to the north.

I entered into La Robla via a pedestrian bridge that spanned the highway bypassing town, passing an old locomotive from the 1800s that was used for mining in the region.   I headed north on Calle Major ("Main Street") to the albergue on the north end of town, arriving at 12:40 - a little past the official opening time of noon.  

Nonetheless, there was no one else in the albergue, and I was able to choose my bed.  I really didn't need to worry, as only 2 other people showed up that night: the Hungarian woman I had met at the end of my Camino Vadienesis in Cistierna two nights previous who was walking the Camino Olvidado and whom I was expecting, and a German man who I hiked with on the San Salvador for the next several days.  (I could have alked from Cistierna as well, but I wanted to start my Camino del Salvador at the beginning with an official credential, and I wanted to take the train from Cistierna to Leon. I don't regret my choice!)

Next door was a cafe, but it turned out that this day was some kind of holiday (there are lots of those in Spain), and it closed before I could stop in.  But I used the afternoon to head to a laundry and wash some clothes, and to shop at the biggest grocery store I would experience for the next week.  Together, the three of us cooked dinner that night, and this remains one of my fondest memories of my trip.

This day's data: 

Distance: 17.4 miles

Total Time: 6 hours, 29 minutes

Stopped Time: 9 minutes

Ascent: 1699 feet

Start time: 6:11AM

End time: 12:40 PM

I also walked additional miles in La Robla, going to the supermarket and laundry.