Day 19 Leon to Santiago.

Well here it is the final day before arriving at Santiago and meeting up with my fellow pilgrims from Shrivenham & Ashbury. I set my alarm for 8am so as to be out of the hotel and on the road by 9:30am as I hoped to get to Santiago by 4pm so I could check into my hotel shower and change before meeting my follow pilgrims by the steps of the Cathedral at 6pm.

However it seemed like Christian in Pilgrims Progress that dark forces might be at work trying to stop me reaching the shrine of St James. Firstly my alarm clock failed to go off or I slept right through it waking at just before nine. No matter I thought I got packed as quickly as possible and headed down to the café bar in the hotel for a quick coffee and cake for breakfast. I then went to settle my bill to be told by the receptionist that there was a problem with the hi-tech lift that brought cars too and from the basement garage it was jammed! She said it should only be about 10 minutes before the technicians get it working. Translating this into Spanish time meant at least an hour. I took my bags out of the room went down to the car and loaded up. There were several other guests by their cars waiting to go. After about a 40 minute wait we all gave up and decided to head for the café. The receptionist said she would call us when the lift was fixed. I texted Alex Peal whose mobile number I had to say that I was delayed and the 6pm rendezvous might not be possible. By 11:15am and no sign of the problem being resolved I knew that if it wasn’t fixed by midday the technicians would stop for lunch and not start again till 2pm. I could see myself spending another day in Leon. Thankfully at 11:40am the receptionist said the lift was working and I headed to the car and out of Leon which was relatively straight forward.

The road I was following followed the Camino exactly and I could see many pilgrims on foot or on their bikes heading to Santiago but they would not be there for at least 4 or 5 days. My Sat Nav estimated that my arrivel time would 6:04pm so if I parked the car and headed for the Cathedral I would not be too late for my meeting and hoped that Alex had got the message. I had intended to stop and several places on the way to look at some of the pilgrim chapels but this was now not possible so I concentrated on the driving.

It was bright and sunny but not too hot and the drive up into the mountains was great encountering cloud level at several points making it like driving through fog but as soon as I descended a little the sunlight broke through. I did stop at one point which was the highest summit of the mountains I was crossing and there was a small pilgrim chapel and a large cross to which pilgrims had attached notes, photos rosaries or simply placed a stone at the foot of the cross. There was a group of Dutch pilgrims there and they chatted giving me some stick for not walking. One of their group had walked all the way from Holland and had been joined by various friends on route. After some friendly banter we wished each other well [Bien Camino!] and I began my decent the Caterham handling the bends with no problem at all but I was being carful as there were cyclists round every corner though the speed some of them achieved was very impressive again passing me on several occasions.

Lunch today was a sandwich brought at a garage a sort of Spanish BLT [no comment] when I stopped for fuel in a small village this was eaten in a lay by with an apple and some water watching pilgrims slug up the hill on foot or via pedal power, but I could not dither for long as I wanted to keep my appointment. Over the next couple of hours I made up quite a bit of time and the Sat Nav was estimating I would arrive at Santiago at about 5:30pm so I would be able to keep my appointment. All was going fine and the drive had been very pleasant despite not being able to make the stops I had intended and I counted down the signs giving the distance to Santiago 100km, 60km, 30km, 25km my excitement growing.

I was driving at a steady 60mph or 100km hour not pushing it when I passed a sign saying Santiago 14km, when I came up behind some slow moving traffic two cars and a small white van doing about 45kmph. I then noticed in my mirrors a light green car come up behind me very fast and was sitting on my bumper. I was a bit concerned as he was so close that if I stopped suddenly he would hit me. He then dropped back and accelerated again coming up very close and repeated this several times. This was rather unnerving as I was not sure what he was doing but it seemed as if he was trying to provoke me or make some kind of point. We approach an incline and I could see the road ahead was clear so I indicated and overtook the three slow moving cars. As soon as I did this the green car behind me then leap frogged me and over took me while I was over taking £$*&^ idiot I thought he was trying to race me so I let him pass but then he swooped in front of me and slammed his brakes on. It was at this point that a little sign popped out of his rear parcel shelf saying POLICE STOP! and I saw a hand vigorously waving to me to pull over. It was the Civil Guard a sort of military wing of the police force who my mother had warned me about on many occasions!

I stopped the car and two officers stepped out of the car and asked what I was doing. I explained that I felt that their car was to close to me so I decided to over take the slow traffic in front. They then demanded all my papers which I had and they went of into a huddle. The younger of the two then came back and asked if I had any money on me. My mother has told me in the pass that this particular type of police will stop you for any reason then take all the money you have. It's important to insist that they explain what offence you have committed and if money is to be handed over an official ticket issued. So I asked what offence I had committed. The younger officer then said I had been driving carelessly. I asked if I had broken the speed limit. Like UK police cars this would be recorded on camera. He paused and said no. So I asked again exactly what offence had I committed he replied again driving carelessly and how much money did I have. I then asked if he was going to issue me with a ticket. At this point he walked off and had a loud discussion with the older officer involving a lot of hand waving. I over heard the older officer saying let him go its not worth the trouble but the younger said no he was going to fine me. At this point the older office went and sat in the car. The younger came back and asked for my papers again and then went back to the police car. After about ten minutes he emerged with what look like a hand held computer and began writing down info off my license. He said he was going to charge me for driving with out care and this would be a 210Euro fine. I questioned that I could not understand what I had done wrong as I had not broken the speed limit and only over taken three vehicles which where moving slowly. His response was sharp if I didn’t like it I could come to the police station and deal with it there. At this point I felt I should just relent and I asked him to issue the ticket which took about another twenty minutes. He produced a machine which printed of a ticket which said I had been driving carelessly it even indicated that I had been doing 77kmph in a 100kmph zone. In other words I was doing about 45mph when I over took the traffic in a 60mph zone quite how this constitutes carless driving I will never know. I’m sure everyone who gets a ticket has what they feel is a valid excuse but if I had been driving carelessly I would be the first to say it’s a fair cop but through out this trip I have been aware of the fact that I wanted to return home safe and sound to my family and have not pushed it. I hate to say it but my mother was right, it seems as if these two Civil Guard saw a flash English car and decided to give me some payback for the Spanish Armada. Well as a pilgrim you must pay your penance and I suppose I did 210Euros worth. The ticket said I have a right of 30 days to appeal and if I had the time money and inclination I would but for now the priority was to get to Santiago and then safely home.

This whole incident put rather a dampener as I drove into Santiago and I was pleased to find the hotel and get the car parked. I phoned my mother as I walked to the Cathedral and she used several Spanish expletives to describe the Civil Guard reminding me that they could not be trusted. In contrast I have met and been stopped by the local police [Spain has three police forces Local, National who are like our police and the Civil Guard a creation of Franco’s] on several occasions not because I was doing anything wrong they just wanted to look at the car and they were all very friendly and wished me well on my trip indeed one local police officer even said watch out for the Civil Guard!

As I walked across the Cathedral Square having phoned Alex Peal I have to say the site of folk from Shrivenham and Ashbury as well as Dom Bruce from Elmore Abbey who had joined them was most welcomed. I sat down had a beer and felt secure as I was amongst friends and recounted the whole incident to them. After a good chat the group split in two to go to respective hotels and I joined Joy’s group for an evening meal at there hotel which was very pleasant and most relaxing. At around 11pm I strolled back to my hotel very much ready for bed after the adventure of they day