Joining Spouse in Léon. How to get my pilgrim passport stamped?

[Deleted member 39850]

Hi all and Buen camino to those making plans
My DS is heading out of SJPDP on August 3/4, and I am meeting him on Aug 20th in Léon to carry on together to Santiago. I did SJPDP to Santiago in 2014, and starting out was easy. This start will be new for me as it is midway. I already have a new PP to collect my stamps (purchased from the Forum Store, actually), so I don't need that but I do need to know a few things about how to start out with it on this trip.
I am flying into Madrid and land there early on the morning of Aug 20. I plan to take the train to Léon from there. Should I be trying to get my first stamp in Madrid? Or do I wait until Leon? And is there a pilgrim office in Léon as there is in SJPDP? Or do I simply go to the albergue municipale to obtain my first stamp for departure on the pilgrim's route?
We have until Sept 9th to complete the journey to Santiago and fly out of Madrid on the morning of the 11th. Based on my last experience, this should allow for ret days if we need them. I plan to take DS to the Léon hotel with a water spa, and to do the same in Astorga -- for the sake of the legs....
So we will have rest days there. For me "resting" in Léon will merely be about getting into the correct time zone, but I'd like to visit more cultural sites on this visit than I did last time. So I will take any suggestions for things not in the Brierley guide.
Thank you lovely pilgrims for any advice!
Morgan
PS -- I just read "Miracle Cures: Saints, Pilgrimage, and the Healing Powers of Belief" by Robert A Scott. Fascinating read. Highly recommend! And it's available as an ebook or audiobook for those who want to read while walking without carrying a ton of paper. See: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppj66

 

[mspath]

In Leon a good place to get your Credential stamped is the Benedictine albergue, Albergue del convento de las carbajalas. You need not stay there in order to obtain a stamp. They are open from 11:00 to 22:30. See more including address/web at
www.gronze.com/castilla-y-leon/leon/leon/albergue-convento-carbajalas

Following the camino leaving Leon can be dreary. However, it is only 7 km to La Virgen del Camino and an extraordinary 20th century church. http://virgendelcamino.dominicos.es/webvirgen/index.php
The town is named for a famous 15th century figure of the Virgin holding the dead body of Christ. Today the figure is in a splendid church designed in the 1960s by a Dominican monk, Francisco Coello, a follower of the Brutalist style of Le Corbusier. Located directly on the Camino Frances at Av Astorga, 87, in the midst of chaotic suburb the church is a superbly maintained architectural gem as well as a haven of peace. Be sure to enter it; the calm interior is splendidly lit with deep chrome yellow glass.

Opposite the church you can choose to either continue on the main camino which parallels the highway or pick up the peaceful alternative camino route going slightly southwest towards Villar de Mazarife. It is always very pleasant to escape the N120 highway noise and suburban sprawl while crossing wide flat plains up to V de M where there are several pilgrim albergues and regular accommodation. From V d M the alternative camino continues to Hospital de Órbigo to rejoin the main CF.

Hospital de Orbigo offers many accommodation options; my favorite is the Albergue Verde. They accept reservations and offer wonderful group meals each evening. Leaving HdO turn right to follow the camino towards Astorga via Santibanez de Valdeiglesias on a wonderful rolling rural path

Good luck and Bien camino to both you and your husband!

 

[Deleted member 39850]

Thank you for the advice about getting my first stamp in Léon.
I have walked from Léon to Santiago (2014) so I know well the dreary walk -- I chose to continue all the way to Orbigo on one of the hottest days, and I did not know about the hostel verde at the time. Hoping for that one *this time*. I did take the route you recommend through to Astorga last time and intend to do the same on this trip.

 

[mcopeland]

Hospital de Orbigo offers many accommodation options; my favorite is the Albergue Verde. They accept reservations and offer wonderful group meals each evening.

And they have 1 private room with a double bed, very small. A nice change for a couple. Be sure to book it ahead of time.

 

[Deleted member 39850]

And they have 1 private room with a double bed, very small. A nice change for a couple. Be sure to book it ahead of time.

Oh, thank you for that information! Last trip took me through Orbigo and I stayed in the hostel that claimed to have a pool... but was actually *across the street from the public pool — which was closed*. Because I had arrived there as a surprise to myself, having chosen not to stay in Villadonga (which looked too much like a ghost town in a Spaghetti Western), I did not find out about the Verde until the morning of my departure when I walked out of town with a man who had been lucky enough to stay the night at the Verde.
Now, I shall just have to convince DS that it is worth the “hippie vibe” — perhaps if I remind him that the only bedbug I saw on the whole Francés was in the *other* place I stayed in Orbigo...