After a relaxing and fun day in León on Monday, we spent the May 1st holiday pounding out 35 kilometers/21 miles before arriving in the fabled city of Hospital de Obrigo.  We were admittedly tired…but inspired by the events that occurred in this spot nearly 600 years ago.

This is where Don Suero de Quinones in 1434 held a celebrated month-long jousting tournament next to the famous bridge (above) here…all in the name of his unrequited love for Doña Leonar de Tovar.  I encourage you to Google about this event in more detail…but here are the basics.  Don Suero was one chivalrous, possibly crazy knight.  He wore an iron necklace around his neck every Thursday to demonstrate his unbearable pain and represent “the prison in which Leonora held his heart” (this guy clearly had serious game).  He (and 10 of his colleagues) challenged any knight crossing the bridge to a jousting match before they could pass and pledged that he would not stop until he and his men had “broken 300 lances” of their opponents.  Mind you, in the 15th century…there were 250-300,000 pilgrims walking the Camino annually.  So this was arguably the biggest publicity stunt of all time…at that time.  After 1 month of daily jousts, with Don Suero and all his men seriously injured in some way, and 300 lances broken…but no defeats…Don Suero declared victory, returned to León and married Dona Leonar de Tovar.  I love this story.  And so did Cervantes…who made reference to Don Suero in Don Quixote.  So…as we fall asleep tonight in the Albergue Don Suero de Quinones…here’s to its namesake…and here’s to chivalry…we need it now more than ever.

The rest of today’s post is a bit “for the birds”.

Over the last 2 weeks, we have noticed the huge bird nests that are often found in the bell towers of churches here.  They are fashioned by white storks that migrate from Africa every year via the straits of Gibraltar (since they rely on thermals over land to fly long distances).  It is considered a good omen for these birds to return year after year to these stick nests that can weigh from 250-500 pounds.  Although even more prevalent in southern Spain…we have seen plenty here in the north of Spain.

We also passed through the town of Villadangas del Paramo about noon today and came across a large group of crows gathering in the trees.  It was a bit unnerving, and mysteriously quiet, and I needed to steady myself to approach the gathering flock to take some video.  Click on the link below (may take a minute to load)…also remember the English name for a group of crows is a “murder”…as in “murder”…as in “Dave and Sarah came across a murder of crows, gathering ominously in the trees and staring down raven-ously.”

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This reminded me of a scene from Hitchcock’s “The Birds” starring Tippi Hedren and Suzanne Pleshette.  Take a look…and apologies in advance…as this song will be in your head…until the storks return to Africa.