day 4 map

mountain roads

mountainous terrain and roads

hairpin bend

Hair-pin bends at San Glorio

León overnight stop

Overnight stop at León with good facilities

grocery shopping at León

Our grocery shopping at León

service facilities at Leon

Servicing the Hymer at León

Day 4 - Camaleńo to León


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We sleep well; but forgot to advance the clocks now that we in Europe, it's 08:20 and not 07:20 as showing on our clocks.

We have a leisurely breakfast and plan the day; the time seems to slip by without us noticing. We leave Los Llanos around 11.30am, back on the CA-185 to the lovely village of Potes with its stone colonnades and plaza. Here we take the N-621 south (continuing in the same direction from yesterday) and begin a very steep climb up through the Cantabrian mountains to the high border pass between Cantabria and Castillo-y-Leon. We follow some serious switchbacks and hair-pin bends between Bores and Vejo, up and up to Mirador del Corzo, a fabulous viewpoint except today we are in the clouds.

We know it is high as we are above the treeline, there are snow poles along the roadside and pockets of snow on the mountainside. Another few kilometre and we reach the summit of San Gloria at 1609m, where Cantabria passes into Castillo-y-Leon. The cloud is thick, and we can’t see a thing, but we stop anyway for lunch and celebrate the considerable climb.

On our way again, over the summit at San Gloria and following the Rio Yuso, down the other side, dropping down to Riaño and the reservoir. As we drop down the clouds roll away and the sun comes out. We cross the reservoir by the Hydro-electric dam at La Remolina. The N-621 follows the Rio Esta to Sabero. Here we turn onto the smaller CL-626, a level road that follows an industrial valley bottom to Robles de la Valcueva. From here, the LE-311 takes us to Leon. Leon is a relatively big city, we follow the Sat-Nav (Mr Google) who takes us to the Area de Autocaravanas parking at the Central Plaza by the river. There are about 24 dedicated motorhome parking spaces and it is free to park . . . albeit a row of large parking spaces. Leon is the first large city we have seen since leaving Santander and there are supermarkets!

We call at Mercadona for cheese, Iberico ham and wine. The store is almost empty of any perishable food, devoid of fruit, vegetables and milk . . . it is like a swarm of locusts have descended. We hear the locals talking about the panic-buying because of coronavirus and lockdown, we wonder if this is over-reaction ! We hear on the news of school closures and cancellations in the UK. We drink wine, cook sausage and keep ourselves to ourselves.

 

Summary of motorhome journey

Total
miles
mpg average
speed
mph
hours
driven
98 28.8 22 4:18

Totals for this journey

457 27.9 33 13:44